Huggy Bear gigs, for a gloriously defiant (short) period of time back there, were brilliant things, they were positive welcoming things, engaging things, friendly things. Yes they were a (very) big part of the then rapidly evolving UK riot grrrl scene, they were essentially a Riot Grrrl band, a band that existed from 1991 to 1994, but they were more that just that, it wasn’t that easy to put them in a box and park them quietly over there – 

“Outcast and outraged, they made a howling, squalling mess of punk, all the menace and freedom of flocking birds”. That quote is right were menacing, they were challenging, they threw questions at you, but they always did it in the right way, the door was always open, no one was excluded as long as you came along with the right attitude. We kind of watched from the sidelines, we went to their gigs, we sold zines at their gigs, we swapped zines, we kind of stood on the edges and really enjoyed it all.  They only made a handful of records, they made zines, there were zines from other people, gangs of girls with Pritt sticks coming at you, so much sprung up around them – “zines and memories that document this brief, bonfire lifespan sketch a blueprint for how to be in the world, for how to understand the forces of capitalism and patriarchy and capitulation and still resist. Huggy Bear was a group that let things be complicated, that considered themselves complicit, but never took that as a reason to surrender. There’s no band more important” – I don’t know who’s words I’m quoting there, but whoever did write it is right, for a whole there, in terms of what they were saying and maybe more importantly, the way they were saying it and the way they were pulling people together, they really was no band more important for a short while back there. 

There was a buzz at their gigs there were mostly exciting bills rather than just Huggy Bear gigs, there was excitement in the air, and importantly, when you go back and listen, those defiant songs and those records still sound damn good, they still sound fresh and I know for a fact that they still speak to those way way too young to have been there at the time (my vinyl walked out of here a couple of years ago, a young artist, and no it wasn’t Emma Harvey, insisted she needed them more than me, who was I to argue? She was right, these days I have to listen to Huggy Bear on line – hey the band or their label sent in the records in to us in the first place, they were only really on loan here)       

Killed (of Kids) is a book by the five members of Huggy Bear. It reproduces all seven zines made by the band during their lifespan alongside photos, correspondence, flyers and ephemera from their three year existence. This archive is joined by new text drawn from two years of interviews with the band members, carefully assembled into an extensive dialogue about intention, surprise, distress, encouragement.

“Throughout Huggy Bear’s lifespan, they rejected major label advances and shunned contact with the music press. Following the band’s final concert, the members largely withdrew from public life. The subsequent 30 years has seen their legend bloom. And just as the warnings and incitements of their music continue to grow in relevance, the curiosity and distortion has also grown. Killed (of Kids) documents the chances taken, the psychic drains, the unique connections and the aftermaths of Huggy Bear. The book is a real reflection of the sharp edges and dissatisfaction and love that has always lived in the songs and the words. It is not a “rock biography.” There’s no swagger or grand narrative. It’s all small delight and protective energy. Drastic liberation. A reiteration of Huggy Bear’s propositions: It is always possible for people to trust their collaborators. It is always possible to make a song (book/painting/poem/dance/etc) about something that you’ve never heard anyone make a song about before. It is always possible to refuse to answer their questions”.

We haven’t seen the book yet, truth be told, most music books bore the hell out of me, they’re usually written by middle age trainspotters, I’m really really looking forward to this one. Huggy Bear were great, so were Linus and Blood Sausage and Mambo Taxi and Voodoo Queens and Sister George, Pussycat Trash, Skinned Teens, Toxic Shock Syndrome, Period Pains and quite a few more. All those gigs and name badges for everyone and that time in Hammersmith, the new zines that maybe only lasted for a couple of issues, all those flyers passed out at gigs or on the zine shelf at Rough Trade, all the zine trading in the post, the cross-pollination, the ideas and information shared, the afternoon gigs with Bikini Kill and Witchy Poo, it was all great. As were Tribe 8, The Third Sex, Team Dresch, Seven Year Bitch and all those seven inchers and tapes and bands and zines from over there as well as putting out vinyl (in hand painted covers) for bands like Angel Interceptor or Map or… Hey, they were great times, DIY times and for a while Huggy Bear were there at the defiant forefront of it all.  Yes, they had several chips of their collective shoulders, they carried a lot of the weight, and no they didn’t get everything right, how could they possibly? They got a hell of a lot more right than wrong though and always on their own terms (even that time on mainstream TV was on their own terms), it was positive to watch it all unfold back there, Huggy Bear were far far more than just another band and, even though we haven’t seen a copy yet, I expect rather than suspect, if you don’t know them, then this book will be a hell of a good entry point. We look forward to it, Boy girl revolutionaries indeed….    

And over at Upset The Rhythm someone just said “delighted to be involved with this epic book launch, we’ve even heard rumours of a quiz and some pin badges being made for the event, woah! It is quite a way off yet but hey, forewarned and all that – Upset The Rhythm presents… HUGGY BEAR: KILLED (OF KIDS) book launch on Thursday 28th November 2024, New River Studios, 199 Eade Rd, Harringay, London, N4 1DN. (7.30pm | £5 | Tickets)  

“”Join us to celebrate the publication of Killed (of Kids) a book about the band Huggy Bear, written by the five members of the band. There will be readings from the book, activities, and DJ sets by members of the band”

Book pre-order details / thegrassisgreeninthefieldsforyou.co.uk / www.jabsjabsjabs.com

More of those Emma Harvey postcard sized Huggy Bear paintings and such

And if you Riot Grrrls out there haven’t checked out both Emma Harvey and the brilliant Sissyfit, here’s some further reading – ORGAN THING: One day away from this year’s Art Car Boot Fair, Emma Harvey’s Sissyfit inspired limited edition very punk rock hand made prints…

ORGAN THING: Riot Grrrls, starz, golden slices of cake, punk rock slogans, we’re trumpet blowing again – the second artist-led Cultivate show at Shipton Street Gallery, East London…