Slant 6
The Washington, D.C. trio of Christina Billotte, Myra Power and Marge Marshall, whose Dischord debut Soda Pop * Rip Off (1994) includes "Time Expired".
After Autoclave
Slant 6 took its name from the in-line six-cylinder Chrysler engine. It formed in July 1992 (June, per Wikipedia's article on Billotte) after the 1991 breakup of Autoclave, in which Christina Billotte had played with Nikki Chapman and Mary Timony; before that she and Melissa Berkoff played in Hazmat. Billotte said she wanted a new band where she played guitar and that was more danceable and less weird than Autoclave. She recruited Myra Power, newly arrived from Appalachia, on bass, while Marge Marshall, a pianist who had moved to D.C. from England and had little drumming experience, was met at the Food for Thought restaurant and asked to join. The first show in summer 1992 was a dare from Steve Gamboa of Nation of Ulysses, who sat in on drums; other early temporary drummers included Jane Moon, Rachel Carns and James Canty.
The three lived in the Embassy, a Mount Pleasant group house, working with Nation of Ulysses members on recordings, fashion shows and house parties called Famous Monsters. Marshall also made outfits for The Make-Up. A three-song single, What Kind of Monster Are You (Dischord DIS085), was recorded in 1993 at Inner Ear with Don Zientara. They played about 300 shows in two and a half years, touring the US several times and England and Scotland once with Fugazi, and also with Unrest, Shudder to Think and Nation of Ulysses. Influences they named include Blondie, Wire, the Breeders, the Gories, the Kinks and the Ramones. They split in November 1995 on tour in England, with a last show in Leeds.
Records
Soda Pop * Rip Off was recorded at Inner Ear in fall 1993 with Zientara and Ian MacKaye and released in 1994 on Dischord (091), though a 2014 Dischord news post says 1993. Dischord reissued it on red vinyl, remastered by TJ Lipple, on October 14, 2014. The New York Times called it arguably the best album of the riot grrrl era, and Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield an essential LP of the nineties; Trouser Press praised its refreshing primitivism amid the increasingly prog-ish early-1990s Dischord sound, and Christgau called it a dud. Inzombia (Dischord 094, May 15, 1995, 29:26) has a title track that grew out of a super-8 film Billotte and Ian Svenonius made, and Trouser Press called it a major disappointment while CMJ called it short, sharp, smart and fun. A 1995 split single with The Make-Up, "We're Having a Baby" and "This Is... Young Vulgarians", came out on Time Bomb. The band appears in Half-Cocked (1994).
Billotte said they did not really identify with the riot grrrl aesthetic though they shared its ideals. Billotte then led Quixotic, formed in 1997 (Mortal Mirror, Kill Rock Stars, 2001; split 2002) and joined The Casual Dots in 2002 (self-titled LP, 2004; Sanguine Truth, 2022). Power went on to Tarot Bolero, Thee Thees and PHLOX. Washington City Paper hears traces of Slant 6 in Priests, Young Trynas and Dudes.
Albums
Songs
- Time Expired Soda Pop * Rip Off · 1994
Track five of Soda Pop * Rip Off, 2:25.