With girlish yelps and post-feminist schoolyard choruses on their debut EP, Girls With Glasses, Washington, DC’s own Partyline fits beautifully into second wave of riot grrrl bands like Sleater-Kinney and Le Tigre. It helps that Partyline singer Allison Wolfe is a founding member of the seminal riot grrrl act Bratmobile. It follows, then, that the title of Partyline’s EP is a reference to feminist icon Dorothy Parker, who penned the infamous line, “Men don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses.”
In Partyline’s world of shit-kicking smart girls and liberal politics, “Girls With Glasses” are the ones who have all the fun. That title track has Donnas-worthy forthright lyrics: “I don’t wanna sleep no more,” Wolfe sings. “I just want you on the floor.” These girl-power sentiments are a welcome antidote to the mostly male-dominated punk scene that has resided in DC for the past two decades. The music behind the femme lyrics is pure punk, with loud guitars and drums courtesy of Angela Melkisethian and Crystal Bradley, respectively. Partyline boasts simple arrangements with few chords; every song on the EP lasts under three minutes.
These girl punks are quite literate: there is a reference to Ralph Nader in the opening song off Girls With Glasses, “Unsafe at Any Speed.” Partyline is so intellectual that Allison Wolfe moonlights at The Washington Post and allegedly once changed her tights in front of Bob Woodward. Partyline is touring all over the U.S. this summer, with a couple dates on their own, and also as part of the international Ladyfest event in Denver on August 5. For more info on Ladyfest, click here, and for more on Partyline, click here.
Partyline summer tour dates:
6/17, Baltimore, MD (Talking Head Club) 6/18, Richmond, VA (Nanci Raygun) 7/6, Washington, DC (Black Cat Backstage) 8/5, Denver, CO (Ladyfest @ Hi-Dive) 8/10, Lansing, MI (Mac’s Bar) 8/20, Los Angeles, CA (The Smell) 8/22, San Diego, CA (Che Caf�) 8/23, Tucson, AZ (Solar Culture) 8/25, Denton, TX (Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios) 8/27, Houston, TX (Proletariat) 8/30, Florence, AL (Nolen Cole Art Gallery) 8/31, Auburn, AL (W6 House) 9/1, Athens, GA (Tight Pockets) 9/2, Atlanta, GA (Shock Cinema)
