Chalk Circle were an American

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band formed in 1981 in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Their raw, rhythmic, minimal sound had more in common with

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

art punk Art punk, or artcore, is a subgenre of punk rock in which artists go beyond the genre's rudimentary garage rock and are considered more sophisticated than their peers. These groups still generated punk's aesthetic of being simple, offensive, and ...

than D.C. hardcore, a community they initially helped pioneer. Guitarist/vocalist

Sharon Cheslow Sharon Ann Cheslow (born October 5, 1961) is an American musician, composer, artist, writer, photographer, educator, and archivist. In 1981, she formed Chalk Circle, Washington, D.C.'s first all-female punk band. She has since become an accomplis ...

and drummer Anne Bonafede were joined by guitarist/vocalist Mary Green and alternating bassists Jan Pumphrey, Tamera Lyndsay, and Chris Niblack before the group disbanded in 1983.

History

Anne Bonafede and Sharon Cheslow began playing music in 1980, after developing friendships through the

Bad Brains Bad Brains are an American punk rock band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1976. They are widely regarded as pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members have objected to the use of this term to describe their music. They are also an ade ...

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, comedian, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1 ...

Teen Idles The Teen Idles were an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C., in September 1979. Consisting of teenagers Nathan Strejcek, Geordie Grindle, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson (musician), Jeff Nelson, they recorded two demo sessions and ...

, and Untouchables. After Cheslow saw a Bad Brains rehearsal with Rollins in March 1980, and then survived

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...

that summer, she decided to form a band. Rollins was initially interested in joining the band as singer, before he started his own band S.O.A. in October 1980 and then joined Black Flag in 1981. Bassist Bert Queiroz from the Untouchables rehearsed with Cheslow on guitar and Bonafede on drums in 1980, and Cheryl Celso became vocalist until she was replaced by Mary Green in 1981. Bonafede chose to play drums in the DIY punk spirit. She said, "I could be a drummer if I wanted to be. All my

ale Ale is a style of beer, brewed using a warm fermentation method. In medieval England, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically has a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Ale ...

friends had been playing in bands so I knew I could just do it, that was the punk philosophy. It tied very much into my feminist growth as well." In March 1981, Chalk Circle had its first rehearsal as an all-women quartet, with Green's friend Jan Pumphrey briefly on bass. They took their band name from

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

's play ''

The Caucasian Chalk Circle ''The Caucasian Chalk Circle'' () is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. An example of Brecht's epic theatre, the play is a parable about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother than the baby's wealthy b ...

'' and the Chinese legend ''

The Chalk Circle ''The Chalk Circle'' (sometimes translated ''The Circle of Chalk''), by Li Qianfu, is a Yuan dynasty (1259–1368) Chinese classical zaju verse play and gong'an crime drama, in four acts with a prologue. The group played their first show in July 1981, opening for

Velvet Monkeys Donald Gene Fleming (born September 25, 1957) is an American musician and producer. Besides fronting a number of his own bands (Velvet Monkeys, B.A.L.L., and Gumball), Fleming has produced Sonic Youth, Screaming Trees, Teenage Fanclub and Ho ...

and R.E.M. (later Egoslavia), with Sally Ven Yu Berg from the latter group filling in on bass. Berg was then replaced on bass by Tamera Lyndsay – both worked at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. Chalk Circle's original sound was energetic, percussive, angular, and minimal, with Bonafede's drumming style sounding primitive and psychedelic. Green's lyrics were existential, feminist, and poetic, and she and Cheslow sometimes sang in unison or

call and response Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...

. Besides punk and hardcore, their music was influenced by 1960s/70s

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

, go-go, and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

. Green and Cheslow collaborated on songwriting, with Green writing most of the lyrics and Cheslow writing most of the music. When the D.C. hardcore scene became more macho and male-dominated, Chalk Circle were put down for being all girls. But they got support from

bands such as Velvet Monkeys and

Half Japanese Half Japanese is an American art punk band formed by brothers Jad and David Fair in 1974, after their family's relocation to Uniontown, Maryland. Half Japanese' original instrumentation included a small drum set, which they took turns playin ...

. Cheslow said, "Our goal was never to sound like one of the all-boy hardcore bands. We had our own sound, based on lots of different music we listened to." The group played only four shows, which could have had something to do with the way their post-punk sound didn't align with the uniform thrashing of their peers;

Dischord Records Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.–based independent record label specializing in punk rock. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release '' Minor Disturbance'' by their band the Teen Id ...

decided Chalk Circle didn't fit in with their roster. That didn't deter the band, however. In a 1982 interview, Cheslow said, "It was kinda hard being girls. But look, if men can do it, so can women, and we said, 'Who cares? We're gonna do it.'" Green added, "We want to be taken seriously. We want to be taken for people." Cheslow later said, "I wanted to create my own culture. That's what punk had taught me, that I should be free to create as a girl." The group did their first studio demo in early 1982, with Lyndsay on bass, at

Inner Ear Studios Inner Ear Studios is a recording studio founded in Arlington, Virginia that has been in operation since the late 1970s. Originally started in founder Don Zientara's basement, the studio spent many years on South Oakland St. in Arlington. The st ...

with

Don Zientara Don Zientara ( ) is an American record producer and musician. He owns and runs Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Virginia, located just outside Washington D.C., and is most widely known for his production work with Fugazi, Minor Threat and variou ...

and Howard Wuelfing ( Slickee Boys, Nurses,

). Their sound became more noisy and experimental as they progressed, while retaining a sense of melody. They recorded a second Inner Ear session with Chris Niblack on bass, and released two of those songs on the Outside Records LP compilation ''Mixed Nuts Don't Crack.''

WGNS Recordings WGNS Recordings releases music recorded by WGNS Studios. History WGNS was initially started by Gray Matter's Geoff Turner in Maryland in the early 1980s as a cassette label. WGNS stood for "We Gots No Station." Initial recordings were mastered ...

released Chalk Circle songs on

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette (format) (or ''cassette tape''), a format that contains magnetic tape for audio, video, and data storage and playback * Compact Cassette, a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ...

compilations between 1982 and 1984. Although the group later slipped through the cracks of D.C. punk history, except as a sidenote in

riot grrrl Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington, and the greater Pacific Northwest, and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. A subcultural movement ...

histories, at the time they were part of the national/international punk community.

Legacy

A twelve-song collection of Chalk Circle's early 1980s studio material and some live recordings was released on the ''Reflection'' LP in 2011, with liner notes by Don Fleming. "Reflection" was a joint effort by Mississippi Records and Post Present Medium, the label headed by Dean Spunt of

No Age No Age is an American noise rock duo consisting of guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Allen Spunt. The band is based in Los Angeles, California, and was signed to Sub Pop records from 2008 to 2013. No Age's fourth studio album, '' ...

. During Chalk Circle's short existence in the heyday of D.C.'s first golden era of hardcore, the group broke through musical and gender barriers to create a sound that captured the joyful excitement of forgoing standard structures. The group were notable as the first all-women band to emerge from D.C.'s punk scene. Other than vocal girl groups, Chalk Circle were the first all-female group to record and perform in D.C. since the

International Sweethearts of Rhythm The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was an American jazz ensemble, believed to be the first racially-integrated all-female band in the United States. During the 1940s, the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day. They pla ...

in the 1940s. Sally Berg and Tamera Lyndsay moved to New York and formed SHE with Laura Kennedy (

Bush Tetras Bush Tetras are an American post-punk No Wave band from New York City, formed in 1979. They are best known for the 1980 song "Too Many Creeps", which exemplified the band's sound of "jagged rhythms, slicing guitars, and sniping vocals".

) and Claudia Summers. Lyndsay also collaborated with Adele Bertei ( Contortions, Bloods), Lesley Woods (

Au Pairs The Au Pairs were a British post-punk band that formed in Birmingham in 1978 and continued until 1983. They produced two studio albums and three singles. Their songs were said to have "contempt for the cliches of contemporary sexual politic ...

), Barbara Gogan ( The Passions), and Clare Hirst ( Belle Stars). Lyndsay then became a shoe and accessories designer, whose work was seen on ''

The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama series that aired on Showtime in the United States from 2004 to 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated wit ...

's'' fourth season. After Chalk Circle disbanded, Sharon Cheslow joined

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra Bloody Mannequin Orchestra were an influential early 1980s punk band from Bethesda, MD. They formed around a small, but active, scene at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and were part of the larger D.C hardcore community.Andersen & Jenkins 2001 p ...

, co-authored Cynthia Connolly's and Leslie Clague's 1988 book ''Banned in DC: Photos and Anecdotes From the DC Punk Underground (79–85)'', collaborated with various musicians including

Kathleen Hanna Kathleen Hanna (born November 12, 1968) is an American singer, musician and pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement, and punk zine writer. She is the lead singer of feminist punk band Bikini Kill and fronted the electropunk band Le Tigre ...

in Suture, published ''Interrobang?!,'' and formed Coterie Exchange. Anne Bonafede wrote for ''Shattered Wig Review''. Chris Niblack toured with

No Trend ''No Trend'' was an American noise rock and hardcore punk group from Ashton, Maryland, formed in 1982. They were considered anti-hardcore, with the members, especially guitarist and lyricist Frank Price, vehement about their abhorrence towards ...

Members

* Mary Green – vocals, guitar (1981–1983) *

– guitar, vocals (1981–1983) * Anne Bonafede – drums (1981–1983) * Jan Pumphrey – bass (1981) * Tamera Lyndsay – bass (1981-1982) * Chris Niblack – bass (1982-1983)

Discography

Albums

* 2011 - ''Reflection'' - Mississippi Records/Post Present Medium

Tracks on compilations

* 1983 - "The Slap" and "Subversive Pleasure" on ''Mixed Nuts Don't Crack'' - Outside Records * 1983 - "We Got the Beat" (as Crayon Square) on ''The Christmas Cassette'' - WGNS cassettes * 1983 - "Uneasy Friend," "Reflection," "Easy Escapes" on ''Timeclock Equals Hole in Head'' - WGNS cassettes * 1984 - "Sister Superior," "Scrambled" on ''We Gots No Station'' - WGNS cassettes * 2003 - "The Slap," "Subversive Pleasure" on ''Homework #9: DIY/punkwave '77-'86'' - Hyped to Death

References

External links

Chalk Circle official website
* The Sharon Cheslow Punk Flyers collection, 1979-1991 at Special Collections in Performing Arts, University of Maryland {{Authority control All-female punk bands Musical groups established in 1981 American post-punk music groups Proto-riot grrrl bands Punk rock groups from Washington, D.C.