Julia Cafritz (born May 5, 1965) is an American musician and guitarist who was a member of

Pussy Galore Pussy Galore is a fictional character in the 1959 Ian Fleming James Bond novel '' Goldfinger'' and the 1964 film of the same name. In the film, she is played by Honor Blackman. The character returns in the 2015 Bond continuation novel '' Tri ...

and

Free Kitten Free Kitten is an American alternative rock band formed by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Pussy Galore's Julia Cafritz. Originally performing as Kitten, they changed their name after receiving threats of legal action by a heavy metal singer perf ...

. She is regarded as a

cult figure A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, bo ...

from the New York City

noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical sound. Noise music include ...

scene of the 1990s.

Early life

Cafritz was born in

Washington, DC 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, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, the daughter of Jennifer (née Stats) and Conrad Cafritz, a real estate developer with a personal fortune of over $100 million. She has a younger sister named Daisy von Furth, and two brothers, Eric and Matthew Cafritz. Her grandfather was the multimillionaire real estate developer and philanthropist

Morris Cafritz Morris Cafritz ( - June 13, 1964) was a Washington, D.C. real estate developer, and philanthropist. As CEO of the Cafritz Company, he was Washington, D.C.'s largest private developer from the late 1920's to the early 1960's. Early life and educa ...

. Cafritz has a B.A. and M.A. from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, having dropped out of

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

after forming

Pussy Galore

In 1985, guitarist Julia Cafritz and fellow

classmate,

Jon Spencer Jon Spencer (born February 5, 1965) is an American singer, composer and guitarist. He has been involved in multiple musical acts, such as Pussy Galore, Boss Hog, Heavy Trash and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. History Jon Spencer was born ...

on vocals and guitar, and John Hammill on drums, formed the punk

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

band Pussy Galore. In May 1986 they moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

STP

In 1989, Cafritz left Pussy Galore and formed the short-lived all-girl group STP. STP released one single and toured with

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

and

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

. Cafritz joined fellow CBGBs Record Canteen clerk Ned Hayden's group, the

Action Swingers Action Swingers were an indie rock/garage punk band formed in the late 1980s in New York City, fronted by singer/guitarist Ned Hayden, who was the only constant member. During its history the band featured members of several other bands, both as f ...

Free Kitten

In 1992, she formed

, a musical collaboration with Sonic Youth's

Kim Gordon Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, Califor ...

, drummer

Yoshimi Yoshimi is a unisex Japanese given name and can also be used as a surname. Written forms Forms in kanji can include: *佳美, meaning "excellent, beautiful" *良美, meaning "good, beautiful" *好美, meaning "like, beautiful" *芳美, meanin ...

from the

Boredoms Boredoms () (later known as V∞redoms) is a rock band from Osaka, Japan formed in 1986. The band's sound is often referred to as noise rock, or sometimes Japanoise (Japan's noise music scene), though their more recent records have moved towar ...

and Pavement bassist,

Mark Ibold Mark Alan Ibold (born October 17, 1962) is an American musician. He is best known as the bass guitarist of the indie rock band Pavement, with whom he recorded four studio albums. Following Pavement's initial break-up in 1999, Ibold joined the ...

. They released records and toured on and off through 1997. In 2008, Cafritz, Gordon and Yoshimi recorded and released ''Inherit'' on

Ecstatic Peace Ecstatic Peace! is a record label based in Easthampton, Massachusetts, founded in 1981 by American musician Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. The label name is borrowed from a line in Tom Wolfe's 1968 nonfiction novel '' The Electric Kool-Aid Acid ...

Records after a ten-year hiatus.

Free Kitten discography

Albums: * 1994: ''Unboxed'' (

Wiiija Wiiija was a British independent record label founded in 1988 by staff from the Rough Trade Shop in Notting Hill, London. The name Wiiija is a corruption of W11 1JA, the postcode of the Rough Trade Shop in Talbot Street. The label was notable fo ...

) * 1995: ''Nice Ass'' (

Kill Rock Stars Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in February 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but it was orig ...

) * 1997: ''Sentimental Education'' (

) * 2008: ''Inherit'' (

) EPs * 1992: ''Call Now'' (

) * 1996: ''Punks Suing Punks'' (

) Singles * 1992: "Yoshimi Vs. Mascis" split (

Time Bomb A time bomb (or a timebomb, time-bomb) is a bomb whose detonation is triggered by a timer. The use or attempted use of time bombs has been for various purposes including insurance fraud, terrorism, assassination, sabotage and warfare. They are a ...

) * 1993: "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" (

Sympathy for the Record Industry Sympathy for the Record Industry (also known as Sympathy Records or Sympathy 4 the R.I.) is a mainly independent garage rock and punk label formed in 1988 by John Mermis, known as Long Gone John. Notable artists who started on Sympathy and went ...

) * 1993: "Lick!" (In The Red) * 1993: "Special Groupie" (SOS) * 1994: "Sex Boy" (Radiation) * 1994: "Harvest Spoon" (

) * 1997: "Chinatown Express" (

) * 2008: "Seasick" (

)

Solo work

In 2012, Cafritz released a track called "dash dash dash" on a Thick Syrup Records Comp Called '78 LTD.

Julie Cafritz solo discography

* 2012: "dash dash dash" on ''Album '78 LTD'' ( Thick Syrup Records)

Personal life

Cafritz is married to Bob Lawton of Labor Board and Twin Towers Touring, who was a booking agent to bands like

Yo La Tengo Yo La Tengo (Spanish language, Spanish for "I've got it"; also abbreviated as YLT) is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan (guitars, piano, vocals), Georgia Hubley ...

and

Superchunk Superchunk is an American indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, consisting of singer-guitarist Mac McCaughan, guitarist Jim Wilbur, bassist Laura Ballance, and drummer Laura King. Formed in 1989, they were one of the bands that hel ...

, among others. In 2000, Cafritz and Lawton relocated to

Florence, Massachusetts Florence is a village in the northwestern portion of the city of Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. During the 19th century, Florence was a thriving manufacturing village shaped by progressive ideas on religion, aboliti ...

, where they ran a furniture store called Artifacts 20th Century. They have two children, daughter Alice and son Ollie. While still playing music, Cafritz has taught English at

Holyoke Community College Holyoke Community College (HCC) is a public community college in Holyoke, Massachusetts. It offers associate degrees and certificate programs, as well as a transfer program for students to earn credits for transfer to other colleges. It was the f ...

Notes and references

External links

Julia Cafritz
at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cafritz, Julia 1965 births American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Cafritz family Living people Singers from Washington, D.C. Brown University alumni Pussy Galore (band) members Noise rock musicians 20th-century American women guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American guitarists American women rock singers American rock guitarists 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers Free Kitten members 20th-century American singers