Sissy Bar is an American

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

band. They formed in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1994 after founding members Joy Ray and Courtney Holt became obsessed with

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

's then-hit

Gin and Juice "Gin and Juice" is a song by American rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg. It was released on January 18, 1994 by Death Row, Interscope and Atlantic, as the second single from his debut album, ''Doggystyle'' (1993). The song was produced by Dr. Dre and con ...

and recorded their own version on a friend's 6-track recorder, along with "(Our Pet Is...) Happy Pet" (both original recordings available as bonus tracks on the band's first full-length CD '' Statutory Grape''). They sent this tape to local punk rock station

KXLU KXLU (88.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting out of Loyola Marymount University in southwest Los Angeles, California. It was first on the air in 1957, and in 2007, celebrated its 50th anniversary. It is a non-commercial college radio statio ...

and the songs started getting rotation on the Demolisten show, a show that plays "homespun, home recorded, self released recordings." The band's first performance was at a party in banjo player Brad Kluck's backyard. When drummer Patrick Simpson walked off the stage halfway through the set, the drummer from School of Fish (who was in the audience) jumped up on stage and helped finish the set. The band's first release was 1995's Magic Bunny EP on Love Kit Records, a vinyl-only release that quickly sold out and garnered unsolicited reviews by publications including ''

Details Magazine ''Details'' (stylized in all caps) was an American monthly List of men's magazines, men's magazine that was published by Condé Nast, founded in 1982 by Annie Flanders. Though primarily a magazine devoted to fashion and lifestyle, ''Details'' als ...

''. Their 1996 debut full-length album was '' Statutory Grape'' and was produced by

Mickey P Mickey Petralia is an American producer, engineer, and mixer. He has worked with Rage Against the Machine, Peaches, Beck, and Flight of the Conchords. Awards In 2001, Petralia was nominated for the album of the year with his work on ''Midnite Vul ...

. Original synth player and backing vocalist

Lisa Papineau Lisa Papineau is an American musician and songwriter. She has released four solo albums, and is the songwriter and vocalist for Los Angeles band Big Sir (band), Big Sir. Papineau is a frequent collaborator of Japanese composer Jun Miyake and has a ...

left the band partway through recording the debut album to pursue a major label deal with her other band, Pet, and was replaced by Mary Ellen Mason. Sugar Fix Recordings released this CD, which was named after a Mopar paint color from the 1950s and featured a purple target on the cover. Sissy Bar played at

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

and

North by Northwest ''North by Northwest'' is a 1959 American spy thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason. The original screenplay written by Ernest Lehman was intended to be the basis for ...

in support of this album and gained in notoriety. They played with artists including

Sukia ''Sukia' succhiare'' is Italian for "to suck". was a vampire-themed Italian comics series by Renzo Barbieri and Flavio Bozzoli published by Edifumetto from 1978 to 1986, for a total of 153 albums and 6 extra albums. In the series Sukia face ...

Tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

, and

Dirty Three Dirty Three are an Australian instrumental rock band, consisting of Warren Ellis (musician), Warren Ellis (violin, keyboards), Mick Turner (electric guitar, organ and bass) and Jim White (drummer), Jim White (drums), which formed in 1992. Their ...

and were part of the "Silverlake Scene" that spawned artists such as

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

Geraldine Fibbers The Geraldine Fibbers were an alt-country band founded in 1994 by Carla Bozulich. Initially, band members included Bozulich, Daniel Keenan, Julie Fowells, William Tutton and Kevin Fitzgerald.Strong, Martin C.:"The Great Alternative & Indie Disc ...

and

Possum Dixon Possum Dixon was an American Rock music, rock band, which existed between 1989 and 1999. Fronted by singer-songwriter and bassist Rob Zabrecky, the group's neo-New wave music, new wave pop and post punk style first appeared among a string of earl ...

. They competed (tongue-in-cheek) in a Battle of the Bands that offered a major label deal to the winner, and narrowly lost to

Save Ferris Save Ferris is an American ska punk band formed circa 1995 in Orange County, California, United States. Their name is a reference to the 1986 film ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off''. In 1995, the band began to perform underground venues in Southern C ...

. Sissy Bar's style varies because they "play whatever they feel like". Joy Ray describes their songs as "cute". One of their songs, "Bellman" featured on 1996 compilation album, ''

Pop American Style ''Pop American Style'' is a double disc indie pop compilation album, released in 1996 by March Records and subtitled, "40 Original Artists, 40 Original Hits". The label said that "the idea behind the project was to show off most of the deserving ...

''. Another, "Trailer Song" featured on the soundtrack of 1999 comedy film ''

But I'm a Cheerleader ''But I'm a Cheerleader'' is a 1999 American Satire (film and television), satirical Teen film, teen romantic comedy film directed by Jamie Babbit in her feature directorial debut and written by Brian Wayne Peterson. Natasha Lyonne stars as Mega ...

''.

Discography

*''

Magic Bunny EP Sissy Bar is an American indie pop band. They formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994 after founding members Joy Ray and Courtney Holt became obsessed with Snoop Dogg's then-hit Gin and Juice and recorded their own version on a friend's 6-tra ...

'' (1995) – Love Kit *'' Statutory Grape'' (1996) – Sugar Fix *''

Sad to Say b/w Free to Be EP (You And Me) Sissy Bar is an American indie pop band. They formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994 after founding members Joy Ray and Courtney Holt became obsessed with Snoop Dogg's then-hit Gin and Juice and recorded their own version on a friend's 6-tra ...

'' (1998) – Moo-Tron *''

Songs for Peeps Sissy Bar is an American indie pop band. They formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994 after founding members Joy Ray and Courtney Holt became obsessed with Snoop Dogg's then-hit Gin and Juice and recorded their own version on a friend's 6-tra ...

'' (1999) – Moo-Tron

References

Musical groups from Los Angeles Indie rock musical groups from California Musical groups established in 1994 {{US-rock-band-stub