Tune in on Friday, April 12th @ 4pm to hear Beast Monster Thing in conversation with Pacific Northwest 4-piece, Chastity Belt, ahead of their show on April 13th at The Independent in San Francisco.
Chastity Belt are tried-and-true legends of the Seattle scene. For more than a decade, the band has created scrappy, clever noise pop, frequently laced with homages to the Pacific Northwest.
New album, Live Laugh Love (Suicide Squeeze Records), finds the members in their prime as musicians. Their parts trace intricate patterns over one another, but there’s room to breathe between the layers. Everyone contributes to the writing, sometimes switching instruments, and for the first time, all four members sing a song. It’s never been more apparent that they are creative siblings, cut from the same belt.
In their decade-plus together, the four-piece – Julia Shapiro (she/her), Lydia Lund (guitar, vocals – she/her), Gretchen Grimm (drums, vocals – she/her), and Annie Truscott (bass, vocals – they/them)—have created a resonant body of work.
The early days of “Nip Slip” and “Pussy Weed Beer” (hits from their iconic debut full-length No Regerts, which recently celebrated 10 years) and the “Cool Slut” era of 2015’s Time To Go Home were raucous bonanzas of dry wit and self-evident feminism. A newfound gravity on 2017’s I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone shifted the lyrical mood toward introspection as they continued to refine their trademark sound: lush intertwining guitars, meticulous rhythms, a careful balance of melancholy and optimism.
Two years later, the dreamy Chastity Belt marked a renewal of vows to their musicianship and friendship, each member coming into their own as artists, convening with a fresh perspective on collaboration.
