Biography
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Years Active
2011 – 2013 (2 years)
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Founded In
Vermont, United States
The sound, and ethos, of Doll Fight! is built on the foundation of the Riot Grrrl scene that peaked during the early 1990s. Riel, Mathias and Boxall were all fans of the early Riot Grrrl sound, both for the music itself and for the bands’ manifesto: “revolution, girl style, now!” Doll Fight! songs retain this message of female empowerment and social change, while moving far beyond the often basic musical levels found in early Riot Grrrl. Mathias’ short, power-packed songs draw on the punk rock tradition, while the rhythm-section work of Riel and Boxall adds density, counterpoint and dynamic contour to the Doll Fight! sound. The band’s live shows are visceral, intense and fully focused on the music.
Doll Fight! didn’t happen by accident. Guitarist and songwriter Christine Mathias had wanted to front a band of riot grrrls since she was a teen, witnessing the strong girl-rock scene of Portland, Oregon first-hand during her student years. Unknown to Mathias, bassist Kelly Riel was busy on the opposite coast spending her formative musical years playing in short-lived groups in the hard, fast, punk scene in Connecticut. Meanwhile, Jane Boxall was steadily gigging her way around northern England with Riot Grrrl trio Brutal Tinkerbell, lauded as a ‘spectacular… powerful and impressive’ drummer by York’s Vision magazine and ‘one of the most inventive percussionists I’ve witnessed’ by leedsmusicscene.co.uk.
Mathias honed her chops in Pennsylvania-based rock band The Learned Hands, then moved to Burlington, Vermont and joined the electric-folk group Freight. Seven Days magazine praised Mathias’ “confident presence” and “, upbeat” songwriting work on Freight’s debut album. Meanwhile, both Riel and Boxall had also moved to Vermont, each avidly seeking opportunities to make music with other female-identifying musicians. As the first decade of the 21st century gave way to the second, Mathias connected with drummer Jane Boxall and bassist Kelly Riel, and Doll Fight! was born.
Twenty years after the first wave of Riot Grrrl hit, the need for girl-style revolution lives on: rock music remains, in many ways, male-dominated and musically unadventurous. The women of Doll Fight! put their full energy toward creating innovative original music for the 21st century, while empowering the next generation of grrrls. Doll Fight! is actively involved in the Girls Rock Camp Alliance, a non-profit which organizes rock camps for girls and ladies from California to Canada and Brooklyn to Berlin. Boxall is familiar with rock camp; she is a summer drum instructor at the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls in New York City, an experience that stimulated her interest in forming a Vermont-based all-girl band. Mathias says, “How I wished I had something like that growing up. I was so intimidated to play guitar in front of anyone when I was younger, and the comments from the musicians my age did not help. I am excited to start a girls’ rock camp in Vermont.” Doll Fight! believes strongly in the need to empower the riot grrrls of the future, so that the next generation of female musicians do not feel they need anybody’s “permission” to create and play original music. Doll Fight! is inaugurating Girls Rock Vermont in 2011.
Doll Fight! believes in empowering the disempowered. We believe that resisting all forms of oppression and injustice is necessary. Doll Fight! is an anti-sexist, anti-racist, anti-heterosexist, and anti-cissexist group of musicians. We stand in solidarity with those who are brushed into the margins, swept into the cracks, and kicked into the gutters.
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