Press:225

Austin Chronicle

Article • September 14, 2023

Author	Genevieve Wood
Link	Meat Joy Reunion Shows and More Crucial Concerts This Week
Description	Ways to celebrate the annular eclipse, fundraise for Sarah Brown, and avoid ACL
Event	Meat Joy Reunion Show

After a nearly four-decade hiatus, pioneering genre-fluid fivepiece Meat Joy returns to their Austin birthplace for three nights of raucous reunion shows. Formed as punk splintered into its second wave in the early Eighties, the ever-evolving ensemble (Gretchen Phillips, Mellissa Cobb, Tim Mateer, John Perkins, Jamie Spidle) drew inspiration from Austin's already-queer punk subculture, which included openly gay bandleaders like Randy "Biscuit" Turner of the Big Boys and Gary Floyd of the Dicks. Swirling between straightforward punk, artsy folk, and experimental noise, the ensemble dissected feminist issues throughout their discography, helping birth the lezzie rock subgenre. Despite dismantling after only three years, their explicit celebration of queerness and cross-genre playfulness left an undeniable mark on the trajectory of punk, with central figures like Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley and Bikini Kill's Tobi Vail singing their praises. Catch them for free at End of an Ear and Cheer Up Charlies – the latter with an opening set by elusive folk experimenter Edith Frost, who played in an early iteration of Meat Joy alongside the late, great Texan percussionist Teresa Taylor. Art-rock songwriter Kathy McCarty (formerly of influential post-punk quartet Glass Eye) supports their Saturday night show on the spacious Museum of Human Achievement's main stage. (Read our interview with the band.) – Genevieve Wood