Growing up I always admired tomboys, to be more exact, tough girls. Mostly
because they were as rough as my male counterparts and didn’t mind playing in
the dirt, a game of football in the street, or guns around the neighborhood.
There was always something cool about that type of girl, even characters from
TV shows and movies like Jody Foster in the Bad News Bears. I liked that she
was uncompromising.
When I got into punk,
I loved the way Exene from X and Poly Styrene from X-Ray Spex had character, a
sense of self and individualism. They spat in the face of gender roles,
challenged the notion of beauty and more importantly didn’t need society’s
approval on how they expressed themselves. Their aesthetic was a far cry from
the Farrah Fawcett gold standard look of what teenaged boy fantasied about and
teenaged girls imitated. The fact that people could just be themselves and
bypass all the bullshit commercialism and social constructions shoved in our
faces, was what made punk ideal.
When I started
attending punk shows, I took note that women in the scene initiated ideas and
had active roles, from playing in bands, to making fanzines, to promoting. Witnessing
equal contributions by everyone involved quashed any gender stereotyping I
might have otherwise developed.
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Jill at the Taste of Denver. Original photograph: Cathie Burns (R.I.P): Ink drawing by Bob Rob (Medina).
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Love or hate her, one of the staples of Denver punk rock in
the 80’s was Jill Razer. Like Headbanger, she promoted a fair amount of shows
and would often be at the door taking money or helping out in some capacity.
She was tough and showed little tolerance for nonsense such as people trying to
scam their way into shows. Over the years our friendship developed, and like
other promoters she schooled me on how to successfully book shows, deal with
cops, and everything in-between.
At
the time, Jill took risks in finding places for bands to play (in-part thanks
to Headbanger), getting a P.A. system, making and posting fliers, contacting
bands and other thankless tasks. Jill not only faced adversity from the city,
police, and other forms of authority, but also from those within the punk
community. She did a lot for our scene so we were all able see bands, hang out
with friends, and bring like-minded people together in the void that Denver
often was. In fact most promoters unselfishly gave themselves for the greater
good. It seems more than appropriate that Jill occupies a space in my
forthcoming book: Denvoid and the Cowtown Punks.
Jill
took the time to reflect and respond on questions I sent her during the past
couple of months. This is herstory.
How did you get into punk,
your first punk show?
A
friend of mine in Berthoud turned me on to punk back in late ’77. My first show was the Ramones in ‘78 at the
Rainbow Music Hall.
Promoting Shows?
I
lived in Ft. Collins and there weren't any shows up there, so I started putting
on shows at The Bellevue Grange outside the city in the little town of La
Porte. All of the bands were from Denver. I only did a few shows there.
Headbanger was a big influence on me. He gave me all kinds of information. I
give him credit for becoming a promoter.
Your first show, how did
it go? Was there a learning curve?
That
first show at the Grange was back in 1983. Most of the audience was from Denver
and a few folks from Ft. Collins. It was a packed house. I learned that using a
band’s practice P.A. isn’t loud enough for a large hall. Charging $2.50 at the
door is not so clever. Always have a bill amount. NEVER USE CENTS. My god, what
a pain dealing with all the coins. It’s bad enough having kids panhandling out
front to get into show and pay with pennies. Seriously, I've had a few kids pay
with only pennies.
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Razer's first show at the Bellevue Grange in LaPorte. Courtesy of Jill Razer
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Did bands and punks treat
you differently because you’re a female?
When
I think about it, I was treated a bit differently. At first they thought I was
doing this to be the ultimate groupie. After they talked with me, I commanded
respect. In a sense I was never treated as a female; I was always one of the
guys. This also backfired in many ways, mainly because I never had a boyfriend
in all of those years.
What were some of the
bigger obstacles you faced putting on shows?
Paying
bands a guarantee, finding a venue, trying to do everything on a low budget. I
worked as an offset printer so fliers were free.
There’s not much glory in
being a promoter. There’s a lot of shit that you have to deal with. What kept
you going?
Hell
if I know. I became friends with many bands. That made me feel I was doing
something important.
Best venue to book a show?
I
liked doing shows where there was already a P.A. and all you had to do was fill
in the slot. I think the Funhouse was my favorite place. Brian and I were the
only ones booking so we did what we wanted.
At the Sonic Youth show at
the German House, I remember you jumped on Big John to get him to stop dancing.
Were there other times you had to get physical with people?
I
didn’t have to get physical with anyone. But then I liked to push my weight
around. I was a total control freak. The deal with Big John was that the German
House didn’t want a pit, but Big John decided to start dancing/slamming in an
obnoxious way. I took it upon myself to take him down and kick him out of show.
In retrospect, I could have handled it differently. It did put a riff on our
friendship.
Violence in the punk scene
started to become a nationwide problem. What do you think was that root of that?
Is punk inherently violent?
Rebellious
kids hanging out with other rebellious kids listening to rebellious music.
Hormones raging. In the beginning there wasn’t any violence, but the kids
started to faction off into their own cliques. See, in the beginning we were
the outcasts so we stuck together. The music wasn’t fractioned off into
subcategories. The scene grew and people formed their own groups of friends.
The difference in music tastes also contributed: there was: Oi, Hardcore, New
Wave, Goth, Industrial. Each subcategory of punk attracted a different group of
people and when you mix them together sometimes it explodes.
The Denver Skins; did they
impact any of your shows?
There
was a group of kids that like to antagonize the punks and the punks wouldn’t
stand up to the skins so of course the skins had fun just fucking with them.
You know that jock mentality. It just escalated. Their numbers swelled. Not
many people would stand up to them. I was one of the few who did. So, yes, there
was an impact. If the skins were at a show there would always be an
altercation. It was just a fact. The only time the skins wouldn't show up was if
it wasn’t a hardcore punk show.
Harassment from the
police?
Nope,
I was really lucky plus I was always nice and respectful to the police (laughter).
Not very punk rock of me. The cops never personally harassed me. I know Headbanger
got harassed. There was a time the cops were on a witch-hunt for skins. They
stopped punks and asked them questions, looked at their tattoos, took pictures,
etc., but we didn't know who or what they were looking. As for cops showing up
to shows, I learned a great Headbanger trick to hire off duty officers to be
security. They would just wave at the other cops and there wasn't a problem.
What about the Dr. Know
show at the Funhouse?
As
for that show, it was before I learned the off-duty officer trick. Another
trick was to have a sign saying donations. The Funhouse was an illegal venue.
The cops did come and bust that show. It was my biggest encounter with the
police at any of my shows. They closed it down by force. I remember Dr. Know
was on stage and they were trying to get them to stop and the drummer kept
playing and throwing drumsticks at the cops. At that time I grabbed the door
money and hid upstairs in a cabinet. I
put a note on the band’s van that I would meet them at my apartment so I could
pay them. Well, they never saw the note, so the roadie took a bass amp with them
for their services. We did meet up later that night to pay them and got the amp
back. Mark (R.I.P.), a cook at Fatz City, came to my rescue that evening and
got the shit beat out of him by the cops and was hospitalized.
What club/venue do you
feel sentimental about?
Kennedys.
There were many great shows there, but froze my ass off. The Funhouse for the
same reason, but also froze my ass off there as well. The Packing House: it was
well hidden and there were great parking lot parties, though it stunk on days
when they burned the blood, bones, etc.
I guess it comes down to warehouses . They made a big impression on me.
I love architecture.
At what point did you say,
“fuck it” and tap out?
After
the Corrosion of Conformity (COC)/BL’AST! show. That was the last straw.
What exactly went down at
that show?
Oh,
that was a cluster fuck from the beginning. I got a call from COC they wanted to
play Denver. I got them at a $1000 guarantee. BL’AST was on tour also, so I put
them on the bill and they wanted a $700 guarantee. Burnt Fase opened. David Lee,
bassist of Burnt Fase, was my partner and had money for the deposit. A few days
before the show, COC called and wanted $1500. I couldn't make the numbers work
so we cancelled. But as in true form I pulled a Headbanger and waited until the
show to let everyone know. The reason was because BL’AST could NOT fill the
Aztlan Theatre. It was either cancel and lose the deposit or change venues. So
I added a local band, lowered door price, and said the COC van broke down.
David Lee said he’d handle the security; it was mostly his buddies. The show
went on no problem other than a few complaints. The next thing I remember a
fight broke out with the skins, and my friend Danica and I got maced. Damn that
burned and pissed me OFF! Seats were being torn out and fists were flying.
David's security couldn't handle the crowd and the venue brought in their own
security to stop fights. The skins gathered outside and decided to try to tip
the BL’AST’s van over but only broke the windshield. Two of Denver’s bigger
promoters came up to me after the show and told me point blank, “It's promoters
like you that give us a bad name.” I never wanted to be a big time promoter
like those guys, I liked the grass root DIY underground approach to shows: the
only way to know about a show is by word of mouth or if you were lucky enough
to find one of the 500 fliers printed. So I had $500 in damages to the hall,
the van and sound equipment. Out of pocket if I remember correctly, around
$1000. How and why did this happened? COC had on the back of their album Animosity stating: "The only good thing about a skinhead is that they are
biodegradable.” 30 years later I’ve had conversations with all parties
involved and there are no hard feelings.
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Excerpt from Westword. Collection of Jill Razer
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What was Nuter’em?
(Laughter) It was a joke band that never became a band. It was just something I would talk
about all of the time, but it never came to be. It was supposed to be an all
red head/ woman band, basically like a female Spinal Tap. It’s a comment on the
music industry. I had these ideas of grandeur of how we would have all sorts of
fake press on what manizers (think opposite of womanizer) we were and all of
our shenanigans, artwork for ten albums that we released. In reality we had
only five songs written and they were covers with new lyrics. Today, it could
be a really funny play or a movie. I have a ton of stickers of the band’s logo.
I even had the logo tattooed on my arm back then. My friend Marc just had the
logo tattooed on her calf 30 years later. Too damn funny.
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Stencil of Jill's fake band: Nuter'em. Photograph by author.
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You packed-up and moved to
Germany. Was that part of a healing/distancing factor for you?
I
had been trying to get rid of the Razer persona for a few years. I wanted to
soften up. That really didn’t happen until I moved to Berlin. I was virtually
unknown in Berlin, with the exception of the people/bands I went on tour with who
lived there. I did a lot of growing and self-discovery there. I learned that I
had a talent for teaching children and that I can work in a collective.
You moved from being a
promoter to more or less a de facto gatekeeper of a certain time period of the
Denver punk scene. Was it something you wanted to do or did it fall into your
lap?
It
was typical of me wanting to be in control. Plus, I’m a big softy and I wanted
a way to stay connected with everyone from the past. It really was a great time
in my life. Plus, I have a knack for keeping in touch with people and
archiving. It just seemed natural to make the Denver Punk Scene Facebook page.
I’m glad I did. I think many great things have come from it such as people
getting back in touch with each other, amends being made, memories being shared,
and us sharing what we accomplished.
You have love/hate
relationship with the scene. Why do you think that is?
You’re
right. I do. I guess I’m jaded. I saw so many fantastic bands back in the day but
I don’t see a point in seeing them again because it will destroy those memories.
I’ve tried to raise money to make a website dedicated to the Denver scene and I
felt I was shat upon and didn’t get enough support. I still have the little bit
of money waiting for that day where I will make a website dedicated to the
scene and Phil The Fan. I don’t see the point of putting my blood sweat and
tears into a project that no one gives a god damn about. l have many photos
that haven’t seen the light of day. I
figure the page on Facebook will have to do until I get more people who will
actually help me build this damn thing.
Special thanks to Monica Zarazua and Ana Medina for editing help.
