DAILY FIX: Pussy Riot

Here’s my latest reason to believe in the transformative and revolutionary power of punk rock: Pussy Riot, a feminist art collective/punk rock band, consisting of up to a dozen members who keep their identities secret and perform in masks, have recently been staging highly visible public actions in the repressive socio-political environment of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Here’s my latest reason to believe in the transformative and revolutionary power of punk rock: Pussy Riot, a feminist art collective/punk rock band, consisting of up to a dozen members who keep their identities secret and perform in masks, have recently been staging highly visible public actions in the repressive socio-political environment of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. I’d been hearing some chatter on the internet about them over the past few months, but now they’re in the news in a big way after three members of the group were arrested for a disturbance they created at The Cathedral Of The Savior in Moscow. The members jumped onto an altar traditionally reserved for men only, and performed a “punk prayer” to the Virgin Mary, to rid Russia of Vladimir Putin. They were quickly removed from the altar by security guards, detained, and released. But after footage of the disturbance was used to make a music video, which was uploaded to YouTube, three members of the band–Nadia Tolokonnikova, Masha Alekhina, and Katya Samutsevich–were tracked down and arrested. They now face seven years in jail for the official charge of “hooliganism.” Amnesty International has officially declared them Prisoners Of Conscience, and has set up a campaign to work for their freedom (amnestyusa.org/pussyriot). If you want to find out more about the group and their actions, you can check out an in-depth article from the Guardian, which features a video interview with some of the members of the group who are still at large, HERE. But amazingly enough, the video of the original protest is still up on youtube, as part of a video for the Pussy Riot song “Punk Prayer,” and we’ve got that for you to check out right here! Musically, they sound like a mix of early 80s UK hardcore with a bit more melody, plus the multiple gloriously obnoxious female vocalists of Blatz. Or at least that’s what I get out of it–but regardless of the sound, their very existence is awesome. Here’s the video.