Finally Punk, All-Girl Aughts Act, Talks Austin Reunion Shows
Unbanned, pioneering punks play Swass Nite Wednesday
By Genevieve Wood, Fri., Nov. 4, 2022
Good news for fans of mid-Aughts punk, all-girl groups, and DIY goofiness: Finally Punk is finally back, and ready to return their high-energy, existential art-rock home to Austin. Though 15 years have passed since the quartet's last live performance, their name still lives on the lips of major figures in music: Bikini Kill drummer Tobi Vail, an early Finally Punk supporter alongside Karen O, name-checked the group to a sold-out audience at Mohawk this past May.
Bandmates Veronica Ortuño, Erin Budd, Elizabeth Skadden, and Stephanie Chan formed the band as twentysomethings in 2005, quickly attracting a loyal following around their rowdy one-minute tracks and rotation of instruments for every song. Since going on hiatus in 2009, each member has built their lives around various creative pursuits: Formerly behind Austin-based boutique and community space Las Cruxes, Ortuño now runs interior design studio Casa Veronica. Budd works in sewing production and still gigs around Austin. Skadden directs and produces video in Manhattan, while Chan runs a craft marshmallow company in Los Angeles and makes music under the name Oriental Beatles.
The band returns to Austin for two reunion shows. At the first, for experimental series Swass Nite, Wed., Nov. 9, at Hotel Vegas, they'll be joined by scene veterans the Shitty Beach Boys, as well as excellent up-and-coming punk outfits Mugger, Maldosa, and Wet Dip. Finally Punk reassembles again to open for longtime friends/reunited indie troupe Voxtrot, Nov. 12 at Mohawk. Zooming in from different coasts, the group spoke with the Chronicle about their homecoming and embargoed band history.
Austin Chronicle: What feelings arise in advance of these hometown shows?
Veronica Ortuño: Definitely a lot of nostalgia from looking back to that time – back to being that young, I guess. I still feel young, actually, but we all have different lives now and some of us are moms. Revisiting living out of a tour van and traveling the world makes me want to do it again in some ways, and bring my kid with me.
Stephanie Chan: I'm definitely really excited. We've all been in a number of other bands since Finally Punk but when the pandemic hit, nobody was playing music. Having a baby isolates you in some ways too, which is unfortunate. So I think it's also really a nice opportunity to put ourselves first and exercise that music muscle again.
Erin Budd: All of us have such good friendships, so we can pick it up where we last left off. It's nice to have the band dynamic going on. We wrote all these songs in our early 20s, and we've changed a lot since then, but it'll be fun to play them again.
AC: The Instagram account Finally Punk Files serves as a digital archive of your years together. Who runs it?
Elizabeth Skadden: I started the account because Mika Miko, our sister band in L.A., started one. They were one of the only other all-girl bands. I had around 40 hours of Finally Punk videos on a MiniDV camera. During the pandemic, I watched all the footage and thought, "Oh, this is pretty cool!" Some people submit photos to us, but most we took ourselves.
VO: We were just good at documenting, and didn't have phones that took photos at the time, so I always had a film camera on me. There's a lot to be said about that: Now everyone just busts out a phone, but I love having the tangible documentation.
AC: Your last show was back in 2009 in London. How did you decide to play these two Austin reunion shows?
ES: Ramesh Srivastava from Voxtrot told us that they were reforming to play in Austin and asked if we wanted to join. They were always big supporters of Finally Punk. Voxtrot played Bowery Ballroom in 2006 and we opened for them, so in some ways it's just a continuation of that. We were also just all interested. We're all still friends and still hanging out.
VO: We kind of manifested these shows to happen. Elizabeth had started the Instagram account, and a lot of people wrote in with stories or sent set lists from our old shows. Then Erin and I saw Bikini Kill and Tobi Vail gave us a shout-out while she was out onstage, and I was like, "Damn!" It feels really like a natural process that this all happened the way it did.
AC: Looking back on Finally Punk's tenure in Austin and your extensive 2006-2009 touring schedule, which moments stand out?
SC: That time was really special. Having an all-girl band in your early 20s is very conducive to a lot of stories. Every night is a slumber party.
EB: At our last Austin show at Emo's in 2008, I'd dropped my bass guitar on my foot and wasn't sure if I'd broken my toe or not. While we were loading all of our gear out of the venue, this guy tried to run me over and we got into a huge fight. Then Stephanie came out holding a box of our records and somehow she got shoved. The records go flying everywhere, and this guy, he's calling us names and a lot of slurs. We certainly experienced sexism.
ES: We were basically banned from playing Austin. Venues wouldn't book us because we were "drama." We toured so much, so bands would come to town and request us to play with them, and that was the only way we got booked [locally]. Otherwise, the booking dudes who ran Austin would not book us.
VO: There were bookers in Austin that thought, "These are just girls, we don't need to book them. There are way better bands out there." I definitely think there was this weird, unspoken hierarchy.
AC: How do y'all want Finally Punk to be remembered in punk history?
ES: I'd like Finally Punk to be remembered as pioneering. In the early 2000s, there were so few women in music, and we filled that void along with Mika Miko.
SC: The music scenes were generally male-driven, and that was so frustrating. Luckily, we found each other and created a safe space to experiment. Musically, it was a rebellion against form and structure. Lyrically, we found joy in everything, poking fun at mundane or heavy topics. For me, it was the feeling that nothing is sacred except for the people you're with.
AC: Can we hope for more Finally Punk comeback shows soon?
VO: I definitely don't want to say no. I'm pretty open to it. We're all really busy, so finding the time when our schedules align is the biggest issue. But who knows?
SC: One of the biggest advantages/challenges is that we all switch instruments, so we all play everything. It's not like we're just practicing one instrument. I'm going to have to practice the drums more; it's been so long.
ES: Erin and I have practice spaces, but Stephanie and Veronica don't, so they're having to scrounge one up. A set of drums is not as easy to find as a guitar!
