Grass Widow is a San Francisco-based trio who work collaboratively to create melodic, post-punk influenced songs with intricate and layered instrumentation. Lillian Maring (drums, vocals), Hannah Lew (bass, vocals) and Raven Mahon (guitar, vocals), are all largely self-taught musicians and contribute unique musical inclinations to the songwriting process.
"Grass Widow are like the Raincoats or The Minutemen or even The Melvins in method," says Tobi Vail, "meaning they create their own formalistic, aesthetic universe with it's own internal logic. They don't sound like they are following anyone's rules at all."
The lyrical content in Grass Widow's songs is heavy with metaphor and personal narratives, a product of all three members' perspectives, while the band's politics are more easily observed in the way they approach the paradigms of the music industry and challenge old standards. "We want to bring the sense of integrity and accountability that is fostered in the D.I.Y. community we come from to this arena and inspire others to do the same", says Mahon. Since their formation, they have maintained an objective of playing financially accessible, age-inclusive and gender-inclusive shows.
Influenced by similarly all-female punk and post-punk acts like The Neo Boys and Kleenex, they also note Roy Wood's The Move and The Kinks as a major source of inspiration, which can be heard in their three-part harmonies, complex arrangements and odd chord progressions.
Grass Widow also credit the legacy of women who have paved the way through their participation in social and political movements of the past as sources of inspiration.
Their collaborative songwriting process, the fact that they don't have a front person and that they all equally contribute to the work of the band speaks to this philosophy. In addition, they take the opportunity as an all female band to bring attention to the roles of spectacle and spectator in their scene and make a conscious effort to play shows where women are involved.
Grass Widow formed in 2007 and quickly received attention within the Bay Area as well as national underground press via publications like Yeti, Nylon and Dazed and Confused Magazine. More recently they have been written about in The New Yorker and The New York Times, as well as the San Francisco Chronicle and received a Best of The Bay award. They have also participated in a number of compilations, including an iTunes release curated by Elijah Wood to raise money for Art of Elysium, and more recently a Volar Records comp featuring Nerves covers. Their audience has continued to grow over the past year, in part due to their 2010 release on Kill Rock Stars and the subsequent tours, including dates in the UK, Europe and China, in addition to serving as direct support for Mike Watt and Sonic Youth, touring with Wild Flag (ex-members of Sleator-Kinney) and opening for The Raincoats and Half-Japanese's, Jad Fair.
In 2009, Grass Widow released their first S/T LP on local indie imprint Make-A-Mess Records as well as a 12 inch EP on Brooklyn label Captured Tracks followed in August of 2010 by the Kill Rock Stars release entitled Past Time.
The band has also made their own music videos, many of which were written and directed by Grass Widow's bassist, Hannah Lew.
"Rarely does an evolving, still-coagulating talent emerge so suddenly and with such clear intent" -Howard Wayman, Crawdaddy! Magazine
"I'm told that plants placed in sunlight don't necessarily reach towards the energy source so much as move away from the absence of it. The ways in which Grass Widow's adventurous pop plays out reminds me of such a scenario, brightening rooms with handspun inventiveness and energy." -Doug Mosurock, Dusted Magazine
