Inviting Kim Gordon to pull together a book of writing on music by women was a no-brainer, but White Rabbit's Lee Brackstone still had to convince her to do it and then hope she could identify a suitable editor partner. Thankfully, she agreed and she could, and the resulting volume This Woman's Work - co-edited with Sinead Gleeson - publishes today.
Jude Rogers of the Guardian spoke to the pair about the project, for which they each selected eight contributors - critics, authors and musicians, including Boredoms' Yoshimi of battles-the-pink-robots fame - who were then given completely free rein as to what to write about. The book sounds predictably wide ranging in its subject matter, though it understandably steers clear of what Gleeson refers to as "dude stories". In her view (and I'd definitely agree), "[t]he best music books aren't just about music, anyway. They are about the human experience - grief, politics, loss, family. Music leads us into myriad things."
The Guardian have also published an excerpt from one of the chapters, in which Megan Jasper reflects on the behind-the-scenes chaos of Sub Pop's early days, when she was an intern/receptionist, paychecks regularly used to bounce and blind faith was essential: "The good days were great but the stressful ones were unbearable. Quitting never felt like an option though. Something was going to happen and we were all determined to find out what it would be."
Something certainly did happen. Jasper would go on to fool New York Times journalist Rick Marin by inventing grunge slang on the spot and now, more than three decades on, finds herself the chief executive of the legendary label.
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