It’s quite a year for The Slits—this album is coming out, and there’s a book about you being released.
That’s not my book; it’s just a book about The Slits. I haven’t read it, so I can’t even tell you if I like it. I presume it’s an important book because it’s the only book about The Slits. I’m very angry that it’s the only fucking book. There should be many books by now; there should be a documentary. It’s really quite funny how we’re written out of history.
You don’t think that there’s a great appreciation for what you’ve done?
There’s a huge difference now, but sometimes it seems like we’re back in 1976 in weird, chauvinistic situations with chauvinistic people—and that comes from women as well. Don’t forget, women take part in that male-orientated world. Some women belong to the old-fashioned world where guys are ruling it and women are executing everything guys tells them to do and they become bitchy to overcompen sate for the power they don’t have.Then there’s the world that’s not a man’s world anymore and that’s boys and girls. It’s not like I’m talking about a segregated thing, I’m just saying now that we’re in the new world.There’s finally a window for us because back then we were so ahead of time in a split society.
What’s changed?
Nothing’s changed! But the Riot Grrrls put The Slits on the map, so we’re very thankful. It gave the women’s movement a new life:We could be in bands and do whatever the fuck we liked.The Slits created the power of just being a band without having to be political.When other girls took that in, it was very special. It even affected boys—even now, boys are constricted and confined by a very narrow window for them to be themselves.They’re always trying to be somebody they’re not. Girls are the missing link in the rock ’n’ roll industry.
Do you think other girl bands have been ignored in the same way?
We’re all being ignored; we’re all in the same position. Even Kathleen Hanna—is she out there like Lady Gaga? There’s room for people like Britney Spears and all these teenage girls, but they’re not playing any instruments and they’re totally gimmicks.There should be room for other types of women. I can tell you from my own experience that it’s a really rough ride for women. Usually you have to be with a guy to be famous. Lets look at Mariah Carey, she’s my favorite singer in the world.Who did she have to be with before she got acknowledged? The main guy in his record industry [Tommy Mottola], and he destroyed her.
You’ve got an almost completely new band. What made you decide to put another record out as The Slits instead of as Ari Up?
It’s not instead of Ari Up.There’s a puzzle that needs to be solved:Why the hell is this band not out there to begin with.Why are we not out in people’s faces? Why are we not acknowledged? Why is The Slits existence written out of history? And why is it that not much has changed for women?
The Slits absolutely have to continue.
And the new album will allow you to do that?
It’s just like my life.You can hear it in the music, the lyrics and the words—there’s the influence of the type of life that I have. It’s a worldly music, very multi-cultural; it’s a hybrid of sounds and yet it’s very raw, very street. Sophistication is in there because when you have a lot of passion for life then you have sophisticated music, but it’s raw because you’re grounded and very street and you’re never too high above people.
It’s not possible for us that we’re out of touch—if you listen to the new Slits record; it sounds like we’ve never stopped playing. It’s timeless, and it sounds just like The Slits.
Ari Up (center) and The Slits.
