“To me, their songs represent aspects of the ‘female’ experience that don’t usually get talked about,” the electronic punk provocateur explains
“The Raincoats are truly innovative musicians who made up their own language and style, and really opened up what popular music can be, writing about stuff that might not have been considered material for songs otherwise. They deal with things like romance, sex and disappointment, just not in the way people are used to, or were at the time. To me, their songs represent aspects of the ‘female’ experience that don’t usually get talked about – feeling powerless, left out of representation and society, feeling bored and acting up against it, and inventing a new language that isn’t in opposition to the dominant language, but entirely made up. That, to me, is what punk is really about. They manage to be both really poetic and political at the same time. Also, they started in the late 70s and are still playing now.”
Electronic punk provocateur Susanne Oberbeck aka No Bra has toured with The Gossip, walked for Hood By Air, worked with Wolfgang Tillmans, soundtracked the sexually explicit cinema of Bruce LaBruce, appeared on a Mykki Blanco mixtape, and been selected as a gay icon by British female-led post-punk pioneers The Raincoats. Real heroes to Susanne are the people who take great risks for their principles and change the world, “like Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King,” and normal people you never hear of: “People living in Syria, people doing normal jobs, or people giving birth are heroes.”
Hair Shingo Shibata at The Wall Group using Wella; Make-up Laura Stiassni at The Wall Group using Dior Make-up; Photographic assistant Jared Zagha; Styling assistants Rebecca Perlmutar, Kat Banas; Hair assistant Kazuhide Katahira; Post-production Labyrinth Photographic; Production Mini Title; Special thanks to The Standard, East Village.
This article originally appears in AnOther Magazine S/S17.
