L to R: Backstage Pass band members Spock, Marina, Holly, and Genny (1977) © Jenny Lens, Punk Pioneers
One night in late 1975, Marina Muhlfriedel went to the Whisky a Go Go on LA’s Sunset Strip to check out the Runaways, a new girl band fronted by Joan Jett. Her excitement quickly faded when she realized their notorious manager Kim Fowley had the band playing into sex kitten stereotypes.
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After the show, Muhlfriedel gathered her girlfriends at the Rainbow Bar & Grill and they decided to do better. As fate would have it, Rodney Bingenheimer—a DJ and radio personality famous for breaking bands like Blondie and the Ramones—passed by the table. “Hey Rodney,” Muhlfriedel called out, “I just started a new girl band!” He asked their name, and she blurted out the first thing that came to mind: Backstage Pass.
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The band started getting buzz before they even started rehearsing. But by 1976, they were on their way, becoming one of the earliest bands in the LA punk scene and the city’s first mostly-female punk band. (Aside from a male drummer, the four main band members were women.)
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In its heyday, Backstage Pass toured California, playing alongside bands like Devo, Elvis Costello, the Screamers, the Weirdos, and the Nuns. They also helped build and launch The Masque, a legendary Hollywood punk club, before the band dissolved in 1979.
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VICE recently caught up with two key members of the band, Muhlfriedel (Marina del Rey) and Genny Schorr (Genny Body) about what it’s like being a punk pioneer and a woman in a male-dominated scene.
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L: Tommy Gear (The Screamers) and Genny at Bomp Records (The Damned Instore), April 16, 1977. R: Joey Ramone, Genny, Arturo Vega Backstage at The Whisky, February 1977 © Jenny Lens, Punk Pioneers
L: Genny and Marina at Screamers Party Hollywood Hills with Billy Zoom (of the punk band X) and Top Jimmy, 1977. R: Holly Vincent backstage at Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco for a Backstage Pass show with Mumps, June 1977. © Jenny Lens, Punk Pioneers