Kaia Wilson

Kaia Wilson is a musician from Portland, Oregon, best known as a founding member of both Team Dresch, a revered 1990s queercore punk band, and The Butchies, a pop-rock spin-off from her solo work. In addition to singing, songwriting and guitar, Wilson co-established and operated Mr. Lady Records with her girlfiend Tammy Rae Carland from 1996 to 2004.

Career

Musician

As a teenager, Wilson was a member of the band Adickdid, which was distributed by several labels including YoYo Records and Kill Rock Stars. From there, she went on to Team Dresch, in which she shared singing and songwriting duties with Jody Bleyle. Shortly after Team Dresch released their second album, Captain My Captain, in 1995, Wilson left the group and released a solo acoustic album entitled Kaia. Her second solo album Mr Ladyman featured Team Dresch drummer Melissa York, who would later join Wilson in the Butchies.

In 1998, several songs from Kaia were rerecorded and appeared on the debut album by her newest band, The Butchies. The Butchies boasted a more pop-oriented rock sound, occasionally delving into acoustic music and even electronic dance tracks. The group recorded four albums before their break-up early 2005, when they announced an indefinite "hiatus" on their website and thanked their fans. The Butchies reunited for a single show that November when all three group members happened to be back in Durham, North Carolina at the same time.

Wilson has continued to release solo work, her latest being the album Oregon in 2002. She reunited with Team Dresch for several live shows in 2006. She has a new album, "Godmakesmonkeys", being released on May 13th, 2008 on Jealous Butcher Records.

Business

In 1996, she founded Mr. Lady Records along with then-partner Tammy Rae Carland. The label housed a variety of Pacific-Northwestern bands, including Le Tigre, Sara Dougher, The Haggard and Electrelane.

The record label was officially dissolved in 2004.

External links

• Mr. Lady website on the Web Archive (site has been defunct since January 2005 and is now owned by someone else)

References