Team Dresch is an American punk rock band originally formed in 1993 in Olympia, Washington.
History
In 1993, Donna Dresch formed Team Dresch with herself playing guitar and bass, Jody Bleyle on guitar and vocals, Kaia Wilson on guitar and vocals, and Marcéo Martinez on drums. Dresch has roots in the queercore movement, contributing to the zines J.D.s and Outpunk, as well as writing her own, called Chainsaw. including the first Yoyo a Go Go in 1994. Today, Donna Dresch admits "people didn’t know who we were... [they] didn’t know what to make of a bunch of ’queer freaks’ onstage." The album had sold over 20,000 copies by 2004.
After the release of Personal Best, drummer Marcéo Martinez was replaced by Melissa York, Captain is often discussed as a more outwardly queer album than Personal Best, with the former including lyrics such as "I'm a flaming S&M rubber dyke" and "queer sex is great." The album is also praised for its themes of mental illness and reassurance. Team Dresch disbanded in 1998 to work on individual projects. They performed sporadically, embarking on brief West and East coast tours throughout 2006 and 2007, including at California's Outfest. They played in Portland and Seattle in September 2009, as well as in Brazil for two Ladyfest shows in May 2010. They played some shows in the Pacific Northwest in 2014 The reissue allowed Marcéo Martinez, who came out publicly as transmasculine in 2019, to have his name corrected in credits, which was "so important and necessary" for him to feel seen. Along with the rerelease, they announced a US tour as well as a release of a new single, "Your Hands in My Pockets," the band's first new music in 19 years. The "fast, raw, and simple" song was written in 2007 in response to a rise in colony collapse cases.