Pagan Babies (band)

Pagan Babies
A promotional shot of the band featured on their demo tape.
Background information
Origin	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Genres	Dream pop, new wave
Years active	1985
Associated acts	Sugar Babydoll, The Italian Whorenuns, Hole, Babes in Toyland
Members	Courtney Love Kat Bjelland Janis Tanaka Deirdre Schletter

Pagan Babies were a short-lived American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed by Kat Bjelland and Courtney Love in late 1985. Bjelland, who later became the frontwoman for the successful rock band, Babes in Toyland, and Love, who later became the frontwoman of the successful alternative rock band Hole, had already been members in an unsuccessful project, Sugar Babydoll, who were based in Portland, Oregon and played a similar musical style to the Pagan Babies.

The band only lasted a few months, and only in their career played two shows at house parties, which were described as little more than "hanging out and having fun."

The band was formed c. late 1985 by both Kat Bjelland and Courtney Love. Love sang lead vocals while Bjelland focused on lead guitar and backing vocals. Soon after their formation, the duo recruited Janis Tanaka to play bass, and through Tanaka found a drummer/pianist, Deirdre Schletter. The band soon began rehearsing in friends' bedrooms, and played numerous covers and some originals during their jam sessions.

Love and Bjelland's shared apartment in San Francisco became the Pagan Babies' rehearsal space. It was here that they recorded a demo tape in December 1985. Aside from the band's four main songs, "I See Nothing," "Colder Than Me," "My Angels" and "All Roads Lead to" were also written, though only may have been embryonic lyrics written by Love.

The band performed live twice before splitting up, first in a friend's bedroom, where they played electric versions of their songs, and second in a friend's living room with acoustic guitars. Both shows and rehearsals were later described as just about "getting together and screwing off". During their post-show period, Bjelland began writing songs inspired by hardcore punk band Frightwig — some of which would later become Babes in Toyland songs — a band introduced to Bjelland by Tanaka's boyfriend at the time. Love, determined to conserve the band's new wave and dream pop-inspired sound, was not impressed with the new material and subsequently, an internal feud developed within the band. The night Love left the band, she was noted as saying "you're never going to get anywhere playing that punk rock noise."