Tacocat

Tacocat
Tacocat performing at the EMP Pop Conference in 2015
Background information
Origin	Seattle, Washington, United States
Genres	Pop punk, street punk
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Hardly Art
Associated acts	Childbirth
Website	tacocatdotcom.com
Members	Emily Nokes Bree McKenna Lelah Maupin Eric Randall

Tacocat is an American punk rock quartet from Seattle, Washington, founded in 2007 and consisting of Emily Nokes, Bree McKenna, Lelah Maupin, and Eric Randall. They gained popularity in 2014 following the release of their second album NVM, engineered by Conrad Uno. The album received positive reviews in the music press, including from Pitchfork,AllMusic, and PopMatters, and also reached the CMJ top 10 college radio albums.

Tacocat addresses feminist themes in many of their songs using humor and sarcasm. For example, the song "Hey Girl" uses sarcasm to mock street harassment, and the song "This is Anarchy" mocks the politics of white male skinheads. The song "Crimson Wave" is a period-positive beach anthem featuring red imagery and humorous menstruation metaphors. The music video for the song gained over 10,000 views in a single week on YouTube, and has since gotten over 200,000 views. The band also jokes about other themes such as seasonal affective disorder in Seattle on "Bridge to Hawaii" and waiting for a late bus on "FU #8."

Drummer Lelah Maupin and guitarist Eric Randall first met in Longview, Washington while working together at a Safeway grocery store. Randall met bassist Bree McKenna while his band was practicing in the basement of the punk house she lived in. Lelah Maupin met Emily Nokes in a graphic design class. The four bonded over their mutual affection for 1990s music, the riot grrrl movement, and Kevin Costner's Waterworld. They started making music together, performing at small shows and releasing singles. They released their DIY debut album Shame Spiral in 2010. That year, they also signed with Subpop imprint Hardly Art and released their second EP Take Me to Your Dealer. The Woman's Day EP followed in 2011. The band would exhaustively tour the United States over the next few years, playing basements and house shows. Other notable releases include a Ghost Mice/Tacocat split 7", a riot grrrl cover compilation album released on Teenage Teardrops Records (featuring cover art by Jessica Hopper), and the much coveted DIY tour tapes such as Frenching and Food Stamps and OMG.