Yeastie Girlz Videos
Live at Gilman Street
Here's a live show with (left to right) Cammie, Kate and Joyce, probably in 1988 some time. This recording is a great example of how much interaction there was between us and the audience, and how we always wanted to be fun and funny while also wanting to challenge and educate.
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In the opening song, we respond to the criticism and insults that we were hearing from men:
That we must be "dykes" because we dare to say no to misogyny and the generally terrible behavior by men (and the young men in our punk scene).
That we're gross. And yeah, sometimes we were gross deliberately, and sometimes we were just being open about bleeding or pooping or yeast, which aren't necessarily gross.
That we suck because we don't have music - and we make fun of ourselves for not being able to use a drum machine or keep a beat. We did, by the way, do very well keeping the beat when we collaborated with Consolidated, making a very fine dance hit out of You Suck, as well as with Lily Braindrop on "Jingle Balls" and when we teamed up with Splat to do a rocknroll version of Sperm Brain (go to our Music page if you'd like to listen).
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Then we sing Bitch Twitch, which is the dance you do when you have a yeast infection (Come on everybody let's do the Bitch Twitch!), which leads right into our anthem Yeast Power, which was the very first song that we ever wrote.
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After Yeast Power, Cammie breaks out the tampon applicators, or Tampbones, to play music on for a game of Name That Tune. People who guessed correctly won acidophilus pills for use when you have a yeast infection.
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Then members of the audience are invited up to the stage to play in an impromptu Tampbone orchestra, and much fun was had by all.
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Sperm Brain is next, where we sing about the type of men who catcall, make sexist comments and/or expose themselves in public. The verse about seeing a guy at the beach who was watching people with his dick out was something that Cammie actually saw.
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Get Your Hands Off My Body is a song that changed, sometimes with each time that we performed it. The first verse is about Republican California governor George Deukmejian, who passed a law requiring minors to get parental consent before getting an abortion. The song goes on to rail against misogynist male doctors, women's magazines and the beauty industry and men who only care about their dicks.
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Joyce talks about her frustrations with guys who hold onto one idea of female beauty - the thin woman wearing makeup, the kind of feminine ideal pushed in corporate media. And why is it that we could be in an alternative punk scene, where we all celebrate our different-ness, and yet people still only want someone who looks like what the dominant culture says is acceptable?
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Talkin' Shit is, well, about poop! I mean, why not sing about poo?
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Fuck Yourself encourages women to masturbate and explore all the fun ways you can get yourself to orgasm
First Show Ever
Here it is, the moment the Yeastie Girlz were born on stage at Gilman Street at the all-day 4th of July show. Jane had written the song just an hour before and we clutched our lyric sheets in terror as we jumped on stage before Crimpshrine had a chance to start their set.
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Left to right: Joyce, Jane and Cammie
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Read more about it on the Our Story page
Put A Lid On It
Here's a juicy song about feeling hot to fuck but first there's a condom that needs to be worn by a reluctant male partner, so the Yeastiez spell out all of the reasons why he needs to put a lid on it boy, right now or else!
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This was filmed at Gilman Street in Berkeley, California on May 20, 1988. Left to right: Cammie, Kate and Jane
1997 Reunion Show
In 1997, the Yeastie Girlz were asked to do a performance in a show at San Francisco's historic speakeasy called Cafe du Nord.
At the time, Cammie was living in SF, raising a toddler and working as a photographer and Kate was also in SF, busy with running her two bookstores Dog Eared Books and Phoenix Books. Joyce had just moved back to Los Angeles from Amsterdam and Jane was living in Queens, NY and playing bass in a band called Profits of Misery.
Kate and Cammie said yes to the show, despite not having the other Yeastiez around. They hadn't performed as the Yeastie Girlz since about 1993, so coming together to do a reunion show meant a lot of practice and of course making new stickers!
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They decided to bring in a new element - sex toys plus Cammie's breast pump - for some fun audience participation.
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This video was shot by Max, the father of Cammie's son, and you get to delight in his creative cinematography and especially the moment when a dominatrix decides he needs to be spanked, all while he's trying to shoot the show.
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Besides being a great Yeastie Girlz show, this video is also a fabulous snapshot of San Francisco in the late 90s before the dotcom boom crushed the life out of the once-thriving and delightfully edgy underground scene.
Yeastie Girlz on Tour
In 1988 Joyce was living in a punk squat in Amsterdam and Cammie flew out to join her for some Yeastie shows through Europe with the band Loveslug. Cammie stayed for a few months then went back home, and then Kate flew over to join Joyce for more shows.
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This video is Joyce and Kate at the AJZ in Bielefeld, Germany singing Talkin' Shit.
Cammie at Gilman Street in 2004
In 2004 Brian Edge published his book 924 Gilman - The Story So Far... which had interviews, photos and documentation about the first 18 years or so of the Gilman Street Project.
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The book release party took place at Gilman Street on July 26, 2004, and in true Yeastie style, Cammie jumped on stage between bands, sang Yeast Power and did a few songs on the Tampbone.
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Luckily, videographer Dima was there to capture the moment.
Eddie Vedder Sings Yeast Power
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In 1998 Pearl Jam was on tour and apparently so were the Beastie Boys. Somehow this inspired Eddie Vedder to talk about the Yeastie Girlz and then sing a few lines from Yeast Power!