Team Dresch - Choices, Chances, Changes

The complete picture of one of punk's most essential and undersung bands. Choices, Chances, Changes gathers Team Dresch's singles and compilation contributions from 1994 to 2000, tracing the full arc of a band whose highly emotive, tightly wound, and very loud punk rock delivered some of the most profoundly prescient messages of its era to anyone willing to listen.

The collection begins with the band's 1994 debut, the Hand Grenade + 2 7" on Kill Rock Stars, featuring Spinanes' Scott Plouf on drums for the mid-tempo earworm title track alongside the slow and moody "Molasses In January" and the quick and furious "Endtime Relay." From there the compilation moves through contributions to landmark compilations of the period, including the fiercely dynamic "Fake Fight" from YoYo Records' Periscope and "Seven" from Rock Stars Kill, before arriving at one of the collection's most significant inclusions: "Song For Anne Bannon," a tribute to author Ann Weldy, whose pen name Ann Bannon graced the highly influential lesbian pulp fiction series The Beebo Brinker Chronicles from 1957 to 1962, originally contributed to the Free To Fight! Self Defense For Women And Girls compilation on Candy-Ass Records.

The final four tracks document the late 1990s incarnation of Team Dresch following Kaia Wilson's departure, including the powerful "It's A Conversation" from a Sub Pop split 7" with Longstocking, two true-to-form rockers from the New Team Dresch V 6.0 Beta 7" on Outpunk, and the band's final studio recording "Temporary Insurance" from a 2000 split with The Automaticans on Mental Monkey Records.

As annotator Andrew Earles writes, that this music was made approximately a quarter century ago is an astonishing thing to wrap one's head around. That it went somewhat overlooked in its day is not surprising, given that it was probably a little too ahead of its time. It resonates as deeply today as it ever has.