There’s a new favorite band in town, Chastity Belt, and they’re having so much more fun than you. Since signing to Seattle staple, Hardly Art, and releasing Time To Go Home, the girls have reached a new level of much-deserved success. It seems everyone is falling in love with the Chastity Belt charm; their wry sense of humor, much needed dose of relatable feminism and passion for having a f*cking good time.
“My go-to is Red Hot Chili Peppers or Nickelback,” lead singer Julia Shapiro remarked about living it up, karaoke style. It’s the kind of humor where you’re not entirely confident in her level of seriousness, but cross your fingers there is some truth in those choices. On their newest record, Time To Go Home, Julia makes it clear that the girls are all about ‘just wanting to have a good time.’ Guitarist Lydia Lund said the perfect Seattle good time would include – but certainly not limited to – getting drunk, doing karaoke, skinny dipping in the lake and filming it all on the Chastity Belt jazz cam.
“It’s a small world but it’s also a big world; we get to meet so many wonderful people and connect with them through music.”
When they’re not goofing around exclusively within their own gang, they’re playing with bands like TacocaT, bassist Bree is in Childbirth with Julia, and hanging with our other girl crushes Girlpool. “They just have equally fun-loving vibes and we’re all about that” said Lydia. She recalled impressing Cleo and Harmony by eating some weird shit like eggs with fun dip. “I felt like such a cool older kid,” Lydia said. Meeting these kindred spirits make everything on tour so much more than just a surface level good time. “I’m realizing it’s a small world but it’s also a big world,” Lydia said, “We get to meet so many wonderful people and connect with them through music and being a part of this community.”
“You can’t have non-stop fun but you can have non-stop contentment and love for your pals.
It’s this bond with their community and with each other that makes Chastity Belt so damn lovable. “I think we draw empowerment and enrichment from each other,” said bassist Annie Truscott. And what better way to truly celebrate girl power than by playing with other women in an amazing band. While Lydia recalled contributing artwork for a feminist zine in college, it was joining a band that made a difference. “I think people are more receptive because our music isn’t starkly feminist,” she said. Songs like “Cool Slut”, which started as an improv song Julia sang around her college campus, find a way to use mix humor with a strong feminist message that not’s all in your face. With lines like, “To all the girls in the world…It’s okay to be slutty.”
At the end of the day, it’s not just all fun and games and rainbows and sunshine for the Chazzy girls. “You can’t have non-stop fun but you can have non-stop contentment and love for your pals,” Lydia said. And the love continues throughout the summer as Chastity Belt tour with their bucket hats, shake weight and jazz along for the ride.
Interview & Film Photos by: Shannon Kurlander