Alice Bag

Alicia "Alice" Armendariz, also known as Alice Bag, (born November 7, 1958), is an American punk rock singer and author.

She is the lead vocalist and co-founder of the Bags, one of the earliest punk bands to form in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s.

Bag has remained active in music since the late 1970s.

As a member of the punk rock band the Bags, Alice was at the forefront of the L.A. punk rock scene in the late 1970s.

The Bags were active from years 1977–1981.

They released a single "Survive" along with "Babylonian Gorgon".

The Bags Songs included:

Members of the Bags appeared as the Alice Bag Band in director Penelope Spheeris's landmark 1981 documentary on the Southern California punk scene, The Decline of Western Civilization.

As a lead singer of the Bags, she pioneered the first wave of California punk alongside Black Flag, X, the Germs, Phranc (then in Catholic Discipline), and the five musicians who would go on to form the Go-Go's.

Bag went on to appear and perform in other Los Angeles–based rock bands including Castration Squad, The Boneheads, Alarma, Cambridge Apostles, Swing Set, Cholita – the Female Menudo (with her friend and collaborator, performance artist Vaginal Davis), Las Tres, Goddess 13 (the subject of a KCET/PBS produced documentary, "Chicanas in Tune"), and Stay at Home Bomb.

Later in Bag's career, she founded the "punk-chera" genre, fusing aspects of punk and ranchera performances.

Alice Bag began singing professionally at the age of 8, recording theme songs for cartoons in both English and Spanish.

She did not gain exposure until forming the Bags.

Alice collaborated with Patricia Morrison and Margo Reyes in what they first called Mascara, then Femme Fatale, and then finally the Bags.

The Bags broke up by the year 1981, leading Alice Bag to join the band Cholita in the late 1980s.

The Bags were renamed the Alice Bag Band for the release of The Decline of Western Civilization, after Alice Bag and partner Patricia Morrison had a dispute about who had the right to use the band name.

Following the birth of her daughter in the mid-1990s, Alice Bag chose to take a break from the music industry and become a stay-at-home mother.

Soon after, she started her current project, Stay at Home Bomb.

Stay at Home Bomb is an all-female community centered around punk rock that exists to address social constraints that are put on women domestically and musically.

The band features Alice Bag as Mothra Stewart on vocals, guitar and washboard, Judy Cocuzza as Judy Polish on drums, pots and pans, Lysa Flores as Lady Licuadora on vocals, guitar and blenders and Sharon Needles on vocals and bass guitar.

She released her first book, Violence Girl: From East LA Rage to Hollywood Stage, in 2011 and her second book was published in 2015.

Bag has performed at events which celebrate women in the genre, such as Women Who Rock in 2014.

Bag was a victim of bullying throughout her adolescence.

During her middle and high school years, she was picked on for her weight, teeth, and physical appearance.

As a result, she was often alone, which influenced her taste in favor of music such as Queen, David Bowie and Elton John.

After transferring high schools, she was often called "Ziggy" after David Bowie's persona.

After receiving her bachelor's degree in philosophy from California State University, Los Angeles, Bag began working as an English teacher in inner-city L.A. schools.

Bag is best known for being a member of the Bags, one of the first bands on the L.A. punk scene.

The Bags were notable for having two female lead musicians (the group was co-founded by Bag and school friend Patricia Morrison) and for pioneering an aggressive sound and style that has been cited as an early influence on what would become the hardcore punk sound.

The band's aggressive sound was later noted to have a Mexican/Chicano influence, which Bag unintentionally incorporated from her childhood.

She released Alice Bag, her debut solo album on Don Giovanni Records in June 2016.

In 2016, Alice Bag released her debut solo album, Alice Bag, on the punk label Don Giovanni Records.

A second solo album, Blueprint, was released in 2018, followed by 2020's Sister Dynamite.

Bag was born and raised in East Los Angeles, California.

Her father, Manuel Armendariz, was a self-employed carpenter who worked in the Bracero program, and her mother, Candelaria "Candy" Armendariz, was a homemaker.

Both of her parents were from Mexico.

Candy had five children from her first marriage, which ended after the death of her first husband.

She had an older half-sister, Yolanda.

As a child, Bag was influenced by the music played by her family, including her father's ranchera music and her sister's soul music collections.

A second album, Blueprint, followed in early 2018, and featured numerous guest musicians including Allison Wolfe and Kathleen Hanna.