Fresh, Radical Folks

Riots in West Berkeley -- Rebecca Riots at Freight & Salvage, that is.

By Larry Kelp
In 2001, the three women in Rebecca Riots released their best CD, Gardener, capping off years of touring that had built to regularly sold-out shows. Then they said goodbye just as they were becoming nationally known. Luckily for their fans, this story has a happy continuation. Eve Decker, Andrea Prichett, and Lisa Zeiler, aka Rebecca Riots, reunite for an unprecedented three-night run at Berkeley's Freight & Salvage, this Thursday through Saturday.

Chris Duffey

There's a Rebecca goin' on: Andrea Prichett, Eve Decker, and Lisa Zeiler

As Gardener's title song states in clear, soaring three-part harmony: I am the garden/But I am also the gardener. In addition to being a melodic metaphor for social responsibility, it reflects the Riots' unplanned success at sowing the seeds of the next generation of women singer-songwriters, exemplified by the guitars and close-harmony singing often labeled "fresh radical folk."

"When I hear them, I feel that music can change the world," says Irina Rivkin. She saw the Riots in 1994, "the year I got the courage to perform my own original songs," and later created Berkeley's Rose Street House of Music as a performance space for women musicians -- it celebrates its sixth anniversary on Thursday.

"They feel like big sisters to me," says singer Green, whose recording and performing collective was inspired by the Riots. "[They] paved the way for my career as a socially conscious feminist singer-songwriter. For a long time there wasn't anyone else out there who made music with as much talent, heart, and social and political commitment. Maybe still isn't!"

"They're my heroes. They took me with them for my first touring experience," adds Berkeley public schoolteacher Rachel Garlin, who since then has spent more time on the road than in the classroom. Garlin packs the Freight & Salvage when she's home, and had the Riots' Lisa Zeiler produce her two CDs. "They're all teachers, and you learn something when you listen to their songs that weave history with current events."

Rebecca Riots didn't so much break up as react to the burnout of nonstop touring by deciding to pursue their lives at a less hectic pace. "That was three years on the road in a little VW van eating Denny's food and hummus, to the point where we didn't eat hummus anymore," Decker remembers with a grimace. "For ten years our social life was the three of us, and we're still close, but we have other lives and partners at home." New songs reflect changes in their lives: Zeiler gave birth to son Ariel nineteen months ago, Decker went on a three-month meditation retreat, and Prichett visited Palestine last year. "So Lisa's writing baby songs, Andrea's written a song about Palestine, and I did one about my silent retreat." Now they're planning a new CD, "not a big production, just the songs we've written since the last album."

If Rebecca Riots haven't officially regrouped, the threesome also can't exactly remain apart. After selling out two-night engagements in September and April, Freight manager Steve Baker talked them into doing a three-night stand, June 10-12. Rebecca Riots' shows at the Freight & Salvage (1111 Addison St., Berkeley) are at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18.50 ($17.50 advance) at 510-548-1761.

Girlfriends Magazine (national)

“Dreamy Girl Band”

Once teachers by day, radical folk rockers by night – this powerful trio recently quit their day jobs to go on tour. Known for their political activism, Rebecca Riots was voted Best Band with a Conscience by the San Francisco Bay Guardian in 1998. Eve Decker, guitar player, explains: “I consider our music to be a form of political activism. Its something else to stand in front of an audience of 40 students in a conservative state like Colorado and sing Lisa’s coming out song…or Andrea’s song about classism.” All three band members write and sing, with Lisa Zeiler on guitar and mandolin and Andre Prichett chiming in on harmonica.

Encore! (Salina, Kansas)

The three female folk singers who call themselves Rebecca Riots are quitting their day jobs to tour the country advocating social change.

Now working as teachers in Berkeley, Calif., the trio will devote themselves to touring full time after the school year to support their first nationally distributed CD, “Gardener.”

They will be in Salina today to perform at the noon-time Art a la Carte concert and then at a concert tonight at the Salina Art Center.

All three penned songs for the CD, which takes on issues personal to political – the death penalty, body oppression, homelessness, gay rights, militarism and police brutality.

Vocalist and harmonica player Andrea Prichett started writing songs in college when she became involved in political movements.

“Music was one way I had of releasing some of the emotion and passion I had for things I was seeing around me,” Prichett said in a telephone conversation from Berkeley. “I was also writing songs, at times, to be used in protests.”

Prichett met guitar player Eve Decker seven years ago at a summer camp where they were counselors. They swapped songs and brought in Prichett’s guitar teacher, Lisa Zeiler to add more instrumentation.

We aren’t really shooting for fame and fortune,” Prichett said. “We trust in the music and let it express our lives. Hopefully, that will resonate with people.”

The trio started touring full time in 1998 but went back to teaching this year so they could record “Gardener” for Appleseed Records.

“It’s a social justice-minded label that really fit with what we’re trying to do,” Prichett said.

The group has made three independent CDs that they sell at concerts. The new CD will be available at tonight’s show and will be in record stores in August.

When the trio went to press their first CD, they needed a name. Rebecca Riots comes from the protests in South Wales in 1843, Prichett said.

A group of citizens calling themselves the “Rebeccas” – after the Old Testament matriarch – dismantled tollgates they thought were oppressive. When British troops were sent in to preserve the tollgates, the people stood up to the soldiers, and the ensuing conflicts were dubbed the “Rebecca Riots.” The people prevailed, and there have been no tollgates in South Wales since then.

Prichett learned about the events while reading the “R” encyclopedia from a 1911 set. The mother of a friend was planning to throw out the volumes from her bookstore, but Prichett “couldn’t bear to see them go to the landfill,” she said.

“They’re still in my kitchen,” she said.

Pritchett identified with the story of people taking matters into their own hands. They were determined, yet non-violent. Pritchett took the name to her partners.

“There was just something about it,” Zeiler said over the telephone. “We went through every possible name a band can go through. It was time for our CD to be pressed, and Andrea told us this story. I absolutely identified with it.”

Tonight’s performance was arranged by folk singer Ruby Tilton. She met the trio about a year ago at a concert in Lawrence.

“They knocked my socks off,” said Tilton, who hadn’t heard of the group before but became a quick fan.

“I liked their songs and the harmonies,” she said. “They just went up there and were good, and there was nothing pretentious about them. They were just dynamite live, and I’m not that impressed very easily anymore.”

When Tilton learned the group would be playing Saturday in Kansas City, she asked if they would stop by Salina first. The trio agreed, and Salina is the only place where the band is performing twice.

Bay Guardian (San Francisco, CA)

Best Band with a Conscience

“I’ve got a heart,” Rebecca Riots vocalist Eve Decker cries, “that’s been doing some healing.” They may not be God – though they have a considerable following among local, Northwest, and college audiences – but this Berkeley-based band heals minds with its political and social commentary. Decker and fellow vocalists Andrea Prichett and Lisa Zeiler have fused their talents to create a unique brand of folk music. The causes they support are evident in their lyrics; an end of homelessness, police accountability, and feminism, among others. The trio – who are all teachers by day – encourage their audiences to take an active role in their communities and lives. After all, “This is all there is,” Decker concludes. “We’re not rehearsing for anything.”

HipFish (Astoria and the North Coast, Oregon)

Rebecca Riots Astoria

Two years ago a female acoustic trio from the East Bay played to a small, but enthusiastic, audience at Café Uniontown. Although it’s been far too long since they’ve graced our river shores, Rebecca Riots have been well worth the wait. The night before the Astoria gig they played a packed coffeehouse in Seattle to an audience who paid more than triple the Café Uniontown cover. Obviously they were privy to Rebecca Riots infectious, uplifting, way-cool radical folk, and that the trio, on their musical touring path, had previously received two standing ovations at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival.

Alive, heartfelt, connected, Rebecca Riots is not a representation of slick acoustic style, though lead guitarist Lisa Zeiler’s nimble fingers work the neck of a guitar like a seasoned seamstress, and the vocals of Eve Decker and Andrea Prichett deliver soprano and alto ranges in perfect harmony. There is a dauntless rhythm to the Riots’ music. Whether a live performance or recording, it is this rhythm that is the glue of powerful lyrics, smart arrangements infected with rock and blues, soulful harmonies, and strong folk-pop melodies. It is an underlying rhythm of life connected to the consciousness of human concern. It is their commitment to the issues reflected in their songs – an end to homelessness, police accountability, feminism – that directly influence and shape the strength of a vital performance quality. Though the Riots may stand on the proverbial soapbox, their political/social commentary infuses a power in their music, rather than clobbering the listener over the head. It is virtually impossible not to enjoy listening to them.

By day, all three musicians are teachers. Eve Decker, a K-6 music teacher and song leader, also performs concerts and storytelling for children and families. Lisa Zeiler (self taught guitarist) is a guitar teacher and luthier who gives workshops on guitar repair and maintenance, music theory, and alternative tunings. Andrea Prichett, a high school P.E. teacher, has a second degree black belt in Karate and offers workshops to children and adults.

By night, Rebecca Riots sell out weekend shows at the Freight and Salvage, the premier folk venue in their hometown of Berkeley, CA. They tour nationally, and have opened for many national acts. The East Bay Express says, “Rebecca Riots should be a household name!” Let’s make them a household hame here this time around. They play at Café Uniontown, Wednesday, March 17 at 9:30pm.

Iowa City Press-Citizen, Iowa City

Given the current state of our society/”culture” that is hesitate to mention the innate goodness of this luminous, all-woman folk trio out of Berkeley – lest I plant the kiss of death upon them. Utilizing three warm, genuinely copasetic voices, Rebecca Riots elegantly supports their lovely original melodies with two guitars and harmonica. Leavened by a low-key sense of humor, the stories they present are honest, probing and frequently provocative. But if/when they tick you off, take the next logical step and think about it. I sincerely wish that every woman (and man) could here – and listen to – their no-nonsense Women’s Bodies. In the classic, Meaningful Folk tradition, Rebecca Riots are at once understated and majestic. Fun, too.

Queer Style (Baltimore, Maryland)

Rebecca Riots: Delicacy, Soul and Power

Rebecca Riots, the acoustic trio from Berkeley, California, which uses delicate harmonies to bring home powerful political messages, returns to Baltimore this April as part of UMBC’s celebration of Women’s History Month. Rebecca Riots consists of Eve Decker on rhythm guitar, Andrea Prichett on harmonica, and Lisa Zeiler on lead and slide guitar as well as mandolin. All three women sing, and all three share songwriting credits.

“I’ve just come out as heterosexual” says Eve. Her love song “You Bring Me” on the group’s new CD Gardener contains a reference to her boyfriend. “I can see the wisdom in him,” she sings, “He sees the wisdom in me.” The other two women are lesbian, which is never exactly hidden, yet is not the only focus of their songs. “Our love songs tend to be ambiguous,” says Eve, “but that wasn’t really a conscious decision.”

The groups politics are far from ambiguous. They regularly play at benefits for environmental causes, prisoner’s rights, and women’s issues. “We just played a benefit for Copwatch,” says Lisa. “It’s a group which monitors the police and holds them accountable.” The group supports gay rights too, of course. “Lisa has a song on our CD Some Folks called ‘How I Feel’ about coming out to her parents,” says Eve. “We played it in Fort Collins, Colorado, after Matthew Sheperd’s murder. Then we played it at a rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, for a lesbian who was killed coming home from a vigil for Sheperd.”

Gardener is the first CD Rebecca Riots has released since signing with Appleseed Records, the Philadelphia-based political folk music label that is also home to Rambling Jack Elliott and Kim and Reggie Harris, who played Baltimore Pride last year. “We’re politically very much on the same wave-length with them,” says Eve. But Gardener is not all about politics. Lisa’s ‘Fiddler’s Creek’ is a simple song of love in the wilderness subtly underscored by a quiet cello. Andrea and Lisa’s song ‘Sweet Reminder’ is a gospel-based song of yearning for “some message from the great beyond”. Eve’s chilling ‘Grey Girl’ is a song of hope for “my little addicted grey skinned girl”. “That was me about ten years ago,” says Eve. The song’s emotion-drenched harmonies make it the most moving song on the CD.

Rebecca Riots’ sound is firmly based in traditional folk, but it also borrows from gospel and acoustic country. Andrea mentions James Taylor and Joni Mitchell as influences, but also Motown. Eve grew up going to Pete Seeger and Joan Baez concerts with her parents, and listened to Cat Stevens. Lisa studied guitar as a child with a woman from Nashville, in high school she played rock and punk. “In another time, we’d be alternative country,” says Lisa.

Rebecca Riots plays in UMBC’s University Commons Ballroom. Expect to be amazed by the trio’s soulful harmonies and delicate picking. Also expect to hear a chopice word or two about Baltimore’s recent decision to stop recycling. “It’s outrageous,” says Lisa.

Encore (Cape Fear, North Carolina)

This weekend, Rebecca Riots, a band with a message, will be performing at the Water Street Restaurant. This trio out of Berkeley, Calif., who will be playing songs from their album Live at the Freight and Salvage, combine the sounds of acoustic folk music with meaningful lyrics ripped straight from the headlines. (the anti-war song “Landmines” is just one example).

Although Rebecca Riots tackle some serious issues, the ladies’ music is surprisingly laid back. This, combined with their ability to bring a little laughter to the stage, should be for quite an entertaining show.
So spend this Sunday evening with the sounds of Rebecca Riots; they’re guaranteed to deliver a good time.

The Olympian (Olympia, Washington)

Aptly Named Rebecca Riots makes music with a conscience

The “fresh radical folk” group Rebecca Riots took their name from, of all things, a mid-19th century uprising against the British government of South Wales.

Highway tolls hurt the poor and they responded by, at first, non-violent means. But when the government used force against the protesters, they struck back by burning down the toll houses.

The name is particularly apt for the Berkeley, Calif. Trio – Andrea Prichett, Eve Decker and Lisa Zeiller – who carefully weave comment into their delicate folk songs.

The trio that the San Francisco Chronicle called “a band with a conscience that heals minds with their political and social commentary” will perform on Saturday in Olympia.

“The point of our being together really isn’t about performing music so much,” Prichett once said. “It is about just enjoying music, and in the course of that getting to know each other and (enjoying) the healing energy of the music itself.”

Prichett and Decker met at a summer camp in 1993. They began playing guitar together and were eventually joined by Zeiller, Prichett’s guitar teacher at the time.

The chemistry between the three convinced them to form Rebecca Riots. “Our first concert was in Lisa’s living room,” Prichett said. “We did the songs once and we had so much fun, we did them all again. The friendship’s been the primary thing, and encouraging each other to do things that we hadn’t done before, and to take musical chances and such.”

A self-titled debut album followed in 1995, with “Some Folks” hitting stores three years later. The trio began touring outside California and, after a 1999 live album, they signed a deal with folk music label Appleseed.

“One thing that’s really great about having signed with Appleseed is that we’re very much politically on the same wave length with them,” said Decker. “It’s exciting to think that – in spite of the fact that we swim upstream and we don’t choose to do what the culture proscribes in terms of success – that we’ve now got this support to quite extensively expand our base. And that there are people that sympathize with our way of thinking.”

And thus far, Rebecca Riots has found some faithful fans. Dirty Linen magazine described the group as such: “They blend three distinctive voices into some amazing harmonies. All three are songwriters who catchy, thoughtful, up-tempo songs reflect a concern with the problems of living and loving in today’s modern and somewhat confused world.”
East Bay Express, Berkeley, CA

Rebecca Riots should be a household name. If you’ve ever seen the East Bay band play one of its local haunts like La Pena, you’ll know what I mean. If you haven’t, its self-titled CD will make you an instant convert. With their bluesy folk-rock tunes and two-and-three-part harmonies, a facile comparison could be made to the Indigo Girls, but it wouldn’t do these phenoms justice. Eve Decker’s husky alto and Andrea Prichett’s clear soprano are powerful instruments that soar and dive around each other, and Lisa Zeiler’s lead and rhythm guitar travel adeptly from aggressive blues riffs to soft arpeggios. Most amazing are the original songs, political anthems like “Rattle the Cage” and wise ballads like “All There Is”; you might find yourself wondering if you’ve just heard a blues or folk standard, or some early Bob Dylan you’d forgotten, until you check the credits. – Brent Calderwood

Victory Review (national)

Rebecca Riots: Some Folks CD

Songs of love and political correctness ring true from this Berkeley group who was formerly “Final Girl”. Their new name comes from the Rebecca riots that took place in South Wales in 1843. Their music reaches a folk-rock soul with interesting melodies and a drum-along beat. Lyrics from the heart are written by all three, not always collaborative but always in harmony. Harmony is a high point for this group, reminiscent of 60’s folk; yet their message of peace and love within oneself and for the world is timeless. Watch for them on tour! – Nicki De

Westword (Denver, Colorado)

Buzzing from their summer performances at the Vancouver Folk Festival and as finalists at the Napa Valley Festival, as well as their designation by a San Francisco weekly as that town’s “Best Band with a Conscience”, the members of Rebecca Riots – all teachers by day – decided to quit their steady jobs and hit the road. Made up of three women whose harmonies are as evocative in songs about homelessness as they are transcendent in songs about finding strength wherever you can, the trio pulls into the area for several gigs this week.

Icon (Iowa City)

Several months ago, three female guitarists from Berkeley, Calif., decided that they wanted to take their show on the road. So they packed up their gear in an old van and set off.

The band, Rebecca Riots, was formed in 1993 by the women, teachers Eve Decker, Andrea Prichertt and Lisa Zeiler. The radical acoustic folk trio will be performing this weekend in Iowa City. The name, Rebecca Riots, comes from an uprising of Welsh Farmers in 1883.

The women are interested in spreading political messages through music. They have been touring the country, performing at political benefits, marches and rallies for such causes as the environment, the homeless and prisoners’ rights.

The tour is organized entirely by the band, which will be performing at the Mill Restaurant on Sunday at 7pm.

Pitch Weekly (Kansas City, MO)

A trio of teachers by day, Rebecca Riots will bring its radical folk music to the Actor’s Craft Studio. Voted by the San Francisco Bay Guardian as “best Band With a Conscience” in 1998, the Rebecca Riots are known for soaring harmonies, dynamic musical arrangements and an engaging, often humorous stage presence.

Telluride Weekly Planet (Telluride, CO)

Feeding the belly of the protester at UC Santa Cruz and serving up freshly-brewed cups that spillith over with feminism and optimism in coffeehouses is Rebecca Riots, a female trio that experiences sold-out performances at their regular gigs at the Freight and Salvage venue in Berkeley.

In the spirit of their band’s namesake, which was taken from the 1843 uprisings in South Wales where the poor where heavily taxed and burdened, Rebecca Riots revisits to the 60s folk age with their message of peace and love and their use of sweet-sounding harmonies.

On their CD, “Some Folks,” songs of gay and children’s rights, self-healing, compassion and concerns of the radical and political infiltrate the conscience. In Fact, Rebecca Riots was voted San Francisco’s Best Band with a Conscience. In “Women’s Bodies” the chorus sings, “don’t teach me to hate my body/I have woman’s body, not a child’s,” and then ends with the affirmative “we will love our bodies.” In “Songwriter” are the protests of a Pennsylvania journalist waiting on death row, convicted for killing a cop.

“What we’re writing about is what moves us,” guitarist Lisa Zeiler told Washington’s Everett Herald.

“A big issues around here is homelessness, and police brutality and accountability, and women’s rights and issues that women are more inclined to care about. It’s how we turned out. We’re the kind of band that sit down and listen to…we’re not your basic dance band,” Zeiller said.

Also joining Zeiler on guitar is Eve Decker and Andrea Prichettt is on harmonica.