Allison Wolfe

Allison Wolfe is a feminist musician, educator, arts journalist, and podcaster living in Los Angeles, CA. Allison was born as an identical twin in Memphis, Tennessee. When Allison was ten, she and her sisters Cindy and Molly moved to Olympia with their mother Pat Shively, a radical feminist lesbian nurse practitioner who founded the area’s first women’s health clinic in 1981. Allison and her sisters were frequently exposed to anti-abortion demonstrations at their mother’s clinic, which instilled them with a strong sense of women’s bodily autonomy at an early age. Allison was introduced to new wave and punk music in her early teens and became a regular at the North Shore Surf Club New Wave dance nights. Allison met her friend Molly Neuman while attending the University of Oregon. Allison and Molly started visiting Olympia on the weekends and were encouraged by Olympia friends to start a band. Their theoretical band Bratmobile moved from concept to practice in 1991 when Calvin Johnson called their bluff and put them on a Valentine’s Day bill with Bikini Kill and Some Velvet Sidewalk. Bratmobile’s music, plus Allison and Molly’s seminal zines Girl Germs and Riot Grrrl, served as a call to arms for the developing riot grrrl movement. Allison was a founding organizer for the first Ladyfest in Olympia in 2000. She’s been in numerous bands, including Cold Cold Hearts, Deep Lust, Partyline, and Sex Stains. Bratmobile reunited in 2023 after 21 years and toured in 2024 to enthusiastic crowds.