7 Year Bitch… man, those girls were the real deal.
I first heard them around ’92 when someone at the store put on Sick ’Em. Selene Vigil’s voice just hit different — tough, pissed off, and honest as hell. They were all girls in a scene full of dudes, and they didn’t sound like they were asking for permission to be there. I was into them right away.
I got to see them live a bunch of times once I moved here. One night that really stuck with me was at the Off Ramp in ’93. The place was sweaty and packed, and they played like they had something to say. No posing, no rock star bullshit — just straight-up energy. You left the show feeling like you’d been through something with them.
They were tight with The Gits, and when Mia got killed in ’93 it hit them hard. Their next record, ¡Viva Zapata!, was basically a tribute to her. That one felt heavy for a lot of us. You could tell they were angry and sad and using the music to deal with it. I respected the hell out of them for that.
They put out one more album after that, Gato Negro in ’96, and then called it quits in ’97. Seven years, just like the name. It sucked when they broke up, but I get it — they’d been through a lot.
These days in 2002 I still pull out those records sometimes. They weren’t the biggest band in Seattle, but they were one of the ones that felt like they actually belonged here. They played the clubs, they cared about their friends, and they didn’t try to be something they weren’t.
7 Year Bitch were one of the good ones. I’m glad I got to see them when they were still going.