G. B. Jones is a Canadian artist, filmmaker, musician, and publisher of zines, known for her vast contributions to both queer and punk media. She initially gained recognition for her work in the fanzine J.D.s, which she co founded and co-published with Bruce LaBruce. GB also co founded and performed with the experimental post-punk band Fifth Column who became mothers of feminist punk. She has directed several films, including The Troublemakers, The Yo-Yo Gang, and The Lollipop Generation. And Her artwork continues to be shown worldwide. For me, as a punk kid growing up in Southern Ontario in the 90s, GB’s influence loomed large - someone whose work literally changed the world as I knew it. Kathleen Hanna said: Well if I can ever be of help to draw attention to G.B. Jones’s art-I mean she did so much for me in my twenties in terms of informing my identity as a writer and musician and performer, I really could never repay her. So the more people can learn about her, the happier I am. Zine Queen Vaginal Davis insists: there wouldn’t be a riot grrl movement without Fifth Column GB Jones invented the terms Homocore and Queercore in the 80s, kicking off the modern reclamation of the word Queer. So when GB put out a book earlier this year called Witches, i thought yesssss - here’s my chance to chat with a punk icon. The Zoom meeting was set, the coven gathered and GB’s laptop chose that night to bite the dust. No problem, we’ll figure it out... Remember how last week we talked about Killing Joke, and the potential contained within destruction? Here’s great example. GB’s laptop bit the dust, but it just so happened that I was going to be in her home town, Toronto, the following weekend. So GB agreed to meet me in person! The interview you’re about to hear is as old school as it comes. GB and I found a quite corner in her local public library - you’ll hear room sounds, ambient noises as we talk in half whispers that I recorded live with a field recorder balanced on a pile of books. After we finished recording, we went out for coffee and gabbed more about our lives. GB has offered to play xylophone on a track for my new band. I lamented how impossible it is to find Fifth Column on vinyl, and GB told me that a reissue is in the works, that she and Caroline could come on the pod together next spring as Fifth Column to dive deeper into feminist punk… So we had a disaster - zoom call fail - but that disaster led to something so much more - GB and I formed a face to face human connection that I know will bear future fruit. This is anti anxiety medication. To know that things going wrong might be making way for something better. I met up with GB at a public library, and we sat in this third space to talk about rebellion, making connections and building communities before the internet, the intersection of Witch Queer and Punk, self-fulfilling prophecy, adversity and courage. www.missingwitches.com/ep-281-wf-gb-jones-sacred-rebellion