Chicks on Speed: Феминистік музыка және көркем өнер ансамблі

German feminist music and fine art ensemble

Chicks on Speed is a feminist music and fine art ensemble, formed in Munich in 1997, after members Australian Alex Murray Leslie and American Melissa Logan met at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. Though Chicks on Speed reached cult status throughout the 2000s and became most well known as catalysts of the musical genre electroclash, the band was founded and performed as a multidisciplinary art group working in performance art, electronic dance music, collage graphics, textile design, and fashion.

The co founders, Melissa Logan and Alex Murray Leslie met in 1997 as art students at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, while attending one of the academy's parties. This meeting with Upstart (Label owner of Disko B) would see the medium of music merge with the Chicks' multimedia explorations. Chicks on Speed created a live art piece named I Wanna Be A DJ Baby!. They stood behind DJ decks and smashed records while a sound collage tape was playing. For this project they also put together a "box set" with a T shirt, a cassette, a paper record and a fake interview for their "band". During this time they met Upstart (a. k. a. Peter Wacha) of Disko B record label who joined their freshly started record label, Go Records, which later become Chicks on Speed Records with Jeurgen Söder. Go Records was a suicide label—the release numbers started at 10 and went down to zero; the motto was, perhaps what is wrong with the world is that things are made to grow & get bigger. The 10 releases were primarily limited edition 7" and 10" records that sold out fast.

In an interview with Undertheradar. co. nz, Melissa Logan, a founding and current member stated, "We are humanists. Feminism is a small and at the same time a great part of this. Besides the obvious deserved rights for females through sexual equality, equality offers white males a way out of the white male oppressor role." Logan states that their political activism is a form of feminism and that their form of feminism does not have to fit into a box. She asserts, "We were confused and aggressive: what do you mean, we’re feminists? We’re just making our work. And then, at the time, I had a really political boyfriend, who said, yes, you guys are really political, if you’re not feminists you can’t do what you want to do. It doesn’t mean that there’s a definition and you have to fit with it – you can make your own definition of it – and then it was oh yeah."

A cassette titled Analog Internet was the first piece of music released by Chicks On Speed. The cassette was released in 1997, though it seems widely agreed that the first Chicks on Speed single was a cover of the song "Warm Leatherette", originally by Daniel Miller (as The Normal), released in 7" form. The single was released in 1998 and four further singles ("Smash Metal", "Euro Trash Girl" (originally by Cracker in 1993), "Mind Your Own Business" (originally by Delta 5 in 1979) and "Glamour Girl" over 1998 and 1999) preceded any actual album releases. In March 2000, two Chicks on Speed LPs were released; the first, titled The Un Releases, is not considered an official album, instead described as a "collage" of various songs in various forms. Chicks on Speed's debut, Chicks On Speed Will Save Us All appeared later in the month and featured all five of the previous singles as well as a new one, "Kaltes Klares Wasser", a cover of a song by the German all women punk band Malaria!. All six of these singles proved popular and in October 2000, The Re Releases Of The Un Releases was issued. Several EPs were issued over the next few years such as chix 52, a collection of B 52's covers and Fashion Rules that heralded the arrival of the 2003 second album 99 Cents released on Chicks on Speed records and licensed to EMI. The album produced three more singles: "We Don't Play Guitars", a collaboration with Canadian artist Peaches, which was a hit around the world; a cover of Tom Tom Club's "Wordy Rappinghood" which saw a number of guest stars including Le Tigre; and "Flame On", a hidden track on the album with Mika Vanio. By this time Chicks on Speed have already been collaborating with Anat Ben David, an unofficial band member working with them since 2002. In 2004, their third album, Press The Spacebar was released. The album was a collaboration with the Spanish band The No Heads and Cristian Vogel. No singles were issued from the album, though it included a new version of "Culture Vulture", a song from their previous LP release 99 Cents. In November 2006, Chicks on Speed released the 12" single "Art Rules" produced with Christopher Just, with guests Anat Ben David and Turner prize artist Douglas Gordon; after the release, Chicks on Speed concentrated on live art performances under the same name and toured art institutions the world over, collaborating with A. L. Steiner, Anat Ben David, Kathi Glas and Adi Nachman. Chicks on Speed began researching and developing ObjektInstruments (self made musical instruments) in 2005 for studio and stage implementation, and held a solo exhibition presenting the instruments in a performative installation at Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre in 2010. 2011–2013 Chicks on Speed were Artist Residents at ZKM, Centre for Art and Media, Karlsruhe producing the new Chicks on Speed album UTOPIA and a series of 6 APP's as musical instruments for interactive stage performances. Chicks on Speed collaborated with Julian Assange, Yoko Ono, Peter Weible and Francesca Thyssen, Anat Ben David, Angie Seah, Oliver Horton and Christopher Just on the album UTOPIA released September 2014.