ALICE BAG MUSICIAN

There is no L.A. punk without the formative vision of Alicia Armendariz. The Chicana singer better known as Alice Bag went steel toe to steel toe with the era’s heavy hitters like the Germs, Black Flag and X in her band the Bags. But unlike many of those “Decline of Western Civilization” peers, lost to drugs and gutter mythos, she’s still producing visceral and commanding work well into her 60s. Her latecareer songs ring with fury about abuse and racist capitalism. She released a solo album, “Sister Dynamite,” in 2020, and her memoir “Violence Girl” should be right next to “Our Band Could Be Your Life” on any self-respecting punk bookshelf.

— August Brown