Kira Roessler

Kira Roessler (born June 12, 1962[1]) is an American musician, singer, and two-time Emmy Award-winning dialogue editor. She is perhaps best known as the bassist for the influential hardcore punk band Black Flag during the 1980s.

Kira Roessler
Kira Roessler in Canterbury
Background information
Born (1962-06-12) June 12, 1962
New Haven, Connecticut
GenresPunk rock, hardcore punk, alternative rock
Occupation(s)Musician, dialogue editor
InstrumentsBass, vocals
Years active1975–present
LabelsSST, New Alliance, Kill Rock Stars
Associated actsTwisted Roots, Sexsick, Black Flag, Dos
WebsiteDos' homepage at Mike Watt's Hoot Page

Biography

Early life

Born in New Haven, Connecticut,[2][3] she lived there until age eight when her family moved to the Caribbean until she was eleven[3] and thereafter in California, mostly in Los Angeles.[3] Her brother is Paul Roessler, a keyboardist known for involvement in several Los Angeles area bands including The Screamers.

Musician

Roessler began studying piano when she was six[2] but quit at age eleven.[3] At fourteen she picked up the bass guitar and committed to learning the instrument.[3] Her first band was called Waxx and she played her first gig at age sixteen at Whiskey A Go-Go.[2] Other early bands were Sexsick, The Visitors, and The Monsters.[2] She then joined with a post-Germs Pat Smear to form Twisted Roots.[4]

Members of Black Flag heard her playing while she was sitting in with L.A. punk group DC3. This led to her being asked to join Black Flag in 1983 to replace founding member Chuck Dukowski.[5][6] Vocalist Henry Rollins later reported that Greg Ginn, Black Flag's leader, guitarist and primary songwriter, had grown frustrated with Dukowski's failure to progress as a musician beyond the band's hardcore punk roots and was drawn to Roessler's more nimble and sophisticated playing.[7] Roessler was majoring in applied engineering at UCLA, and Black Flag's subsequent tours were worked around her school schedule, which was a condition for her to join the band. Her bass playing was featured on five of Black Flag's studio albums and two officially released live albums. During her early live performances with the band she was sometimes mistaken as male due to her androgynous appearance, and she subsequently dressed in more glamorously traditional female garb for the band's tours.[7] She remained in the band until completing touring behind their album In My Head in the autumn of 1985, then graduated from UCLA in 1986.

After Black Flag, she formed the two-bass duo Dos with Mike Watt (to whom she was married between 1987 and 1994).[8] Dos' most recent album was released in 2011. She wrote or co-wrote songs for what would be the Minutemen's final album, 3-Way Tie, and contributed lyrics to Watt's post-Minutemen band Firehose. She later contributed artwork to Watt's first solo album, Ball-Hog or Tugboat?.

She appeared as a backing vocalist on the Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three tribute album in 2003 along with other musical artists, including other Black Flag veterans.[9]

In December 2018, Roessler joined with Devin Hoff to form the two-bass band AwkWard and released their first album In Progress.[10]

Film work

Roessler now works as a dialogue editor on theatrical films in Los Angeles, sometimes credited under her full name, sometimes simply as kira. She has worked on productions including Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), and The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), and has also appeared onscreen in the documentaries We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen and American Hardcore. She has won Emmy Awards for her work on the John Adams episode "Don't Tread on Me" as well as her work on Game of Thrones.[6]

Most recently, Roessler was involved in the sound editing team that won a 2016 Oscar for Mad Max: Fury Road.[6][11]

Discography
Twisted Roots
  • Pretentiawhat (1981)
Black Flag
dos
  • dos (1986)
  • numero dos [EP] (1989)
  • uno con dos (1989)
    • Compact disc compiling the first two Dos releases
  • justamente tres (1996)
  • dos y dos (2011)
AwkWard (with Devin Hoff)
  • In Progress (2018)
Other

References
  1. Chick, Stevie (2011). Spray Paint the Walls: The Story of Black Flag. PM Press. p. 292. ISBN 978-1-60486-418-2.
  2. Leach, Ryan (May 1, 2014). "Kira Roessler Interview: Originally Ran in Razorcake #26, Now an Ebook with New Introduction By Ryan". Razorcake. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  3. "Interview with Kira Roessler". This Is Fubar Productions. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  4. Felt, Hunter (May 20, 2004). "Twisted Roots: self-titled". PopMatters. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  5. Prindle, Mark. "Kira Roessler – 2003". markprindle.com. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  6. Hartmann, Graham (February 29, 2016). "Former Black Flag Bassist Kira Roessler Wins Academy Award". Loudwire. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  7. Henry Rollins. Get in the Van: On the Road with Black Flag. 2.13.61 Publications, ISBN 978-1-880985-24-3
  8. Cohen, Alex (July 22, 2011). "Dos: Veteran Punks With A Low-End Theory". NPR. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  9. "HENRY ROLLINS Says He Was 'In A State Of Shock' After Learning Of West Memphis Three's Release". Blabbermouth.net. September 1, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  10. Cohan, Brad (February 14, 2019). "Bass Wars: A spiel with Devin Hoff and Kira from AwkWard". Rock & Roll Globe. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  11. "Former Black Flag Bassist Thanked For Mad Max: Fury Road's Oscar". Stereogum. February 29, 2016.
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