I was wearing a sparkly feather among an audience of prosthetic-eared goblins and flower-crowned damsels when I first heard Nicole Giusti and Yaz Arsani's evocative pop-punk creation, Lemon Boy. This was at Springtime in the Shire, a whimsical and unpretentious “fantasy crossover costume party” held last month at Capitol Hill DIY venue Mosswood Loft. Lemon Boy kicked off the party with a poignant set, setting the tone for the rest of the lineup, which included Fairy Born, Salt Lick, and Sax.
Whether it was the beastly company or the wings, Lemon Boy's performance transported me somewhere else that night, back to the days of Bikini Kill, Van Halen, and Blink-182, and to the late 2010s in Seattle, when bands like Tacocat, Mommy Long Legs, and Chastity Belt reigned supreme. But I also caught a glimpse of the future, a time when being female and non-white in Seattle's DIY scene was no longer a given, but the norm.
Lemon Boy celebrates the release of his cheeky, eyebrow-raising debut Eat. Skate. Die. Friday, May 31, at Southgate Roller Rink. With a balance of rebellious politics, a dark sense of humor, and upbeat pop sensibilities, the band fits naturally into the lineage of local, female-led punk bands. But both Giusti and Arsani are transplants to the area; Giusti, a former software engineer, moved from California in 2016, while Arsani, a visual artist, arrived in 2019 by way of North Carolina. (In fact, as you read this, the two are combining their respective professional skills to develop an indie video game about a punk band.)
Both Giusti and Arsani played guitar in school bands growing up. Giusti had the good fortune of stumbling upon an all-ages show at the Vera Project during a family trip to Seattle as a teenager. Arsani, a Florida native, discovered riot grrrl in high school through classmate Mia Belin, who would later go on to form the band Pom Pom Squad.
“She was like, 'I'm going to start an all-girl punk band,' so we'd jam together in high school,” Arsani said in a recent phone call. “She was like, 'You should check out this magazine.' And I was like, 'What's a magazine?' I think Mia introduced me to it, to be honest with you.” [to riot grrrl]. “
Guisti and Arsani met when a mutual friend, learning they were both looking for female musicians to play with, organized a night to introduce the two at the Southgate Roller Rink. They quickly bonded over “riot grrrl, movement contemporary music, and general crusty punk bands.” They also discovered a shared passion for skating and began skating in parking lots together.
“Nicole is a really talented roller skater, diving into bowls and doing crazy tricks. I've been skateboarding since I was a kid,” Arsani said. “We spent hours skating during the summer during the pandemic. It really brought us together and helped us realize we had a lot in common, even in the playlists we made together.”
They skated to bands like FIDLAR, Prince Daddy & the Hyena, Tacocat, Mommy Long Legs, and Mom Jeans, and once pandemic restrictions eased, Giusti and Arsani started jamming together, and their interactions with other musicians in the scene sustained them from there.
“I got some tattoos from Lori. [Morlock] “And I told her about my experience with Mommy Long Legs,” Giusti said. “Lori was so encouraging and kind when I said I wanted to play music and start a band, and that meant a lot. The first time Yaz and I jammed together, we covered a Mommy Long Legs song.”
Around the same time, Giusti and Arsani discovered that Bree McKenna (Tacocat and Childbirth) and Robyn Edwards (Lisa Plank) were teaching songwriting classes at Hugo House. Though Arsani was busy with work, Giusti attended, and their classes helped her gain confidence in her voice as a songwriter and in her collaborations with Arsani.
“When I first heard Nicole's songs I knew she was a star! Her songs are amazing,” Edwards said in an email. “Then, shortly after the workshop ended, I went to a Lemon Boy show and was so excited about the band.”
Lemon Boy officially formed in 2021 with the addition of drummer Ethan Geller. Their debut album Eat. Skate. Die. Named after the band's mantra, the song is a hilarious take on “Eat, Pray, Love.”
The nine-track album explores a variety of themes familiar to riot grrrl. “Body Horror” gallops like a mad locomotive, driven by Arsani's distorted guitar riffs and powerful lyrics like, “I own this body!”, examining body agency, sexist beauty standards, body dysmorphia, and existentialism. “Guitar Center” takes a head-on attack on sexism in the music industry, inspired by a male Guitar Center employee “questioning” Giusti about her knowledge of amps. Arsani smashes up the typical riffs that guitar shop guys always play at high volume, adding humor to their calls.
Eat. Skate. Die.The film also contends with religious trauma, racism, and the unique perspectives of Giusti and Assani's experiences as women of color and children of immigrants. In Iran, it is illegal for women to play music, and there is widespread stigma among Assani and her extended family. Giusti also struggled with strict gender roles and other challenges due to her upbringing in the Filipino religion, Iglesia ni Cristo.
“We know what it's like to feel like you don't belong, both in your family world and in your current cultural environment, in this case the United States,” Ahsani said.
Their backgrounds give Lemon Boy a unique sound: Ahsani is inspired by the rhythmic language of Persian music, based on complex syncopated patterns, while Giusti is similarly influenced by Filipino music, such as Manila-based band Hotdog, and karaoke.
“I'm better at karaoke than Lemon Boy,” Giusti jokes.
With intensity, fun, and a real connection to Seattle femme-punk past and present. Eat. Skate. Die. Rewriting harmful narratives about Giusti and Arsani's upbringing and society at large, Lemon Boy is also unashamed in its scrutiny of Seattle culture, ushering in a more inclusive era of Seattle DIY music alongside other buzzworthy local bands of color, such as Lemon Boy favorites Black Enz.
“Riot grrrl, its origins in the Pacific Northwest, and the Seattle DIY scene have historically been very white. As women of color, we want to break that mold and prove that anyone can be 'punk,'” Giusti said. “Now there's a new wave of riot grrrl that's more diverse and intersectional, and we hope to respond to that with our own contribution.”
Lemon Boy will perform with Queen Chimera and Cottage Corpse at Southgate Roller Rink on Friday, May 31. 9 p.m., show $18, skate $5, ages 21 and up.