Punk Priestess
Katie Alice Greer's Priests is revitalizing D.C.-style punk rock
D.C.’s recent urban revitalization has been a boon — but it hasn’t come without costs.
“I wonder sometimes if a lot of those histories are just being erased from our city,” Katie Alice Greer says. “Most specifically, you see these historic places where jazz musicians played a lot of their first shows on U Street just being bulldozed over for new condos. It’s disconcerting to say the least.”
Next week Greer’s band Priests will play its first show at U Street Music Hall, in a concert presented by the 9:30 Club and promoter Sasha Lord. Not quite three years old, the band has generated national buzz for its style revitalizing, however indirectly, another aspect of D.C. culture — punk rock, specifically the ’90s-originating “Riot Grrrl” variant.
Naturally, it wasn’t a given that it would turn out this way. The 26-year-old Greer moved to D.C. from her native Michigan last decade to study politics at American University, but an internship on Capitol Hill made her realize the political life wasn’t for her. Once she met drummer Daniele Daniele, guitarist G.I. Jaguar and bassist Taylor M, Greer quickly turned her attention back to music — she had grown up performing in musical theater and singing in church as the daughter of a United Methodist minister. “The first time he heard us,” Greer says about her dad’s reaction to Priests, “he said, ‘Oh, the music sounds lovely but maybe if you didn’t scream so much, it might go over better.'”
But Greer’s powerful lungs are part of the appeal of this mixed-gender, hard-charging band with a cheekily religious name and a membership that is 75 percent not straight. “It’s always been deeply important to us to be ourselves and to encourage other people to feel like they can be themselves,” says Greer, who dates both men and women and lives in Mount Pleasant, making ends meet as a waiter at a downtown restaurant. The band is in the early stages of creating its debut full-length album, following the critical praise from indie-rock arbiters including Pitchfork to last year’s 20-minute EP Bodies and Control and Money and Power. With a title like that, it’s obvious Priests is keyed into the main pursuit in its hometown. But can it remain a D.C. band?
“We all feel pretty deeply rooted in the city,” Greer says. “I hope I can stay here — it’s expensive.”
Priests performs Thursday, April 16, at 7 p.m. U Street Music Hall, 1115A U St. NW. Tickets are $15. Call 202-588-1880 or visit ustreetmusichall.com.
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