User:Camelia.boban/Clito (band)

"Punk was important in giving women courage" Clito was a female punk rock band formed in Milan in 1977 and active until June 1980. Although they have never made records (only two songs recorded in the studio and released after the breakup), they have played a fundamental role in the history of punk, as it is considered the first all-female Italian punk rock.

History
The band started playing in a cellar of a house occupied only by women, owned by the curia, in via Lanzone 32 in Milan, where Gina was already staying and where Daniela and then Luisa also went to live. It then continued at the historic women's club Cicip and Ciciap in the headquarters in via Morigi, also in Milan. On 23 February 1980 the group participated in the Treviso punk festival and a few days later, at the "Ritmicità" event, in Piazza Maggiore in Bologna, the day before the Clash concert. Their first public performance took place during the first Italian Punk Festival at the Palazzina Liberty in Milan, organized by Francesco D'Abramo, DJ of Radio Popolare.

Having come into contact with Gianni Sassi, the patron of the Cramps Records label, in 1979 the Clito refused the offer to participate in the Rock '80 project (a music festival in which some punk bands took part which took place in February 1980). The record company's proposal included a one-year contract for the release of a single with the option of extending it for five consecutive years, but the group rejected the offer. Seven of the bands that agreed to participate in the project - Kandeggina Gang, Kaos Rock and X-Rated from Milan, Windopen and Skiantos from Bologna, the Roman group Take Four Doses and the Genoese group Dirty Actions instead of Clito - they recorded their singles Orrore, Basta, basta, Blockhead Dance, Sei in banana dura, Fagioli, Vita di strada, Rosa shocking, in colored vinyl on the album of the same name, thus becoming the first "classics" of the Italian punk season. Although unsuccessful, the meeting at Cramps headquarters allowed the band to meet Demetrios Stratos, leader of the Area, for which the Clito participated as choir to the recordings of the song Vodka Cola (which is part of the 1978 album: gli dei se ne vanno, gli arrabbiati restano). It was he who suggested the name of the band.

Dopo il no alla Cramps, le Clito contattarono Oderso Rubini per un eventuale album con Italian Records. A Bologna incisero Se la vita è faticosa e Giangol, gli unici due singoli registrati in studio; l'album non uscì mai.

Come influenza musicali, dichiararono di trarre ispirazione da X-Ray Spex, Raincoats, The Slits, Nina Hagen, Generation X, Kleenex (diventate in seguito LiLiPUT), Patty Smith, Clash, Gaznevada, Poly Styrene, DEVO XTC e altri.

Participation in the film The city of women
Nel 1979, alla ricerca di un gruppo femminile milanese per un'apparizione nel film La città delle donne, Federico Fellini chiamò le Clito a Roma. Le voleva truccate, vestite diversamente e con la coda, ma loro si rifiutarono e minacciarono di andarsene. Alla fine salirono sul palco girevole senza la coda e suonarono il loro brano. La scena venne poi abbondantemente tagliata dal film, così come la canzone. Una fotografia di scena apparve in seguito sul numero americano di Playboy.

Legacy

 * Jessica Dainese dedica alle Clito un capitolo nella sezione Punk attitude del libro Le ragazze del rock. 40 anni di rock femminile in Italia, a cura di Oderso Rubini, pubblicato in Italia nel 2011 da Sonic Press. * lo stesso fanno Fabrizio e Stefano Gilardino nel loro Il quaderno punk. 1979-1981. La nascita del nuovo rock italiano edito da Goodfellas e dato alla stampa nel 2018.
 * vengono ricordate da Stefano Gilardino come "quintetto dedito ad un punk rock bizzarro e influenzato dagli X-Ray Specs, fortemente politicizzato e femminista" nel suo libro La storia del punk pubblicato da Hoepli nel 2017.

Members

 * Ruby Scass (Gina Mandola pseudonym, part)
 * Norma Loyd (pseudonym of Daniela Tosi, guitar) - in seguito passerà alle Remote Control
 * Klara Lux "Mannite" (Clara Lusardi, drums)
 * Elettra Sax (pseudonym of Luisa Vecchiet, saxophone)
 * Olivia Jean Tonic (alias Eliana Gramegna, bass), bassist of the Aedi - later he will play with the Remote Control

Studio

 * Se la vita è faticosa. Track recorded in 1980 and published by Spit/Fire and Goodfellas (inside the compilation Various – Le Ragazze Del Rock - 40 Anni Di Gruppi Rock Femminili Italiani on 2012 and by Spittle Record in 2013 (on Italian Records - The Singles 7  Collection (1980-1984) ) and on2018 (in Punk - 1979-1981 La Nascita Del Nuovo Rock Italiano'' ).
 * Giangol

Live

 * Peste e colera (version recorded live in Treviso in 1979 and released by Spittle Records in 2018 in Punk - 1979-1981 La Nascita Del Nuovo Rock Italiano ).
 * Plasma
 * Anna
 * Pescicani
 * She's for Rent
 * Bar sport
 * Sevesamore

Singles Collection

 * Clito, Bikini Records (17 November 2009). The album contains the songs If life is tiring, Giangol, Peste e cholera and Plasma, available on the Amazon Music service

Various artists

 * Le Ragazze Del Rock - 40 Anni Di Gruppi Rock Femminili Italiani, various artists, Spit/Fire and Goodfellas (2012)
 * Italian Records - The Singles 7  Collection (1980-1984)'', various artists, Spittle Records (2013)
 * Punk - 1979-1981 La Nascita Del Nuovo Rock Italiano, various artists, Spittle Records (2018)