JENNIFER FINCH'S SCRAPBOOK

Jennifer Finch is one of the greatest punk rockers who has ever lived. She started Sugar Baby Doll in the mid-80s with Courtney Love, and played bass for L7 from 1986 to 1996. She was on stage at Reading when Donita Sparks pulled out her lady business and shouted "Eat my used tampon, fuckers!" She rubbed shoulders with the only bands of her era that mattered--Bad Religion, The Cramps, Nirvana, Suicidal Tendencies, Nick Cave, etc.

One day, bored between sets, she decided to find a way to hold on to her tour memories, which apparently amounted to an enviable life of dicking around and playing great shows. She's kept thousands of scrapbook pages hidden in cardboard boxes accumulating dust in her little home for 20 years. We don't really know why she decided to share her photos and stories with us after so many years, but we're glad she did.

Vice: You left L7 in 1996. What have you been up to since?
Jennifer Finch: A band that I was singing in and writing songs for, Other Star People, signed with AM Records. If you come across any photos of me with bleached blonde hair, they were probably taken around this time. I wore way too much make up, I looked like a drag queen!

What happened to you after?
At the start of 2000 I was playing left, right, and center. Then I started getting graphic design jobs. I was even teaching graphic design at a school in Los Angeles between tours. It was always under a different name. Graphic design took up a lot of my time when I was traveling with the different bands I played with, my clients were always surprised to hear I was in France or Turkey when they were trying to get ahold of me. I used to tell them I was on vacation.

What exactly does your job consist of?
I've done a bunch of different things. I started as a programmer before moving into graphic design. I worked as a press agent a few years ago for some websites. I also do online marketing. I make sure that the codes and the content are optimized for Google. I also try and find addresses that could have a strong resale value or that I could update with whatever their owner might need. I love it. I've worked on all types of sites, from art magazines to comedy sites. I've even made one about archeology.

Coming from a girl who used to play bass in a band like yours, it's sort of hard to imagine.
I've never lived like a rock star. I've always done a lot of volunteer work. I have a really small house and two tiny dogs. If you want the full story, I lived there with my boyfriend until two months ago. We were together for four years but I think he's too big for all of it. For the sake of his ego and my furniture, we decided that breaking up was for the best. It's sort of like the story of the fish and the bird that fell in love but couldn't live together—not on land nor in water.

Tell us about what pushed you into taking the behind the scenes pictures of your band.
I was a bit bored, but not to the point where I regretted being a part of it. You've got a lot of time to kill on tour. It's part of the reason that a lot of rockers fall into drinking and doing junk.

But you were taking them for pleasure, not for what they might be worth later?
I like observing everyone, even people who freak me out. I've always loved watching people. Taking their picture is something that has always felt perfectly natural. I've had these old negatives piled up in boxes for over 20 years.

What made you decide to release the archives today?

The girls in the band have had children since they were taken. I didn't want to hurt anyone so I waited until the children had grown up before doing anything with them.

Beyond all the parties and getting wasted, your pictures are also extraordinary documentations of the birth of grunge.
Yeah, that's maybe true. To come back to your previous question, putting them online really allowed me to understand what people thought of me.