Heavens to Betsy, the pioneering feminist punk duo of drummer Tracy Sawyer and singer-guitarist Corin Tucker, have reunited after 32 years. The band, which was active from 1991 to 1994, played its first show in three decades this June in Portland, Oregon, and has announced a US tour and a new LP titled Baby's Gone, set for release on 16 October via Kill Rock Stars.
First Show in 32 Years and a Surprise Reunion
The reunion began with a cut-and-paste photocopied flyer posted on telegraph poles around Portland, Oregon, promoting a DIY show at an intimate community space. The band did not mention the show online, but hopeful fans bought every ticket anyway. The gig turned out to be the first in 32 years for Heavens to Betsy. Tucker, now 53, proudly made the flyer herself.
Heavens to Betsy played their very first show 35 years ago this week, in Olympia, Washington, as part of the International Pop Underground Convention. The festival also featured Fugazi, Bikini Kill, and Melvins. The duo had only practised a couple of times before performing a two-song set to an audience of about 100. Sawyer, now 52, recalls being so terrified that all she could think was, “This has to be over soon.”
This summer’s gig was less frightening. Tucker says, “They were singing along to a lot of the songs. They knew all the words and were screaming them at the top of their lungs.” After the show, Sawyer recalls, “20-year-old kids came up to me and said, ‘I’m learning to play drums by listening to Heavens to Betsy records.’”
New LP Collects Rare Early Recordings
The band’s upcoming tour of the US and the new LP Baby's Gone will feature early-90s feminist-revenge songs about body image, sexual abuse, abortion, periods, worker exploitation, and defying a world that conditions women to be small. The LP collects a rare 1992 demo tape and two 7-inch EPs. The inventive eight-song demo was recorded by Molly Neuman of Bratmobile with a four-track she checked out of the media library from Evergreen State College in Olympia. It was only circulated on around 100 cassettes dubbed by the band.
Heavens to Betsy were originally signed to Kill Rock Stars. Last autumn, the label approached Tucker and Sawyer about a wide release for the demo. “The whole thing felt like an impossible dream,” Tucker says. “I thought I had lost the physical master a long time ago.” The label was able to make a new master from the cassette, and as they emailed back and forth, they slyly floated another idea: “And you guys could do a show, maybe?”
“I think both of us were like, I don’t know!” Tucker laughs nervously. Sawyer admits, “I was apprehensive about the thought of playing these songs from when we were so young. Playing them now in our 50s felt daunting, like, does that even make sense? A whole lifetime has passed. But the more we talked, and the more I started listening to the songs again, it absolutely made sense.”
The Voice of Heavens to Betsy: Uncompromising and Unfiltered
Tucker hadn’t listened to some of those spartan demo recordings since the tape came out. “There’s a really particular voice with Heavens to Betsy, a way of writing a song that speaks to the clarity you have as a young person: This is wrong. This is not OK. I felt really energised and empowered by that voice coming back into my life,” she says. That invigorating clarity pierces Heavens to Betsy songs in bloodcurdling, teen-girl screams. Tucker concedes she could not realistically pull off such screams in 2026 and make it through a whole show, but she hopes her conviction will communicate that anger. “It’s really important to me that that comes across in a way that’s absolutely not softened for people,” Tucker says. “The voice of Heavens to Betsy was uncompromising, unfiltered and it never apologised for its rage and revenge-seeking.”
At the centre of Baby's Gone is a taut, unflinching song called My Secret in which Tucker lucidly blasts an abuser. She was influenced by the directness of Bikini Kill frontperson Kathleen Hanna’s writing. “I felt brave because of what was happening around us,” she says. “It made me realise that I needed to let out my own feelings about things that had happened to me. It put me in the position of power.” Sawyer’s minimal, pounding beat “created this shield and weapon”, Tucker adds. “I was able to harness that into a song about being sexually abused. It turned the tables on everything, and it let go of everything, and it also freaked everyone out. It was incredible. It changed my life in a way. I was able to open a door to how maybe the rest of my life was gonna go. I didn’t need to hold on to those feelings any more.”
Rekindling Friendship and Finding a Second Chance
The reunion has offered an opportunity to revisit the music as well as to rekindle their friendship. “Getting a second chance feels like a real gift,” Tucker says. “I’ve really enjoyed getting to know what Tracy’s life has been like and what we have in common.” When they drifted apart after their 1994 album Calculated came out, something they blame on having poor communication skills at that age, Tucker had already formed Sleater-Kinney alongside Carrie Brownstein.
Reflecting on the lessons from returning to this formative period, Tucker says, “That courage you have as a young person to speak the truth and to find out what that means for you, that’s a really special thing to learn how to do, and it’s not always easy to maintain that when you’re becoming a mom and taking care of other people. I do think there’s something really special about returning to Heavens to Betsy as my youngest goes off to college. I suddenly am rediscovering, what do I want, and who am I? There’s something very full circle about reconnecting with this voice that was like, ‘These are my feelings. This is my truth.’” Baby's Gone is released via Kill Rock Stars on 16 October, and Heavens to Betsy tour the US from 17 October.
