The ‘70s were London, New York, LA, but after the ‘80s it started disintegrating and spreading out, and then with the internet there is no one specific geographical location. The ‘60s were San Francisco in Haight Ashbury. In the ‘40s and ‘50s maybe it was Memphis or even Hollywood when things were just starting to be banned. We had the ‘20s in Paris - maybe even the ‘30s - and Berlin. I think everything was cyclical until the internet. LL: There’s been a lot of different cycles artistically in history. I think it’s become a powerful image that attracts artists to the city, and many still think in those terms even though the city has completely changed. I guess it’s more of an attitude.ĪB: I find there is a lot of nostalgia for New York in the late 70s and early 80s. I’ve lived here less time than I’ve lived everywhere else. LL: Not really, but I guess I’m more akin to what New York once was than what it has been since.

We’ll see where I go next, not sure.ĪB: Do you think of yourself as a New York artist? Does that label mean anything to you? Every day I wake up I want to move somewhere, but where I don’t know. I’m here for now, I can’t say for how long. Where are you based out of right now?īrooklyn right now, but I just feel like a nomad anyway. Your artistry is often associated with New York City, but you’ve lived all over North America and Europe. Supreme Court decided not to block Texas’ malevolently violent abortion law, which came up, too. I spoke with Lunch about the documentary, nostalgia for late 70s NYC, provocation, collaboration, sex, and her new podcast, The Lydian Spin. Writing for Rolling Stone, Lester Bangs said her 1980 studio album Queen of Siam “covers all the bases so well that it’s beyond words.”

Punchy, provocative, and confrontational, she has collaborated with rock artists like Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Michael Gira of Swans, filmmakers like Richard Kern and Nick Zedd, and authors like Hubert Selby Jr. Starting her career in the late 1970s fronting the seminal no wave group Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Lunch is primarily known for her music, but frequently works across other mediums. She had landed that night from Florida, where she was on tour so to speak promoting The War Is Never Over, a documentary directed by longtime friend Beth B about her artistic endeavors to date. “We survived the deluge” were the first words out of Lydia Lunch’s mouth when we spoke the day after Hurricane Ida hit New York City.

Lydia lunch willing victim