Words by Melody Berger | Photos and Video by Jocelyn Jacobs for Tom Tom Magazine
Tom Tom had the great pleasure of attending the Pussy Riot press conference and blow out Amnesty International concert that took place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn February 5th. The concert included luminaries like Madonna, Lauryn Hill, Tegan and Sara, Blondie, Bob Geldof, The Flaming Lips, Imagine Dragons, Yoko Ono, CAKE and Susan Sarandon.
Recently released from Russian prison on December 23rd, 2013, just shy of their 2 year sentence, Masha and Nadya of Pussy Riot, are at the forefront of an enormous political movement with a musical slant - punk rock with a serious agenda. Asserting that anyone can be in Pussy Riot, worldwide, the decentralized leadership and non-hierarchal structures for the ‘group’ resemble feminist art movements in the states, like Ladyfest, with much higher stakes.
For a band that is as anarchist and anti-establishment as Pussy Riot, having famous members who are cavorting with pop stars will obviously cause some strife. But when asked point blank whether they were having a hard time adjusting to the drastic change in their circumstances, going from the underground to being embraced by mainstream pop culture, Masha and Nadya quickly shot that down, saying they thought the question was insulting to all the other musicians they shared the stage with that night. What follows is the video we took at the pre-concert press conference:
.