Emily's Sassy Lime

Emily's Sassy Lime formed in 1993 after the teen girls sneaked out of their homes one night to see a Bikini Kill and Bratmobile show, striking up a correspondence with Molly Neuman, the drummer of the latter band.{{Cite web|website=Experience Music Project|url=http://www.empsfm.org/exhibitions/index.asp?articleID=671|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019070907/http://www.empsfm.org/exhibitions/index.asp?articleID=671|url-status=dead|title=Exhibitions/Online Features: Riot Grrrl Retrospective|archivedate=19 October 2007|accessdate=12 September 2020}}{{cite magazine|last=Sheffield|first=Rob|date=27 March 2020|title= Riot Grrrl Album Guide: Essential LPs from Nineties rock's feminist revolution|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/riot-grrrl-album-guide-bikini-kill-sleater-kinney-972476/bikini-kill-ep-1992-972494/|access-date=22 October 2021|magazine=Rolling Stone }} As first generation Asian American girls in a punk band, they faced contradictions in expectations.{{Cite web|url=http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/07.18.96/emilys-9629.html|last=Yeung|first=Bernice|title=Metroactive Music | Emily's Sassy Lime|date=18 July 1996|website=Metro|accessdate=12 September 2020}} They did not live very close to each other and did not own cars, so they often had to write their songs over the phone, sometimes leaving seminal ideas for tunes, jingles, and melodies on each other's answering machines.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rookiemag.com/2012/06/why-cant-i-be-you-2/|last=Anaheed|first=Alani|title=Rookie » Why Can't I Be You: Wendy Yao|date=19 June 2012|website=Rookiemag.com|accessdate=12 September 2020}} When they finally did have a chance to record, they did so on a 'singalodeon', a cheap off-the-shelf lo-fi tape recorder. They barely ever practiced (often forbidden from doing so by their parents who considered their studies a bigger priority), making their sound a random, spontaneous indie garage punk-noise collage of "Whatever, just play." They didn't have their own instruments for years, so with every show they played, they had to borrow someone else's in the DIY punk spirit of sharing, often swapping with each other carelessly and making every show sound totally different.

In 1995, they all appeared as dancers in the Kathi Wilcox-directed "Mad Doctor" video for The PeeChees. Emily's Sassy Lime broke up in 1997, not long after they graduated from high school and attended separate colleges. Amy Yao went to Art Center College of Design, Wendy Yao headed off to Stanford University, and Emily Ryan attended University of Southern California. The group are often considered an essential early riot grrrl band.{{cite web|last1=McDonnell|first1=Evelyn|last2=Vincentelli|first2=Elisabeth|date=6 May 2019|title=Riot Grrrl United Feminism and Punk. Here's an Essential Listening Guide.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/03/arts/music/riot-grrrl-playlist.html|access-date=22 October 2021|work=New York Times }}

In 2000, they all participated in the very first Ladyfest in Olympia, the Yao sisters collaborating with Sharon Cheslow in the experimental sound installation performance art project of Coterie Exchange, during an art exhibit curated by Audrey Marrs.{{Cite web |url=http://ladyfest.org/news/schedule/friday.html |title=Friday, August 4th @ Ladyfest |access-date=15 February 2021}} In 2003, Emily Ryan starred in one of Jon Moritsugu's critically acclaimed no budget guerrilla underground punk films called Scumrock.{{Cite web |last=Moritsugu|first=John|url=https://jonmoritsugu.com/scumrock/ |title=Scumrock |access-date=26 October 2021 }} Amy Yao has been involved over the years with several different bands, frequently collaborating with Tobi Vail, co-founded China Art Objects Galleries,{{Cite web|last=Krygier|first=Irit|url=http://www.artnet.com/magazine_pre2000/reviews/krygier/krygier6-3-99.asp|title=Reviews - Report from L.A.|date=3 June 1999|website=Artnet.com Magazine|accessdate=12 September 2020}} and completed her MFA in sculpture at the Yale School of Art. Wendy Yao owned and ran a shop and DIY indie-punk artist space in Los Angeles's downtown Chinatown neighborhood called Ooga Booga for 15 years.{{Cite web |url=http://www.etsy.com/storque/handmade-life/ooga-booga-its-rhizomatic-55/ |title=Ooga Booga - It's Rhizomatic! |access-date=19 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504142712/http://www.etsy.com/storque/handmade-life/ooga-booga-its-rhizomatic-55/ |archive-date=4 May 2009 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |last=McNeill |first=Mark "Frosty" |title=Curator Wendy Yao on channeling your artistic enthusiasm |url=https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/curator-wendy-yao-on-channeling-your-artistic-enthusiasm-into-flexible-forms/ |website=The Creative Independent |date=14 September 2021 }} The Yao sisters later played in a band with Layla Gibbon of Skinned Teen named Shady Ladies.

• Desperate, Scared But Social, LP, KRS Records, 1995

• "Summer Vacation", 7", Xmas Records, 1994
• "Dippity Do-nut", 7", KRS Records, 1996

• "Right Is Here", LP/CD, Xmas Records, 1995

• A Slice of Lemon, LP, Lookout Records/KRS, 1995

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2009/05/eric-s-blog/emily-ryan-of-emily-s-sassy-lime.html Emily Ryan interview, 2009]
• [http://www.rookiemag.com/2012/06/why-cant-i-be-you-2/ Wendy Yao interview, 2012]
• [https://47canal.us/media/pages/artists/amy-yao/press/2384310554-1589921838/14_artpapers_9.13.pdf Wendy Yao and Amy Yao interview, 2013] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701225556/https://47canal.us/media/pages/artists/amy-yao/press/2384310554-1589921838/14_artpapers_9.13.pdf |date=2020-07-01 }}, Art Papers

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Category:1993 establishments in California

Category:All-female punk bands

Category:Garage rock groups from California

Category:American noise rock music groups

Category:American garage punk groups

Category:Kill Rock Stars

Category:Indie rock musical groups from California

Category:Musical groups established in 1993

Category:Musical groups from Los Angeles

Category:Punk rock groups from California

Category:Riot grrrl bands