Trophy Wife
Erik Gamlem
Trophy Wife, from left: Katy Otto, Diane Foglizzo.
In its first year of life, D.C.’s Trophy Wife has been called many things: metal, screamo, heavy psych, water-politics-influenced math rock. The duo—drummer Katy Otto and guitarist Diane Foglizzo—lets loose a huge sound, not what you might expect from two giggling friends.
“People always make assumptions about what we’re going to sound like based on what we look like. They don’t think we’ll be heavy at all,” says Otto, who works at a national women’s nonprofit. “One guy came up to me before a show and said, ‘So, is this like Le Tigre or something?’ And I was like, 'Dude, we haven’t even set up yet.'”
“That’s because Katy shows up in her biz-casual trousers and a ponytail because she’s coming right from work,” adds Foglizzo, laughing. “And then she gets on the drums and fucking rules. We surprise people, and I love that.”
Trophy Wife is a bit of an unlikely marriage: It’s Foglizzo’s first band outside her bedroom, while Otto’s a D.C. music veteran, having played in Del Cielo, Problems, Helsinki, and the Bikini Kill cover band Rah Rah Replica. The two met while working on the DIY music zine Give Me Back. They halfheartedly considered adding a bassist, but decided that two schedules and personalities were easier to manage.
“As much as you want it not to in a band, usually someone always emerges as the leader in a sense, or as the main songwriting force,” Otto says. “We wanted to have a band that was really mutual and process-oriented.”
Otto’s Exotic Fever label released the band’s self-titled four-song tape in June.
“I don’t really like CDs,” explains Foglizzo, who advocates Congress in support of low-power community radio for the Prometheus Radio Project. “I don’t think they’re as durable. I don’t have any CDs from when I was a kid, but I have a bag of tapes, and they all still work.”
The pair has already done a few mini-tours, including a SXSW appearance and a 10-day spin earlier this month through New York, Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky. While not every show on that tour was all-ages, Trophy Wife typically holds its D.C. shows in 18+ venues and alternative spaces like St. Stephen's Church and Petworth’s Girl Cave.
“Growing up in D.C. gave me a profound respect for all-ages organizing,” Otto says. “We live in a town where Fugazi set a really great example for bands being able to control the environment they play in.” Otto also serves on the board of the Seattle-based All Ages Movement Project, a national advocacy and resource network for youth music organizing.
Asked to name their own ultimate trophy wives, the effervescent Otto picks RuPaul while Foglizzo goes old-school with Joan of Arc.
“But Jen Fox would be an awesome trophy wife, too," Foglizzo says. (Fox plays drums for Girl Loves Distortion, which performs with Trophy Wife July 24 at Velvet Lounge.) “She’s a mom and she’s been rocking for 20 years, and it’s inspiring to see someone raise a family and still go on tour and be so involved in the scene. “
