Jessica Dainese grew up on the hills near Padua, where the most rock’n’roll event is to watch old men drink the first grappa of the day at the bar at 8 am. She is therefore forced, in her youth, to leave her hometown, to search for places more suitable to satisfy her hunger for rock: first the USA, then the UK.
After years of activism in the international underground scene (among other things, she founded the fanzines Screaming Sheep and Tigerheart, the web site nixzine.org, and she had a column in the free press of famed Nottingham’s club Rock City), in 2001 she began a collaboration with Alias, Italian newspaper Il Manifesto’s cultural supplement, which lasted for more than 10 years.
Her articles (mainly about music, subcultures, and fashion) have also been published in Rolling Stone, Vogue Italia, Max, Rumore, Punkster, Ritual, Blow Up.
She has contributed to the books: Ultradonne (Tunnel Edizioni, 1997), Le mie cose (Bruno Mondadori, 2005), and Riot Grrrl: revolution girl style now! (Black Dog Publishing, London, 2007). In 2010 she has published (through the website ilmiolibro.it) La felicità è una fetta di vinile (a collection of all her articles for Alias and Il Manifesto).
In autumn 2011 she has published, for Oderso Rubini’s Sonic Press, Le Ragazze del Rock: quarant’anni di rock femminile italiano. The book, the first to tell the story of female rock bands in Italy, has been premiered at Faenza’s MEI Supersound in September 2011. As of April 2012, there have been about 20 events to promote the book (book presentation plus one or more live shows by some of the bands interviewed in the book, sometimes “female” DJ sets, and involvement of some well-known personalities of the Italian punk and rock scene, like Marco Philopat, Luca Frazzi, Helena Velena, John Vignola etc.) all around Italy. Le Ragazze del Rock has been positively received by music fans and critics, with articles and reviews in magazines such as Rolling Stone, Rumore, Pulp, Alias, Jam, Il Mucchio, Marie Claire, Gioia, Il Corriere della Sera, Il Resto del Carlino, etc. The authoress has also been interviewed by John Vignola (Twilight, Rai Radio Due), Barbara Tomasino (Stereonotte) and several other national and local radio shows.
She has also edited the music selection of the forthcoming compilation Le Ragazze del Rock, and the production of a web portal inspired by the book.
Jessica Dainese is devoted mostly to rock music (punk, indie, alternative etc), and in particular to underground scenes and artists, with a soft spot for female musicians.
Among the artists she has interviewed we find: Patti Smith, Sonic Youth, Blonde Redhead, Ani di Franco, Hanin Elias, Jessie Evans, Lydia Lunch, Peaches, Le Tigre, Dresden Dolls, Asia Argento, Ska-P, Sleater-Kinney, Melissa Auf der Maur, Juliette Lewis, Tying Tiffany, Yeah Yeah Yeahs etc.
She is a vegetarian, she loves cats, London, Bikini Kill, horror flicks, and shopping.
Today she lives with her fiancé in the Marche region, in Central Italy.
http://www.facebook.com/jessica.dainese
http://www.facebook.com/LeRagazzedelRock
