"I had never heard anything like it....the power they gave to the audience, the energy up there, was life changing." ” - JD Samson (Le Tigre, MEN)

— Tom Tom Magazine

Octavia of Earth Vol. 2 Release Concert - TBD, stay tuned!

Skip the Needle is thrilled to be releasing 6 original tracks for Octavia of Earth, Volume 2. Octavia of Earth is a docu-musical inspired by the life of black feminist icon Octavia E. Butler. Tender, funny, and magical, Octavia of Earth presents the human side of the mysterious founding mother of Afrofuturism. The project is a collaboration led by Uncaged Library Arts and Information and features over twenty queer Bay Area artists, the majority artists of color. Volume 1 (2018-2019) included 9 original songs, 10 prose videos, and 9 music videos.

About Skip the Needle

Skip The Needle is an Oakland-based queer female quartet made up of musical superstars of the Bay Area; Vicki Randle (The Tonight Show, Mavis Staples Band) Shelley Doty (Shelly Doty X-Tet, Sistas in the Pit), Kofy Brown (Kofy Brown Band, Sistas in the Pit) and Katie Cash (Katie Cash Band, Year of the Fist). Together, they make politically astute hard rock funk. Their songs are musically diverse and carry a strong, socially conscious message that wants the audience to party while hearing it. Formed in 2014, STN has released two full-length albums and is thrilled to have contributed 6 original tracks for the Octavia Of Earth Volume 2.

"I had never heard anything like it....the power they gave to the audience, the energy up there, was life changing." -JD Samson (Le Tigre, MEN) Tom Tom Magazine

“The spirit of collaboration, communication, and freedom is contagious, and as the band’s live shows and quickly growing following can attest, there’s clearly a need for it now more than ever.” -D. Scot Miller (Editor in Chief) East Bay Express

About Uncaged Library

Uncaged Library Arts & Information lifts up stories that sustain the hearts and minds of social change workers in the Bay Area and beyond. We produce collaborative music, theater, and film that highlight the struggles and victories of LGBTQ people and people of color in our ongoing fights for dignity, existence, and liberation. 

Skip the Needle (Katie Cash, Vicki Randle, Shelley Doty, Kofy Brown) performing at Freight & Salvage in March 2023. Photo: Irene Young.

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