¡Viva Zapata! is the second studio album by the rock band 7 Year Bitch, released on May 20, 1994, through C/Z Records. Produced by Jack Endino, it was their first record with guitarist Roisin Dunne. The album’s tone was influenced by the deaths of several people close to the band, including original guitarist Stefanie Sargent in 1992 and The Gits‘ vocalist Mia Zapata who inspired its title and is depicted on its cover artwork, in 1993, although this was not intended as its general theme. The album’s promotion was supported by Atlantic Records, who signed 7 Year Bitch a month prior to its release.
¡Viva Zapata! received positive reviews from critics, who praised 7 Year Bitch‘s improved songwriting and Selene Vigil‘s lyrics. In April 2019, the album was ranked at No. 34 on Rolling Stone‘s “50 Greatest Grunge Albums” list.
On June 27, 1992, four months before the release of the band’s debut album Sick ‘Em, 7 Year Bitch guitarist Stefanie Sargent died from drug and alcohol-related asphyxiation. After a six month break following her death, 7 Year Bitch recruited Roisin Dunne as their new guitarist and began touring the United States in 1993, attracting major label interest along the way. The band were getting ready to tour with C/Z Records labelmates The Gits when the latter’s vocalist, Mia Zapata, was raped and murdered on July 7, 1993.
The deaths of Zapata, Sargent, and other people close to the band would largely inform the album’s tone, with the former two being addressed directly in the songs “M.I.A.” (which calls for vigilante justice against Zapata’s killer in the face of authorities’ lack of action) and “Rock A Bye“, respectively. Despite this, 7 Year Bitch did not intend for their deaths to be the album’s general theme. Vigil said of ¡Viva Zapata!‘s lyrical content:
“We didn’t go into the album with the idea of us making a record about all of these bad things. Every song came up and it was written about what we were thinking about at the time.”
Bassist Elizabeth Davis additionally described the album as:
“kind of a death-obsessed record, but it’s not because we’re being morose or macabre or anything. It’s a tribute. And it’s a very personal thing, a very closed, private thing, even though it’s a record a public thing.”
¡Viva Zapata! was released through C/Z Records on May 20, 1994. Around a month prior to the album’s release, 7 Year Bitch signed with the major label Atlantic Records, who assisted with its promotion. The label became interested in the band after Courtney Love recommended them to label president Danny Goldberg. The album was briefly in talks of being released through Atlantic due to C/Z experiencing financial difficulties in early 1994, but was ultimately released through C/Z after label head Daniel House managed to convince pressing plants to “cut him some slack in order to get out enough copies to meet demand”. C/Z was also reported to have avoided bankruptcy as a result of their signing to Atlantic.
7 Year Bitch promoted the album’s release with a month-long club tour of the United States. In July 1994, the band were shot performing “The Scratch” in Seattle for the 1995 film Mad Love; the song, along with “Icy Blue“, was also featured in the movie’s soundtrack album. In August 1994, 7 Year Bitch filmed a music video in Seattle for “Hip Like Junk“, produced and directed by Duncan Sharp.
Tracklist:
- The Scratch
- Hip Like Junk
- M.I.A.
- Derailed
- Cat’s Meow
- Rock A Bye
- It’s Too Late (The Jim Carroll Band cover)
- Damn Good and Well
- Kiss My Ass Goodbye
- Icy Blue
- Get Lit
Credits:
7 Year Bitch
Selene Vigil: vocals
Roisin Dunne: guitar
Elizabeth Davis: bass
Valerie Agnew: drums
Production
Jack Endino: production, recording
7 Year Bitch: production
Artwork
Scott Musgrove: cover painting
Mia Zapata: back cover painting (photographed by Klaus Zach)
Jackie Ransier: photograph of Mia Zapata
Stefanie Ann Sargent (June 1, 1968 – June 27, 1992)
Mia Katherine Zapata (August 25, 1965 – July 7, 1993)
