The Return Of A Grunge Goddess

Shirley Manson, lead singer of ’90s band Garbage, heads back on the road with Blondie.

- Dayna Evans

As she rifles through neat piles of iron-on patches, tarot-card decks, and baby-pink notebooks, Shirley Manson’s slowly graying undershave is visible beneath her fiery-red bun. “My [7-year-old] niece would love it here!” she declares, “here” being Junior High, a new feminist art gallery meets community space in East Hollywood. “Had I walked past on my own, I probably would have been too intimidated to come in.”

It’s hard to imagine the 50-year-old Scottish front woman of ’90s post-grunge band Garbage being intimidated by anything, though the gallery’s augmented-reality exhibit skews more millennial than Gen-X. Walking through the open storefront, she picks up a patch that reads WEIRDOS and says, “This is literally my idea of heaven.” Manson remains nimble, both embracing and appraising current trends, as she reflects on all that has changed over a 30-plus-year career in the music business.

This summer, 22 years after releasing their debut record, Garbage will embark on a 28-city co-headlining North American tour with Blondie, led by 71-year-old Debbie Harry. For Manson, the tour, which will promote Blondie’s 11th studio record, Pollinator, and Garbage’s sixth, Strange Little Birds, presents an opportunity to exalt the archetype of the female rock star amid her fears that she is becoming extinct.