LISTEN: GIHE on Soho Radio with Alien Chicks & Girls Rock London (03.04.23)

Tash and Kate were back on Soho Radio’s airwaves playing loads of new music from some of their favourite female, non-binary and LGBTQIA+ artists! Mari offered some of her “musical musings” too. The pair enthused about the eclectic mix of tracks on the playlist, including Okay Kaya, HotWax, Amy Fitz Doyley, Problem Patterns, Girlhood, ARXX, Calva Louise and more.

Tash caught up with Jessie, the co-director of Hackney-based charity Girls Rock London to talk about the work that the non-profit organisation do with with local women, girls and non-binary youths. You can find out more about Girls Rock London, donate to them and listen to the first GRL album by clicking here.

Kate and Tash were also joined in the studio by Martha and Stefan from experimental/post punk trio Alien Chicks. The Brixton-based band – who we listed as Ones To Watch earlier this year – spoke about the inspiration behind their recent single ‘Cowboy’ and the making of the accompanying video, shot by Lou Smith and filmed in Soho. Alien Chicks will be playing their biggest headline show to date at The Lexington in London on 19th April. Click here to buy your tickets and for a list of their remaining UK tour dates supporting The Wood Burning Savages.

Listen back to the radio show below:

 

We’ll be back on Soho Radio at 12pm on Monday 1st May!

Tracklist
boygenius – $20
Vera ft. Okay Kaya – Falling
Hannah Jadagu – What You Did
HotWax – Treasure
Amy Fitz Doyley – Eye Of The Needle
Midwife & Vyva Melinkolya – NMP
Shania – Pretty Mad
Emily Mercer – Restless
Gayle Smith x Jen Athan – Taxi Driver
**Girls Rock London Interview**
Full Pelt – Better Off
Alien Chicks – Cowboy
**Alien Chicks interview**
Man/Woman/Chainsaw – Back/Burden
Ailbhe Reddy – Shitshow
Anika & Ni Vash – No Fly Zone
English Teacher – Song About Love
cruush – Stick In The Mud
Sksie – PTSP
Girlhood – Love, Surround Me in Everything I Do
Problem Patterns – Who Do We Not Save
Jemma Freeman & The Cosmic Something – Huge
Calva Louise – Feast Is Over
ARXX – God Knows
CHUCK SJ – Throw Me A Bone
The Knife – Without You My Life Would Be Boring

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NEW TRACK: Problem Patterns – ‘Who Do We Not Save?’

The first piece of new music since their visceral 2022 anthem ‘Y.A.W‘ (Yes All Women), Belfast-based DIY punks Problem Patterns have shared their latest single ‘Who Do We Not Save?’. Released via Alcopop! Records who the band have recently signed to, the track takes aim at the incompetent Tory government and their continued attempts to privatise the NHS, and it’s bursting with the group’s trademark empathy, rage and wit.

Giving their listeners a space to release their pent up frustrations, fears and disappointments is a core value of Problem Patterns’ music, and with ‘Who Do We Not Save?’ the band have provided another cathartic aural antidote that offsets the anxiety of the uncertain times we’re currently living through. “You and I are collateral damage” vocalist Alanah Smith states in the chant-worthy chorus, over Bethany Crooks’ commanding beats, the rumbling basslines of Ciara King and the corrosive riffs of guitarist Beverley Boal, who also sings dual vocals on the track.

“Our healthcare system has been falling apart for years due to cuts, and the pandemic only sped up the process,” the band comment about the context of their new single. “We constantly see campaigns telling people to ask for help, especially in regards to mental health, but the reality is that the services we need are under too much pressure. The line ‘We’re one or two paychecks away’ refers to the fact that many of us will be in a lot of trouble if privatisation becomes reality here. The title itself is lifted verbatim from Dominic Cumming’s photo of the white board used to plan the UK government’s early response to COVID. We thought it would be fitting to use it for the single’s cover art, too.”

‘Who Do We Not Save?’ is also accompanied by a video, directed by Smith and shot on location at the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast. “I wanted the video to capture the chaotic energy of the song,” comments Smith. “I pictured the storyline as soon as we’d finished the song. In the first half, you have stressed out healthcare workers trying to save a life without the tools to be able to do so. Meanwhile, there’s a shady business deal to sell off what little is left of public healthcare, big menacing grins and all. I wanted to approach this with a bit of comedy, because if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.”

“I made the medical supplies and instruments (except the toy drums) with things like cardboard and yarn, as I wanted everything to look extremely cheap and ultimately useless. The death scene in the ambulance was inspired by the film ‘Dave Made A Maze’, where they used things like confetti and glitter in place of standard fake blood.”

Recently name-checked as Riot Grrrl legend Kathleen Hanna’s new favourite group (and as GIHE favourites since the release of their 2020 single ‘Big Shouty‘), we can’t wait for Problem Patterns to release their highly anticipated debut album on Alcopop! Records later this year.

Watch the video for ‘Who Do We Not Save?’ below.

Follow Problem Patterns on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Problem Patterns UK Live Dates 2023
15.03.23 – The Black Box, Belfast (Pink Pound)
17.03.23 – The Garage, London (w/ Fight Like Apes)
07.04.23 – Oh Yeah Music Centre, Belfast (Friday Fest w/ Axis Of, Mob Wife)
30.04.23 – Bollox, Manchester (Sound Of The Other City Festival)
15.07.23 – Ost Hafen, Berlin (My People Fest w/ FAIM, Dying For It)
22.07.23 – EBGBs, Liverpool (Crapfest w/ Crapsons, Piss Kitti)
19.08.23 – Glasgow (Core Festival)

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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LISTEN: GIHE on Soho Radio with Big Joanie 21.09.22

Tash and Kate were back on Soho Radio’s airwaves playing loads of new music from some of their favourite female, non-binary and LGBTQIA+ artists, and Mari offered some of her “musical musings” too. They enthused about the eclectic mix of tracks on the playlist, their love for London duo Scrounge, and Kate revealed that her fear of technology stems from watching Terminator 2: Judgement Day on repeat throughout her childhood.

They were thrilled to have Chardine, Estella and Steph aka DIY punk legends Big Joanie join them on air again to talk about their latest single ‘Confident Man’, which is taken from the trio’s upcoming second album Back Home, due for release on 4th November. The band also spoke about their recent work organising Decolonise Fest, the inspiration behind the artwork on their new album, working with amazing producer Margo Broom at Hermitage Works Studios in North London, and their top tips for surviving life on the road whilst touring.

Listen below:

 

Tracklist
Noga Erez ft. Missy Elliott – NAILS
Maury Blu, Peaches – Vashti Part One
Lucy Dacus – Night Shift
Scrounge – Starve
O Hell – I Watch The Women
AGAAMA – Blackbox Oracle
Moglii, Palmaria – Volcano
TSHA, Clementine Douglas – Dancing In The Shadows
Tokky Horror – Jazz Music
New Pagans – Better People
SPRINTS – Literary Mind
Amaroun – Brown Skin Beauty
Perera Elsewhere – Who I Am
Big Joanie – Confident Man
**Interview with Big Joanie**
Gustaf – Best Behaviour
Grandmas House – Body
Connie Constance – Mood Hoover
Brutus – Victoria
adults – things we achieve
DIVES – Say
Zahra Haji Fath Ali Tehrani – Waiting
th’sheridans – Luka
Perfume Genius – Queen
Jemma Freeman & The Cosmic Something – Helen Is A Reptile
The Big Moon – Trouble

(you can listen back to the our original 2019 interview with Big Joanie here too)

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INTERVIEW: Grandmas House

Since we heard the opening riff of ‘Always Happy’ by Bristol trio Grandmas House, the Get In Her Ears team have been hooked on their sardonic, thumping post-punk sounds. Formed of guitarist & vocalist Yasmin Berndt, drummer & vocalist Poppy Dodgson and bassist Zoë Zinsmeister, the band combine gritty guitars, powerhouse percussion and visceral vocals to create intensely relatable anthems. They were busy cutting their teeth on the UK gig circuit before Covid-19 put an abrupt stop to live music. The trio decided to use their time in lockdown constructively, quickly writing and recording new material, including recent singles ‘Always Happy’ and ‘Small Talk’.

We caught up with Grandmas House to talk about recording fun music videos in lockdown, where they’re looking forward to playing once the current Covid-19 restrictions have lifted and the context behind their latest singles…

Hello Grandmas House! For anyone who doesn’t know, can you explain how you met and originally formed as a band?

Yasmin: We all went to uni together in London. Then me and Poppy moved to Bristol afterwards and then we dragged Zoe along with us well.

Poppy: Yeah, we were like “you’ll love it here!”

Yasmin: We did have a different bassist before Zoe actually, who we also met at uni. She lived in London still and she was commuting so much and that didn’t really work out. Then Zoe moved to Bristol and became our new bassist, so that worked out pretty well. We’ve all been living together now for three years.

Does living together make things easier in terms of recording and writing songs?

Yasmin: We usually go into the studio now that we’re getting a bit more serious about music, but when we started the band it was just demos recorded on all of our phones. We didn’t know how to edit music so we just cropped all the recordings together. But now we try to go to a professional and take it into a studio and stuff. Obviously because of Covid-19 and all the studios being shut, we did have to record a few things from home. We did a few vocals on the mic from home, but that’s it.

You’ve recently released two single, the first of which being ‘Always Happy’. I read that you came up with this track really quickly and unanimously agreed on the context. Is that usually the case when you’re writing songs?

Poppy: I feel like usually it does happen like that, it just flows out. We’re very much on the same wavelength, but there are occasionally times where we get stuck on a song for ages.

Yasmin: I think I think if it doesn’t flow, it’s just not the one. If we’re working on a song and we have to kind of really, really try to make it work, we usually just take ourselves away from it and try something else. I do feel like our really good songs are usually the ones that literally just completely flow out of us though.

Poppy: We know if we’re working on a song for more than an hour, it might be time to put it on the shelf. Sometimes we come back to them of course, but we usually get a good feel for whether a song is working or not quite quickly.

‘Always Happy’ is a song about the misconceptions we have about people’s confidence in social settings and also online. Talk me through what the track’s about, as I know it’s based on your own experiences of performing on stage as well.

Yasmin: I feel like everyone is a bit taken aback by how we are onstage and how loud our music is, especially because our name is Grandmas House, which is quite calm…

Zoe: The track is a mix of thoughts about social anxiety, performing on stage and how people perceive you online, as well as how you show yourself online too. In between songs when we’re on stage, people have said we’re always so smiley, and then we suddenly just start screaming again. There’s been a few gigs where Poppy has been on the drums, looking really, really into it and angry and then as soon as a song ends she’s doing this cute giggle.

Yasmin: I think we’re definitely confident off stage as well. The song is definitely more about mental health and social anxiety that is generally present, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be talkative or chatty after a show. I think you definitely just see a snippet of us, or any other band, when we’re on stage. You don’t see how nervous we are before as well.

Zoe: That adds to the adrenaline we get whilst we’re playing  though. It’s been built up beforehand which is great, so performing is definitely an outlet for that.

The accompanying video you directed for ‘Always Happy’ definitely showcases the fun and the more serious sides of the track. Talk me through it…

Poppy: Originally we were going to film it with some other people, but because of lockdown we suddenly had to try and make it ourselves, but it was so so fun!

Yasmin: We’re quite good at coming up with ideas – if I do say so myself. We love coming up with visuals and talking about would look good aesthetically. So for the video we had three main shots in mind and we were just really lucky and happy with how it came out, exactly how we imagined it.

Zoe: We were really able to create the atmosphere that we wanted for the song. It’s quite a personal song I think, so the fact that we could make it ourselves with no other kind of creative input was really nice.

You’ve also released a new single ‘Small Talk’, which forms part of your two-track cassette release on Brace Yourself Records which Zoe designed the artwork for. Tell me what this track is about…

Yasmin: It’s just about not really liking small talk. It’s one of the first songs we ever wrote. It’s quite a straightforward, snappy, loud, quick song – which I think a lot of our songs are. It’s a bit of a contrast to ‘Always Happy’, it’s a bit rougher and a bit more like our earlier sound.

That’s to the point, I like it. The UK government have teased us with the potential lifting of lockdown restrictions & return of live music if their step-by-step plan over the next few months. If it does work, is there a particular venue or festival you’re keen to play?

Yasmin: We’ve announced that we’re playing Dot to Dot Festival which is so exciting. That’s in Bristol, Nottingham and Manchester. We’ve never played in Nottingham before, so that’s gonna be fun.

Zoe: I honestly feel like we would take anything and play anywhere right now?

Yasmin: I mean, we usually take any gig that gets offered to us because we love playing, but especially now I think we would take anything!

Poppy: I think if we were dreaming big we’d love to play End Of The Road Festival. But yeah, honestly anywhere….

That sounds good! I know we’re all approaching 2021 with caution, but do you have plans to record or release more music this year?

Zoe: We’ve recorded an EP, which will be coming out this year. That’s very exciting.

Yasmin: We’re almost done with it. Covid-19 got in the way of it once again, the studio we were recording it had to shut, but it’s nearly get ready to go. Hopefully we’ll do some more music videos as well.

Looking forward to hearing that! Finally, can you recommend some new music for us to listen to?

Collectively: Ooooh yes! Grove, they’re from Bristol and they’ve just released an EP. Sinead O’Brien, deep tan, LIME, Katy J Pearson – always a favourite! We’re just playing all of these bands on repeat at the moment…

Thanks so much to Grandmas House for chatting with us!

You can buy a copy of ‘Always Happy/’Small Talk’ on limited edition cassette here.

Follow Grandma’s House on bandcamp, Spotify, Instagram, Twitter & Facebook

 

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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