Promoting and Supporting Women in Music
Kate was back in the Hoxton Radio studio this week with loads of new music from the likes of Dutch Mustard, Varley, The Van T’s, Pongo, Ghum & ARXX.
She was joined by the wonderful Hazel Iris who spoke about her upcoming project ‘The Story Of Lily’, and who treated listeners to an acoustic performance with Aine her accordion player!
Listen back:
@getinherears
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Always at the forefront when it comes to fighting for equality and fair representation; Petrol Girls have shared a powerful new video for their new single ‘Big Mouth’. Supporting the ongoing defamation case for Solidarity Not Silence – a group of women who are being silenced for speaking out against the behaviour of a man in the music industry – their new single is a necessary shout-back and a call to arms to support their activist sisters.
Vocalist Ren Aldridge explains more about the track’s context: “[Big Mouth] focuses in on voice as a physical sound that comes directly from our bodies, and also more generally as self-expression. There’s a lot of politics around who is heard and what that means, and many marginalised groups are only tolerated when they’re quiet. When they refuse this containment and control, they’re met with attempts to silence them.”
“Just one example of this is the defamation case which aims to silence the Solidarity Not Silence girls…whilst the case is ongoing, we are limited in what we can say about it, but encourage everyone to spread the word and donate to the crowdfunding campaign for their legal costs. They are determined to not allow their case to set a precedent for silencing marginalised voices in the music industry and beyond. There’s no legal aid for this kind of case – they need money to pay for their legal representation in order to pursue justice. You can get a Solidarity Not Silence t-shirt, as worn by Joe in the ‘Big Mouth’ music video, here.”
As well as Ren’s own powerful voice, the new single includes a sample of Poly Styrene’s iconic intro to X-Ray Spex’s ‘Oh Bondage! Up Yours!’- with lyrics that still resonate with activists and musicians over forty years later. ‘Big Mouth’ is taken from Petrol Girls’ upcoming album Cut & Stitch, which will be released on 24th May via Hassle Records. A companion Rough Trade Publishing ‘Edition’, written by Ren, is also available to pre-order via the band’s official store.
The band will be touring extensively from the beginning of May, including in-stores at Rough Trades in the week the album is released, tours with War On Women and La Dispute, plus appearances as festivals like The Great Escape, 2000trees and Roskilde. Watch the video for ‘Big Mouth’ below and follow Petrol Girls on Facebook for more updates.
Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut
Kate was back in the studio this week playing loads of tunes to celebrate International Women’s Day (8th March). There were tracks from Karen O, Pixel Grip, Blonde Maze, Stella Donnelly & Silk Cinema.
Grapefruit also came in to the studio to talk about their new single ‘Black and Blue’ (released March 15th) and their upcoming support slot at our next GIHEs gig at Notting Hill Arts Club on March 16th! (RSVP here).
Listen back:
Newcomers HEARD Collective have covered Tracey Chapman’s iconic track ‘Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution’ to celebrate International Women’s Day, and we’re proud to be premiering the song ahead of its official release. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, the cover features instrumental and vocal performances from 11 diverse female artists from the folk, pop and indie music world.
HEARD was co-founded by multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriters Daisy Chute and Cerian after they met in the studio recording vocals for Radiohead’s latest album A Moon Shaped Pool. The collective was born out of a desire for more female representation in the music industry and to create a community who would tour together, support one another, and inspire a new generation of female musicians.
Joining Daisy & Cerian on their new mission are; Roxanne de Bastion, Kal Lavelle, Fabia Anderson, Lin Hamami, Jelly Cleaver, Elisabeth Flett, Jessie Reid, Susie Blankfield and Rosie Bergonzi. Their new single will be launched in an all-female showcase at The Slaughtered Lamb, London on Thursday 7th March and profits will be donated to charity (RSVP here).
Daisy and Cerian met Denny Fongheiser – the drummer on Tracy Chapman’s original recording of ‘Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution’ – on an American tour, and he encouraged them to record and release their own version. Although released over 30 years ago, ‘Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution’ feels just as relevant now as it did in 1988. The track was also mastered by engineer Katie Tavini. With statistics showing that 97% of music industry engineers/mixers are male, Tavini’s work on the collaboration feels extra significant here.
Daisy & Cerian added: “So often we were finding ourselves in the studio or on a lineup as the only female voice. We read in online magazine Pitchfork that only 14% of acts in American festivals in 2017 were female, and according to PRS only 16% of all songwriters/composers registered were female. Rather than viewing this as a competition between each other for that small space, we wanted to redress the balance and ‘open’ the window of opportunity, creating a collective of women not working against, but with and for each other.”
We’re big fans of what the HEARD Collective are doing. Listen to their cover below and follow the group on Facebook for more updates.
Photo Credit: Siemon Baker
kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut
Get In Her Ears 