WON'T EAT YOUR HATE LIKE LOVE * Band Introductions
p. 4
(Pretty Little Demons, Emma Ruth Rundle, Alison Mosshart, Skating Polly, Ellie Rowsell, St. Vincent)
* On male entitlement of women’s bodies
p. 7
* Thoughts on an interview with Chelsea Wolfe
p. 8
* What would Cathy Pellow do?
p. 10
* Interview Judith Holofernes
p. 12
* Melody's Echo Chamber – Girl behind the “genius”
p. 15
* Interview Lianna Lee Davies
p. 16
* Return of the 90s bands
p. 19
* A woman sitting by herself is not waiting for you
p. 22
* Mixtape
p. 23
* Credits
p. 24
Welcome to Grrrlpunkzine #2 Pretty soon after I finished the first zine I started the next one – and it has taken nearly a year to finish it. I had more friends helping me with this edition and I hope to find even more people who'd like to contribute to the next one. If you're interested in sharing any writings or art just get in touch. Special thanks goes out to James Wilkes who proofread all texts (just mentioning this so you know who to blame for any mistakes ;) ) which I'm incredibly thankful for as he's the only native speaker involved. In addition, I'm very grateful I got the opportunity to do interviews with some amazing musicians and I'm super happy with the outcomes. This zine still doesn't really have a concept and grrrlpunk might not seem to be a fitting title, but to me the Riot Grrrl movement was a huge influence in terms of bringing music and feminism together. Supporting female musicians and discussing feminist topics is what I focus on in these zines too so it makes sense to me. I love seeing women on stage and I wish there were more in rock and punk. Rock am Ring/ Rock im Park, the biggest German rock festivals, have booked only 6 bands with women so far this year. Reading/Leeds Festival in England has confirmed just 9 bands with women. What can we do to make a change? It's not like there aren't enough decent bands, but there definitely aren't enough “big� rock bands with female musicians which is, in my opinion, a result of the lack of interest from the media and the music industry in female musicians. Wolf Alice (although they are pretty poppy) are a good example of how bands featuring women can commercially work just as well as all-male bands if the business and media attention is there. Having more women working in these areas could benefit this in the future and not only help get female musicians the attention they deserve, but also help them to live off their music too. I really hope at some point in the future gender won't be a topic in music anymore and Rolling Stones 100 greatest guitarists list will include more than two women. Until then, I will focus on supporting female musicians. Nina
On male entitlement of women’s bodies A few months ago I went to a gig of a band with a female guitarist. When she came out after the show to talk to some people, some guy suddenly hugged her from behind. When she turned around to him, he laughed and said “It's okay, I'm gay“. This made me so mad. How does HE dare to decide what's okay for her? I really wanted to call him out on it, tell him to fuck off and leave her alone or maybe just grab his butt and be like “It's okay, I'm gay too“, to show him what he did. But I felt it was up to her to say anything and if I had decided she shouldn't be okay with it, I'd be disrespecting her in the same way he did. I’ve thought about this a lot, that's why I'm writing about it now, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I was wrong. I should have called him out on his behaviour. I remembered the situation when I recently read an article about how misogyny doesn't exclude gay men, saying that sexual harassment is still sexual harassment, even if it comes from someone who's not sexually interested. The problem here is a common one, male entitlement of women's bodies which can be found everywhere in our society from judging women's appearance to rape. So if a guy feels entitled to decide that it’s okay to touch a woman without consent or even telling her, that's a perfect example of internalized misogyny and rape culture. We tend to overlook such things because it seems minor to us. This guy didn't want to harm anyone so why make a fuss about it? Well because this guy isn't the problem. Our whole society, which isn't just accepting but even promoting such behaviour, is the problem and if we don't try to make a change, who will? That's why I think I should have told him that his behaviour was disrespectful and inappropriate and hopefully make him think about what he’d done. Maybe next time he would ask himself if it was okay for HER before he touches a girl. Maybe.... In my opinion, pointing out problematic behaviour (be it sexist, racist, homophobic or any other kind) is a start to make a change in peoples’ minds and the risk of being called a feminist bitch or told you're overreacting is worth it. Hopefully I’ll remember this next time.
Thoughts on an interview with Chelsea Wolfe I wrote an introduction for Chelsea Wolfe for the last zine and when I met her I gave her a copy. She told me she really liked it and asked if I'd do another one here we go. Around that time I did an interview with her for my CW fanblog which her manager Cathy Pellow made possible. Two questions really fit in here topic-wise and I'd like to talk about why I think they're important:
Are there are any current female artists that you listen to, and are there any you’d like to collaborate with? CW: I adore Brody Dalle, I really like Anika. Angel Haze. Kim Gordon’s new project Body/Head is really cool, I saw them live in Portugal. Grimes is great. White Lung is killing it. Foie Gras is gonna do great things. My label-mate Emma Ruth Rundle makes really pretty songs. I dig Nikki Lane, Lana Del Rey, PJ Harvey, Patti Smith. I used to hold back from talking about the female musicians I liked because the press loves to pit women against each other so they’ll say that you’re just trying to be like them or vice versa, but fuck it, I’ve been doing this for almost 10 years, following my own path, they can say whatever they want. I love women.
The answer to this question was really special to me as she really made a statement from a general question. I think I wrote in the first zine about how women only get compared to other women by the media and it was sad to see Chelsea has experienced this and preferred not to talk about female musicians to avoid getting associated, in whatever way, with them. I love seeing women supporting each other which is often like a big “fuck you” to the press which loves to write about rivalry and drama. Also, all artists she mentioned are really great and I'm glad she shared them with us. Music has nothing to do with gender. Fuck what they say, let’s show our love.
You appear in Revolver Magazine’s “Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock” Calendar. How do you feel about that? CW: Honestly, I was pretty horrified. I wasn’t aware that the photo was going to be used for a calendar and was upset when I randomly discovered it online (someone told me of it on Twitter), but it was too late to do anything about it. It’s not really a big deal, it’s just not my style. The second question was from me. I was really surprised when I saw her in that calendar. The photos of most other women included some “sexy posing” but the photo of Chelsea was just a really beautiful photo from a fashion shot and it annoyed me that she was obviously only in there because she was showing cleavage. I don't want to rant about the calendar in general, is there a 'Hottest men in hard rock' calendar? No! It must be very discouraging for young women in hard rock to see they're just being reduced to “being hot”. Not to mention Chelsea Wolfe's music is pretty far from hard rock, she might have some heavy guitars and black metal influences but I wouldn't call her hard rock. So why did someone think she should be in that calendar then (without asking her)? The only explanation I have for this is that some guy saw her photo and thought it was hot and there was a lack of female artists to use. If they had chosen any other photo it wouldn't have pissed me off so much, but this way the makers of the calendar just sexualised women's bodies which is sadly such a common phenomenon in our society. I find it disturbing that there is automatically something sexual seen in a girl's breasts, thighs or other body parts. Surprise, our bodies exist for us and not for men to be attracted to them. Revolver Magazine is fetishising female musicians in general, “Hottest chicks in hard rock” is one of the main categories on their page, and it's so sad to see that instead of supporting female musicians, their looks are all that matters to them. Chelsea Wolfe is so much more than hot and I hope people are going to stick to praising her incredible music instead focusing on her looks in the future.
Both photos by Kristin Cofer for Sisters of the Black Moon
Chelsea Wolfe's fifth studio album "Abyss" is going to be released in spring/summer on Sargent House.
Read the full interview on chelseawolfeonly.tumblr.com/tagged/q-and-a
What would Cathy Pellow do? “Sargent House is my way to give back all
that I learned”
I’ve usually focused on female musicians in my zines up until now. Here I want to take a deeper look into a woman who stands behind musicians, so I'd like to introduce you to the amazing Cathy Pellow of Sargent House - one of the very few women who run a record label. Cathy founded the L.A. based record label and management company Sargent House in 2006 to release an album by the band RX Bandits that she managed back then. Cathy wanted to do things differently, thus Sargent House is managing all the artists they sign themselves which guarantees bands a bigger share from the album sales than most indie labels would give. Furthermore, Cathy and her team only sign bands they truly believe in and put all their heart into supporting these bands. This makes Sargent House more like a family than a revenue-orientated business. Everything is super personal and when you check SH's twitter feed, you might wonder how Cathy finds time to manage all these bands while keeping updated on twitter. She genuinely loves music and is always tweeting about bands that she likes that aren't on SH too. In 2014 Cathy bought “The Farm” in California, about 1,5 hours from Los Angeles. It was transformed into a rehearsal and recording space where Sargent House bands can live and work at a time.
For me personally, Cathy Pellow is an important role model, not only because my goal is to work in the music industry myself. She really worked herself up coming from a poor home. At 12 years she was an Olympic-qualified diver and at 18 she got the idea to move to New York City and write ads, so she just went into the biggest company, asked for work and got an internship. If she set her mind on something she worked hard until she archived it and that's the spirit shes kept, always aiming for the best. When she had her daughter at 21 she couldn't work in a normal job as a single mum, so she just went and became an agent getting big deals and subsequently started her own agency to represent fashion photographers. She actually wanted to make movies and even though she was told she couldn't just go and make one she did. After working for some time as a producer she got bored and founded Refused TV, a production company which made music videos, in 2001 and became very successful with it. This lead to Sargent House in the end, to help bands become famous. Cathy Pellow doesn't just have an impressing life story, she also seems to be one of the most generous, honest, passionate and hard working people in music, with an amazing eye for new bands. Being a woman in a male dominated business obviously didn't limit her at all. “I am who I am regardless of gender and I think there’s no question that I’ve observed men, my counterparts, doing or saying the same things as me and it's taken in a way different way than when a woman says it... I just don't really bother,” said Cathy in an interview – do your thing, don't give a fuck what other people say and never aiming for less seems to be a very successful strategy. That's why I think that she's really one to look up to and asking yourself “What would Cathy do?” might be good advice in life. If there were more people like her in the world it would be a better place.
Sargent House bands include: Previously mentioned Chelsea Wolfe and Emma Ruth Rundle; Marriages, Russian Circles, Deafheaven, ASIWYFA, Boris, Helms Alee and more.
An interview with Judith Holofernes about women in music Judith Holofernes is a very special person to me. She founded the pop/rock band Wir sind Helden (German for We are Heroes) in 2000 after releasing a solo album under her own name. Their debut album went straight into the Top 5 and they grew to be one of the most successful and important German bands of the '00 years. When I saw Wir sind Helden on TV in 2004 (when I was 10 years old) it was love on the first sight. I was so impressed by the girl playing a red guitar and rocking the stage. I wanted to be like her and she became the biggest influence on my life in the following years, inspiring me to start learning guitar and to watch the band live loads of times. Wir sind Helden decided to take a “break” in 2011, but this year Judith is back with her new solo-album “Ein leichtes Schwert”. She's back home now after some heavy touring and I'm happy that she has agreed to answer some questions about what it’s like to be a woman in music.
When did you realise you wanted to be a musician? Pretty early on! I picked up learning the guitar when I was twelve years old and it soon turned out that it was a great way to impress boys at campfires. Also I fell deeply and madly in love with my mothers record collection and nothing has moved me as much as music ever since. There are other German bands with female singers the press have compared you to or have tried to make out a rivalry between you. How do you feel about always getting compared to female musicians? I think it's a little shortsighted to compare musicians by whether they have breasts or not. On the other hand it has always been important to me to find female rolemodels and it still is, so maybe it does matter more than I would like it to. But I never felt a very strong connection to those other bands via their music– although I´m good friends with Juli´s Eva Briegel, she is a fantastic woman, very funny and tough. Do you ever feel that you're being treated differently than male artists would be? If yes, tell us about some situations. Yes, sure! I have been asked in interviews whether – when I'm home alone - I sometimes enjoy playing an instrument, too, like the boys in the band – right after I'd come off a stage where I played the fucking rhythm guitar in front of thousands of people.
Did you ever feel you were being pressured more by people you were working with to fit a certain image compared to men in music? I guess I feel a lot more pressure to conform visually and stylistically, to fit into a pastiche of what a woman in my position/age/ social situation should look like. Last time around I got criticized for my voice sounding too young and asked whether it was probably time to grow up! I'm just wondering if any of the leather jacket and sneaker wearing fifty year old indie dudes get asked that. My favorite singers are people like Ricky Lee Jones and Edie Brickell, people with a very natural and in my eyes unaffected singing style. Also I sometimes think I sing like a boy. Whichever way, it suits my voice and suits the things I want to say and do, so I'll probably sound like this until I'm eighty.
I read in an interview that you were especially looking for female musicians for the live-band of your solo project. Why is that and what were your experiences with that? It made me very happy! First of all it was a musical decision because on my record I sang a lot of backing vocals that I think are quite essential to the sound... So not wanting to have classic back up singers – and also needing quite a few extra hands to play all the frigging instruments – I knew I needed at least two women who can sing but also play more than one instrument at a rather advanced level. Which turned out not to be too easy. There's more and more women musicians out there, but not too many women „band musicians.“ I guess a lot of girls who can sing and play guitar go straight for the front position, which is understandable, but hey, we really need a couple more fantastic, mono–minded nerdy girl guitarists and drummers... But I got lucky, I found two great women and three great guys and I think it's fantastic. I also enjoy travelling with women in my travel party for once, it's very relaxed and fun!
Recent statistics showed that only a very small bookings include women. I think you were the last (Germany’s biggest rock festival) – 10 years ago. representation of women in rock music? Do you think
percentage of major festivals woman to headline Rock am Ring What are your thoughts on the there is a change?
Fuck! That is very discouraging. Phew. But it makes absolute sense. I just think the bandwidth of acceptable behaviour for women is still very narrow. So we'll probably need to misbehave just a little more. Aiming for greatness and success is one of the things that are very unacceptable in a girl, but being easygoing and shy does not necessarily get you to headline major festivals. What's your advice for girls who want to be a musician? Speaking from a selfish point of view: pleeeeease learn to play the guitar or play the drums or whichever instrument you fancy, there's just too few women out there doing that. But even if you want to be a singer and a singer only, learn some instrument to accompany yourself so you are not dependent on others for songwriting. Also, and that is tougher than it looks: don't fall into girlish behaviour, downplaying your abilities to band colleagues or anybody, don't hide! Allow yourself to be a great musician – and that does not mean you have to be a virtuoso, I think this applies to music with a DIY- or punk ethos as well – but go for it and don't settle for less than what you want to be - just because it's un– cute to want it.
The girl behind the "genius" by Margarida Bengla Melody Prochet is a French singer most famous for her dream pop/psychedelic rock project, Melody’s Echo Chamber. She had previously been on French band, My Bee’s Garden which has toured with Tame Impala. Her self titled album was produced by Kevin Parker. As she’s a girl, every single comment on youtube, facebook, twitter and what not has to mention the fact that her album was produced by him. He produced it, yes, as the great producer Kevin is, however she’s not his creation. She can sing, play guitar, violin, viola and keyboards. All songs were written by her. And those are great songs, she’s an amazing artist with her dreamy voice and hypnotic dance moves. Unfortunately, this problem happens often. Another example is Brody Dalle, always associated with Josh Homme, he is her husband so he automatically has to put her out there and create her? Didn’t these women have an artistic life and artistic interests before they met them? Why are the guys the ones who influenced them? Because they’re stronger? Smarter? More influent? And why are they always asked in interviews how it is like to be with the guys and being the woman behind them? It’s like they are in their boyfriend/husband’s shadow because the woman is supposed to be the muse not the creator. I call this bullshit, there are MANY great powerful female artists who can do It all by themselves. No, they don’t have a male figure behind all of their work, they too have a brain, feelings and a hand to write about their moods and transforming it into music. Melo has recently released a new song, Shirim, she wrote it and produced it herself with no help from anyone. Now that Melody and Kevin are no longer together, will she be recognized as his former girlfriend or as the amazing artist she is ?
Lianna Lee Davies is the bassist of the Bristol based band Turbowolf whose music could be described as hard rock with psych, punk and metal influences. Before replacing the former Turbowolf bassist, Lianna played in the riot grrrl influenced punk band Pettybone. She’s also giving bass lessons, so in case you live around Bristol and want to learn bass get in touch with her - you’ll learn from the coolest bassist in town. Turbowolf are one of the most exciting live bands I’ve seen in a while, so go and see them if you can. Their second album “Two Hands” is out now. How did you decide you wanted to learn bass? I've played guitar since I was about 13, however at around 16 I made the switch to bass, mainly because I found myself humming along to bass in songs rather than guitar and I guess I just have that natural lean more to rhythms and low end sounds. With bass you feel it more and I feel I can put more into it than guitar. I still play guitar but bass is definitely my forte and my favourite instrument to play. Who are your role models? I have quite a lot, the reason I got into music and realised that's what I wanted to do was when I first heard David Bowie. I love it when art and music is mixed together, David Bowie has it all and and he has inspired me to take my influences from different places to try and be a creative as possible. My other main role models and influences and the people whom have inspired me are, Kathleen Hannah, PJ Harvey, Carol Kaye (One of the best bass players in the whole world, she wrote the bass for most pop songs in the 60s), Morrissey, Patti Smith, Lydia Lunch, Howling Wolf, David Lynch, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Posion Ivy (The Cramps) and Brody Dalle. There are loads more but these people to me break the boundaries and inspire. Having Rebel Girl tattooed on your wrists, what impact did the Riot Grrrl movement have on you? It changed my life. Before I heard Bikini Kill I was always searching for something in punk I could really relate to and it made me realise i had a voice and I could do it too. When I first heard Bikini Kill, It all made so much sense to me, finally someone in punk was speaking my language on the issues I cared about. Bikini Kill are one of the most important bands in punk and the Riot Grrrl movement has done a lot for females in bands and bringing feminism, politics and music together. Creating a sub culture that will always live on, I'm a few years shy of missing the proper 90s wave of the Riot Grrrl movement but being in the movement must have been a very exciting time. I am however very excited at the fact that some of my favourite bands from them are reforming and touring again, 2015 has gotten a whole lot more exciting with the vibrance of Riot Grrrls coming back and hopefully they inspire a whole new generation all over again.
Do you feel that press/ venues/ people who come to your shows sometimes treat you differently than the guys in your band? Sometimes yes, most mainstream press is complete bullshit that focuses way too much on the fact that I'm a female. It's boring and dated and isn't there anything more interesting to talk about other than my sex. My reproductive organs do not play the bass. My hands and my muscle memory does, just the same as a male. Congratulations world to notice I have a vagina. I've been asked if I was the merch girl at venues before and even kicked out of my own dressing room because they didn't believe I was in the band. But it's not all the time and people whom do treat me like that, I have no time for. I'm not doing it for them, one of the reasons I do what I do is to inspire other females to pick up an instrument and start a band just like Bikini Kill did for me and if i can get through to a few females and inspire them it's worth all the other bullshit. What's your advice for girls who want to be in a band? Just do it. Never be afraid, just decide which instrument you want to play and do it. Playing any instrument is simple, and to get good it at all you need to do is practice. Those are my two mottos for anyone who wants to be in a band just doing it and practice. Never care for what anyone thinks, be determined. The world needs more female artists, so become one of them and inspire.
A woman sitting by herself is not waiting for you by Helen Bauer I was visiting a friend in London last summer and we were walking through Camden. When we passed a park with picnickers I said: 'I like doing the same in my home town – just escaping stressful city life for a while on those green islands.' You get to forget cars and people for a while. Well, not all people. It happened a lot to me that some men just came up interrupting me from my book and started talking, sometimes even sitting next to me like they would do me a favour! I cannot understand where these men take their ego from to ascribe loneliness and boredom to me. As if I went to the public park to get into a conversation with someone. No! It's my spare time that I don't want to spend with a stranger, sometimes a weirdo, sometimes even an inconvenient guy trying to hit on me. But it's always been men so far. When I finished my little complaint that to my friend, I expected understanding from her. Instead she started to give me a speech. That this is why humankind is screwed. That our communication is only taking place on social media. That the world is going to be grey and cold with such behaviour. That it's selfish of me and that I should be more open-minded. That when I sit down in public I would have to be aware of others. Incorporate. Gain. Appreciating the environment. I didn't expect this, her point of view confused me. Was I being egotistical? Is it my fault? Should I feel bad for being unfriendly to strangers starting a conversation at the bus stop because for me it just feels like an uncomfortable, sometimes even painful situation? I came to the conclusion that it's not only me to blame. There might be people in this world having nothing in mind. They are making my environment a richer place. I’ve had wonderful experiences in public, like once when the trains had gone on strike and I was helping an old blind man to get home. During our walk we were talking about many interesting topics. It turned out that in spite of his handicap he was incredibly smart and perfectly up to date concerning politics and economy. I felt like I gained a lot from this experience. But I have to admit that when someone tries to talk to me in a queue or whilst waiting for the train, I react denying in the first place. Call me introverted, but I do have a problem when someone is calling me small minded or frozen. That is not the case. But I know what is happening out there. Day by day, sexism is still present everywhere. It is happening to me as well as to my friends and as long as this is being accepted I will protect myself and not stop by. There has to be a revolution now. As long as rape is a common crime, I'll have to accept that some people call me an arrogant prude, kill-joy, cold hearted egoist. That people like me are to blame for urban anonymity. While all I want is to sit down on this green square on my own and eventually finish reading my book. I don't owe anyone anything.
Grrrl Punk Zine #2 Mixtape
To get an idea what the bands we're talking about sound like, we did a little mixtape with all the mentioned bands. Go to 8tracks to have a listen. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
Pretty Little Demons – Unknown Species Emma Ruth Rundle – Shadows of my Name The Kills – Fuck the People Skating Polly – Alabama Movies Wolf Alice – Giant Peach St. Vincent – Birth in Reverse Chelsea Wolfe – Feral Love Melody's Echo Chamber - Quand Vas Tu Rentrer? Wir sind Helden – Du erkennst mich nicht wieder L7 – Freak Magnet Sleater-Linney – Price Tag Babes in Toyland – Bruise Violet Turbowolf – Solid Gold
Listen at: 8tracks.com/grrrlpunk/won-t-eat-your-hate-like-love