New Young Pony Club- The Bomb Flyleaf- Breathe Today Kate Nash- Pumpkin Soup The Pretenders- Brass in Pocket The Ting Tings- Be The One Heather Nova- Wide-screen Bat For Lashes- Daniel Bif Naked- I Want Plastiscines- Barcelona Daisy Chainsaw- The Future Free Natalie Imbruglia- Torn Gloria Jones- Tainted Love Paramore- Crushcrushcrush Marina and the Diamonds- I Am Not A Robot Karen O and the Kids- All is Love Stars- Window Bird An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump- 100% Sia- Buttons Ipso Facto- Circle of Fifths Penny Broadhurst- Chemist Goods Portishead- Machine Gun Heart- Barracuda Devilish Presley- Hammer Horror Glamour Palodine- Redwinged Blackbird Koogaphone- White Trash Bleech- Flowerhands Cyndi Lauper- True Colours Rasputina- Wish You Were Here
MEN! Jd Samson from Le Tigre fronts this awesome electro punk noise!
The newly revived Hole. I got to see the new line up back in Feburary, and well Courtney Love despite her bad press just oozes rock star cool from her core
Speaking of the Hole I gig I went to, I saw the most awesome support act there, a band who brought out their debut album this year- Little Fish
amazing artist She Makes War..extremely talented lady Laura Kidd makes most of the music herself.
the highlight of Offset festival this year for me- Comanchei-
uploaded to mixcloud so you can listen anytime! (see side bar for link)
Hole- Violet Melissa Auf de Maur- Out of Our Minds Paloma Faith- Upside Down Robots in Disguise- Wake Up! Chicks on Speed- Love Bite The Runaways- Cherry Bomb Wendy Solomon- Happy Hour Dirty Fairies- Get High Death of the Elephant- 2N2222 Trash Monroe- Venus Envy Candy Panic Attack- What's He Got That I Haven't? Little Fish- Die Young Comanechi- Naked Wetdog- Evicted Gramme- Like You Thomas Tantrum- Shake It Shake It Chrome Hoof- Leave This Ruined Husk The Birthday Massacre- Pins and Needles The Slits- Newtown Femmepop- Medication Le Tigre- Deceptacon The Duke Spirit- Everybody's Under Your Spell Blondie- Mother Poly Stryene- Black Christmas Call the Doctor- For Your Leisure Fire Bug- Season For Change Bleech- FairFrusion Amanda Palmer- High and Dry
Bif Naked- Ladybug Waltz Santigold- I'm a Lady The Joy Formidable- Greyhounds in the Slips Garbage- Dumb New Young Pony Club- The Get Go Plastiscines- Barcelona Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Isis Moloko- Familiar Feeling Bikini Kill- Distinct Complicity Dresden Dolls- My Alcoholic Friends Bjork- Isobel Tori Amos- Big Wheel Flyleaf- Breathe Today Kim Carnes- Bette Davis Eyes Blondie- Mother Dido- Here With Me Paloma Faith- Upside Down Rilo Kiley- The Moneymaker Regina Spektor- Edit Miss the Occupier- Short Sight Moth Complex-Learned my Lesson Lucid Nation- The World's Guiltiest Pleasure Little Boots- Stuck on Repeat Femmepop- Good Nina Hagen- Spirit in the Sky
Le Tigre- Deceptacon Lauren Harris- See Through The Duke Spirit- Everybody's Under Your Spell Heart- Barracuda Damone- What We Came Here For The Runaways- Wait For Me Hole- Violet Erase Errata- Tax Dollar Melissa Auf de Maur- My Foggy Notion L7- Wargasm Portishead- Machine Gun The Birthday Massacre- The Dream Madonna- Vogue Banarama- Cruel Summer Lunachicks- Binge and Purge Lily Allen- Alfie Le Monnier- No Power Meredith Brooks- Bitch Thomas Tantrum- Pshandy Ministry of Love- Life in Song Misnomer- Genius Lucid Nation- Second Skin No Doubt- Ex Girlfriend Driver- Change your Ways Jessica Allyn- Standing O Chicks on Speed- Wordy Rappinghood
Hey, finally have found a bit of time to write a review of something I had been looking forward to since I first heard about it- back towards the beginning of the year- that's of course Ladyfest Ten! So called because this year Ladyfests have been organised for 10 years (the first one happened in 2000 in Olympia, Washington). So to celebrate, some lovely ladies in London decided to throw a big weekend's worth of Ladyfest goodness- filled with workshops, music and much more. I couldn't afford to go to all three days so I picked the best sounding day- Saturday.
To my annoyance, this was a day that every tube line I was planning to take decided to close, or partly close, meaning there was chaos as the inevitable overcrowding happened. So in the end, we wound up getting a bus to Islington and arrived later than initially planned, so we had a very brief time to quickly scoff some chips down for lunch before heading to the first thing on our agenda at the Resource Centre- a workshop- Women in the Media panel discussion.
We all sat in a circle as we were introduced to the panel- Annette Barlow- writer for The Girls Are (link to blog on my side menu) Jess McCabe- writer for The F Word (another one on my side menu and highly recommended) Ruth Barnes- radio presenter of The Other Woman , Bidihisa and Kira Cochrane, both of the Guardian.
Each speaker provided their point of view about what it's like working as a woman in the media. It wasn't about discussing media stereotypes and representations of women (although a very worthy subject too) but about blogging, the trouble of working for free, how to get your foot in the door. Some was very positive, and some quite negative. It's a sad fact when you learn even the BBC still doesn't feature as many women as it should do in it's programming. The session ended with a Q&A session with many women asking thoughtful interesting question, and made me realise how many there are of us trying to promote things such as female music, writing etc.
Afterwards we had a little look around the stalls and admired the "Lady Garden" an area where you could sit and be creative- some people were crocheting, others were knitting etc. There was some really wonderful mini protest banners hanging up. The stalls were a mix of zines, books and other wonderful things. I came away with a book about making zines, a magazine, and a sash that says "Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History" from a very cool women's environmental group who base their selves on the suffragettes- Climate Rush
We then moved onto Studio La Danza to have a go at a dance workshop! It was called "Riot Grrrl" although the song we learned a routine to was actually Marilyn Manson's version of "Tainted Love". I got tired out pretty quickly but the teacher was super nice and took it us through the routine slowly. It was fun but tiring!
We needed a break afterwards so we went had a lovely Thai curry at a nearby restaurant before making our way to The Relentless Garage for some music! I missed a few of the artists I would have liked to see because they clashed with the other things we wanted to do (which was one problem with so many things going on) but I did at least manage to buy a copy of She Makes War's album (which I highly recommend by the way)
We caught the very last song of Veronica Falls, it sounded quite good but I haven't heard enough to say more than that.
The first band we saw the whole set of was Vile Vile Creatures who were my musical highlight of the evening. They played short, punky songs that were right up my street.
next band we saw was Battant who I wasn't really sure of to start with, but I got more and more into it as the set played. It seemed very electro at the time, but having a listen on MySpace now, they do have an electro tinge about them but it isn't pure electro, it's mixed with garage style rock too.
The next artist was the rather extravagant Nicky Click who took the stage barely wearing anything and a pony tail. She had a large and proud attitude which was good, but her music wasn't really my thing. It was electro/dance, in a Peaches style manner, but personally I much prefer Peaches!
Finally was the headliner MEN who feature JD Samson of Le Tigre. As I suspected, being a fan of Le Tigre, I really enjoyed MEN. The music was quite similar to Le Tigre, funky electro rock you can dance to with a political message. So if you haven't listened to them yet, go do it!
Thanks to the trains and tubes, we barely could stay for the after party although the tunes we did manage to hear the dj's playing at the horatia were awesome, so I'm sure it was a great party! I was so glad that I didn't do any volunteering this year and could really enjoy the festival to it's fullest this time. I can't wait for another one!
The Ting Tings- We Walk The Sounds- Running Out of Turbo Saint Etienne- Only Love Can Break Your Heart Daisy Chainsaw- Natural Man The Go! Team- Hold Yr Terror Close Mika Miko- Capricornations Soho Dolls- Prince Harry Santigold- Say Aha Bikini Kill- Tell Me So Janis Joplin- Piece of my Heart Go-Gos- Our Lips Are Sealed Cyndi Lauper- (Hey Now) Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Paramore- All We Know Eurythmics- Love is a Stranger Scarlet- independent Love Song Garbage- You Look So Fine Kate Nash- Mouthwash Fever Ray- Triangle Walks (Rex the Dog Remix) La Roux- Bulletproof Operator Please- Crash Tragic CSS- Alcohol Mancini- Toybox Lunic- Him Lucid Nation- Kindred Little Boots- Remedy KT Tunstall- Hold on PJ Harvey- Down By The Water Suzanne Vega- Blood Makes Noise Joan Jett and the Blackhearts- Tulane
Alanis Morissette- Sister Blister Lacuna Coil- Unspoken Blood Red Shoes- I Wish I Was Someone Better Tori Amos- Cornflake Girl Goldfrapp- Ooh La La Siouxie and the Banshees- Peek a Boo The Donnas- You Make Me Hot Atomic Blonde- Under My Skin (Censored) McQueen- Don't Know How To Break It To You Alisha's Attic- Barbarella She Makes War- Scared to Capsize Femmepop- Kick The Rayographs- Francis The Slits- Ping Pong Affair Dresden Dolls- Backstabber Imelda May- Big Bad Handsome Man Amy Macdonald- Run Regina Spektor- Music Box Nightwish- Amaranth Dead Weather- Hang you from the Heavens Ipso Facto- Six and Three Quarters Lizzyspit- Little Dan Brigitte Bardot- Lola Dutronic Lucid Nation- The Worlds Guiltiest Pleasure Flyleaf- Chasm Robots in Disguise- Mirror Mirror Lene Lovich- I Think We're Alone Now
Apologies if this blog has been a bit boring lately with just my playlists, I am currently taking part in national novel writing month so I have been dedicating my time to that this month. I did go to a very awesome gig recently that I'm dying to tell you about, but I have reviewed it for the amazing The F Word so I'm hoping they will use it, so will let you know if they do!
In the mean time, to whet your appetite for a non playlist related blog, I've nicked this music meme from my friend Rachel :)
This is the premise: They’re about to make a film of your life and want you to provide the soundtrack. Using the random play function on your music player, find 20 songs to fit the following categories:
Opening Credits, Birth, Waking Up, First Day At School, Falling In Love, Losing Virginity, Fight Song, Prom, Last Day of School, First Day at Work, Beginning of Adult Life, Mental Breakdown, Obligatory Flashback, Getting Back Together, Wedding, Birth of Child, Final Battle, Death Scene, Funeral Song, End Credits.
I won't use the same artist twice and I'm also changing it slightly to using my last fm player, as that is what I mainly use to listen to music!
Meredith Brooks- Bitch Horrorpops- Crawl Straight Home Lily Allen- LDN New Young Pony Club- Tight Fit Heart- Barracuda Shocking Blue- Venus Ladyfuzz- Kerfuffle Texas- In Our Lifetime Isa and the Filthy Tongues- Big Star Death of the Elephant- 2N222 Peaches- Boys Wanna Be Her Marnie Stern- Every Single Line Means Something Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Soft Shock Pagan Holiday- Real Words Marina and the Diamonds- I Am Not A Robot The Runaways- Cherry Bomb Gossip- Yr Mangled Heart Pat Benatar- Hit Me With Your Best Shot Comanechi- Naked Lilies on Mars- My Liver Hurts Leftover Lucy- Sleep Talking Jessica Allyn- Professor Harold Hill Dresden Dolls- Girl Anachronism Eisley- Invasion Patti Smith- Privilege (Set Me Free) Guano Apes- Big in Japan (Space Jazz Dubmen Mix)
Bow Wow Wow- Go Wild in the Country Joan Jett and the Blackhearts- I Hate Myself for Loving You Garbage- Androgyny Blondie- One Way or Another The Distillers- Coral Fang The Birthday Massacre- Happy Birthday Daisy Chainsaw- Love Your Money X Ray Spex- Oh Bondage Up Yours! Eurythmics- Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) Soho Dolls- Trash the Rental The Sounds- Running Out of Turbo Le Tigre- On The Verge CSS- Alcohol Paloma Faith- Upside Down Gloria Jones- Tainted Love La Roux- Bulletproof Bjork- Big Time Sensuality Morcheeba- World Looking In Dirty Fuzz- Love's a Gun Koogaphone- White Trash Lana- Ruthless Jessica Allyn- Mother God damn KT Tunstall- Hold On The Violets- Hush Away Metric- Monster Hospital Feist- Sea lion Chicks on Speed- Wordy Rappinghood
Bat For Lashes- Daniel Santigold- Say Aha The Slits- Typical Girls Kate Nash- Merry Happy Jefferson Airplane- White Rabbit L7- One More Thing Flyleaf- Breathe Today Damone- What We Came Here For Go-Go's- We Got the Beat The Go! Team- Bottle Rocket The Dead Weather- I Cut Like a Buffalo Ellie Goulding- Under the Sheets Bif Naked- I Want The Donnas- You Make Me Hot Courtney Love- Zeppelin Song Alanis Morissette- Sister Blister Dresden Dolls- Missed Me Swan Island- Crumble Lita Ford- Kiss Me Deadly The Joy Formidable- Greyhounds in the Slips Kennedy's Running for President- Meeting Strangers Julia Free- Boo Hoo Jessica Allyn- Iscariot Suzi Quatro- Can the Can Lunachicks- Binge and Purge Operator Please- Crash Tragic The Runaways- Cherry Bomb Florence and the Machine- Kiss With a Fist Ann Wilson- Immigrant Song
New Young Pony Club- The Get Go Veruca Salt- Volcano Girls PJ Harvey- Sheela Na Nig Horrorpops- Walk Like A Zombie Heart- Barracuda Blood Red Shoes- I Wish I Was Someone Better Tori Amos- Big wheel Call the Doctor- For Your Leisure Ladytron- Sugar Garbage- Queer Robots in Disguise- She's a Colour Scientist The Pretenders- Back on the Chain Gang Siouxie and The Banshees- Spellbound Goldfrapp- Ooh La La Melissa Auf Der Maur- Taste You Thomas Tantrum- Shake it Shake It Land of Talk- Speak To Me Bones Paramore- Misery Business Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Isis Little Fish- Die Young Hollywood Doll- Gutter Girl Ianasonic- Bitter Jessica Allyn- Standing O Suzanne Vega- Blood Makes Noise The Ropes- Water and Headphones Republica- Drop Dead Gorgeous Amanda Palmer- High and Dry
Dead Disco- It's Too Late Joan Jett and the Blackhearts- A.C.D.C Juliette Lewis- Fantasy Bar Sarah Borges and The Broken Singles- Do It For Free Martha Reeves and the Vandellas- Dancing in the Street Echobelly- Great Things Kelly Osbourne- Coolhead Le Tigre- This Island The Kills- Black Balloon Soho Dolls- I'm Not Cool Edie Brickell- What I Am Lily Allen- Alfie KT Tunstall- Black Horse and the Cherry Tree An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump- 100% Sugacoma- What Goes Round Skunk Anansie- Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good) Regina Spektor- Edit 4 Non Blondes- What's Up Crystal Castles- Tell Me What To Swallow Alisha's Attic- Air We Breathe Helen's Evil Twin- Stop Talking Grim Dylan- Kids Don't Sleep Bittybox- Smalltime The Birthday Massacre- Pins and Needles Kasms- Don't Hit the Bottom Karen O and the Kids- All is Love Blondie- Bang a Gong (Get it On)
I was both surprised and pleased some months ago when I saw The Birthday Massacre listed as playing at one of my main local music venues. I was even more pleased when I found out of my favourite local bands Trash Monroe were to be one of the support acts. I was so pleased I bought two of my best friends tickets too!
The day soon arrived and as normally when I go to gigs at Chinnerys it never opens on time, we didn't rush to get there at the opening time of 8pm, but unfortunelly for us they actually must have opened on time as we missed Trash Monroe- blast it!
We were just in time for second support act Raggedy Angry who were a group of goth guys who most of them had black eye make up around just one eye which made my friend Ruth think of puppies- and so the whole time we were watching them I was imagining them as puppies! Anyway they weren't very original at all, nothing new, going for the goth metal thing with some electronic noises in between. They also did a cover of Daft Punk's "Robot Rock" but I'm not really sure if I liked that either!
The Birthday Massacre on the other hand were totally awesome. I was surprised that it wasn't actually that busy but they managed to create quite a buzz in the crowd that had turned out to see them. They played a mix of tracks off the new album Pins and Needles as well as some old tracks. I couldn't believe how tiny, their singer Chibi was! For this reason and the fact that Chinnerys has a lot of poles in front of the stage it wasn't easy to take photos. The highlight for me was probably "Happy Birthday" although I really liked the new songs too. I thought Chibi was great, giving the people right at the front high fives and just generally being cool! the setlist was:
In the Dark Lovers End Video Kid Falling Down Goodnight Always Red Stars To Die For Shallow Grave Pins And Needles Control Looking Glass Horror Show Blue Midnight Encore: Sleepwalking Happy Birthday
The Runaways- Dead End Justice Girl in a Coma- Their Cell Rilo Kiley- Moneymaker Mother Mother- Dirty Town Roxette- It Must Have Been Love Lenka- Trouble is a Friend Polly Scattergood- Other Too Endless Tiny Masters of Today- Hologram World The Chalets- Sexy Mistake Pink- Trouble Metric- Glass Ceiling Evanescence- All That I'm Living For Flyleaf- Breathe Today Ace of Base- All That She Wants The Slits- New Town Feist- Mushaboom Eurythmics- Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) Nancy Sinatra- These Boots Are Made for Walkin' Garbage- Special Ladytron- Destroy Everything You Touch Hazard County Girls- Red Light Gabby Young- In This Together Bittybox- Ride Dead Weather- Hang You From The Heavens The Distillers- Beat Your Heart Out CSS- Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above Heather Nova- I Have The Touch
this show is available now to listen on our mixcloud page!
A long over due post as I wrote an "music I randomly discover on my computer" post when I first started this blog! So for the benefit of any new readers I'll explain. We have a lot of music on our computer. We used to spend way too much time downloading (only legally these days)! and we also used to have a subscription to a music delivery service when we paid so much a month and got lots of new releases- some good, some bad. So we have stuff we like and even some stuff we don't like, but also stuff I sometimes just across by accident and end up liking!
That's how I found Jesca Hoop! A singer/songwriter/guitarist from California- she also used to be nanny to Tom Wait's children!
Another lovely thing I've just discovered about her is that she contributed a song to a "Raise Hope for Congo" compilation CD- "Proceeds from the compilation fund efforts to make the protection and empowerment of Congo’s women a priority, as well as inspire individuals around the world to raise their voice for peace in Congo"
L7- Pretend We're Dead Alanis Morissette- Eight Easy Steps Melissa Auf Der Maur- Taste You McQueen- (Don't Know How To) Break It To You After School Sports- Almost Left My Boyfriend For His Casio Slunt- Not About You Daisy Chainsaw- Dog With Sharper Teeth The Sounds- Song With A Mission The Eyeliners- Sealed With A Kiss The Dollyrots- Because I'm Awesome Kate Bush- Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) Sixpence None The Richer- Kiss Me Paloma Faith- Do You Want The Truth or Something Beautiful? Patti Smith Group- Privilege (Set Me Free) Tegan and Sara- Walking With A Ghost Banarama- Cruel Summer Robots in Disguise- We're in the Music Biz Courtney Love- Sunset Strip Pat Benatar- Heartbreaker Jefferson Airplane- Somebody to Love Imelda May- Big Bad Handsome Man Marnie Stern- Every Single Line Means Something Femmepop- Good Even More Vast- Pure Bittybox- Snake Eyes (artist of the month) Florence and the Machine- Kiss With a Fist Gossip- Fire With Fire The Creepshow- Candy Kiss The Noisettes- Don't Give Up Lene Lovich- I Think We're Alone Now
As a major fan of all things riot grrrl, female fronted music, and DIY, of course I love reading zines and going to Ladyfest's, so far I've only been to Ladyfest London a few years ago, and I'm planning to go this year as there is a Ladyfest London in November to celebrate ten years of Ladyfests. It's times like these I wish I was a bit closer to london, or at least that the train journey wasn't so expensive as on the lead up to the event they have been doing loads of fundraisers to raise money for the main event including life drawing classes and spoken word evenings. Not only all this Ladyfest activity happening in London, but I've been finding out about more and more "female fronted" music club nights, band nights etc, but most of them are in London (and sometimes further- Ladyfest Nottingham also happened this year- and they are doing a zombie beauty queen contestevent over Halloween)!
I also like reading zines, I've been reading my friend Sophia's local music zine "Noisy!" for a few years now, I picked up quite a few when I went to Ladyfest London, and this year I've bought two so far, so I haven't indulged myself completely in it as yet but I'm starting to get quite into it!
What makes me sad, is in my town of Southend, Essex, UK, there isn't much of this type of thing. There is no feminist group, no female music clubs/gig nights (apart from my own earlier this year) there's never been a ladyfest (that I know of) and I'm not really sure about how many zines there are, apart from Noisy!
I really want this to change, I really want these things to be here! As apart from the usual gripes people have about their hometown, I quite like where I live. There's a lot of great talent here- music by bands like Trash Monroe, poetry and spoken word from Sundown, and more. The talent is there but there isn't much of my type of "scene" as it were. Sure we have a few good music venues like Chinnerys (who have had some good bands play this year, although not often enough)! and Club Riga, there isn't much in the way of alternative clubs anymore though.
Anyway there is a purpose to my ramble, it's that if I want these things, then for one thing I'm probably not the only one, and secondly what am I going to do about it?!
First of all, I'm setting up a feminist group! Southend Fawcett Society is now registered on UK Feminista and we're having our first meeting in October. All year long I've been trying to arrange this meeting with the people who have joined my facebook group, but it's been so much trouble trying to agree on a mutual date, that finally I decided enough is enough, I'm gonna set the date and then whoever can turn up on the day is great, I'd be waiting forever if I waited for everyone to agree on the same date. So I'm looking forward to getting started with that, and I've already had an email from The Fawcett Society asking if we would like to do something on "Equal Pay Day" so hopefully we will even have an actual event to plan!
Secondly, the Ladyfest thing. I've been having a good think about this, and I really want to make Ladyfest Southend happen. The one thing that mainly worried me is the cost of venues. I've been talking to a few people I know that have done events here, and have discovered that some venues will let you use them free if it's for a charity. I'm planning to do it for a charity that either helps victims of rape or domestic abuse so that's covered. My other friend let me know the good sides and bad sides of various venues (sound, amps etc) so I have to think some more first before I decide what venue to approach, but basically I'm hoping to have some sort of all dayer with all female bands, zine stalls etc, sometime next summer, so I'll keep you posted once I've got a bit more info.
Finally, the smallest thing but not necessarily the least, I really think I want to do my own zine. I've just been looking up a about how to do it, and to do a basic one it doesn't sound too hard, I think the hardest thing will be content, but as most zines don't come out monthly/weekly etc, I think I could do it. I don't want to make it the same as this blog though. Again, will keep you posted on it's progress!
oh and I've tried to get involved in LadyfestTen (the london one) by taking part in Wears The Trouser's zine project (I wrote something about Joan Jett) and I made a postcard sized collage for the Ladyfest Ten postcard project, I just have to send it now! here's a pic of it- it was based on the theme of "X"
If you don't already know I'm a huge Joan Jett fan, you've probably not been reading this blog much, so of course it's envitable I'm also a fan of the band she co-founded The Runaways Being such a fangirl, it must have been at least a year ago that I heard that there was a film being made about one of the first all girl rock bands. I couldn't wait for it to come out in the UK, especially when I heard that Joan Jett was really impressed with it and how pleased she was with Kirsten Stewart's portrayal of her younger self. That was pretty much a stamp of approval in itself, as not being a fan of the Twilight films (sorry but I don't think vampires should be glittery- as well as other issues I have with those films I won't go into here) I wasn't really sure about that particular actress playing my all time idol.
It seemed to be bloody ages before it finally got released in the UK, it was originally meant to be out in August, and that turned into September, and for some silly reason it isn't showing in my hometown of Southend's cinema (it's in it's second week of release now) so we had to go to the nearest cinema showing it which was in Basildon. There was no way I was going to miss this film! When we intitally planned to go we couldn't go, but luckily we managed to be able to see it a few days later.
Well, not that it's really that much of a surprise at all, but I absolutely loved it. Sometimes when you think you're going to really like something, it sometimes sets you up for disappointment but I was NOT disappointed.
The film got my interest straight away, in the first scene you see Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie, get her first period! How often do you see something as taboo as periods shown so explictly in a film???
Anyway, the film goes on to show the story of how The Runaways got together, and the success they had with manager Kim Fowley, before the rock n roll lifestyle eventually ended them. The film deals with drug addiction, problem families, and sexual experimentation as well as what it was like at the time to be a girl and want to play rock n roll music. One of my favourite scene's was Joan Jett going to a guitar lesson and being told she couldn't play electric guitar, but she plugs the guitar into the amp anyway!
All the characters in the film are portrayed very well, and I was very impressed with Kirsten Stewarts Joan Jett. If you compare the film star's version of the japan live performance of "Cherry Bomb" it is almost spot on to the original, I will post both versions at the end of this blog for your comparison.
My only real criticism was at the end credits, when explaining what happened to each member, they didn't say what happened to all of them, only a few, and I feel there should have been a dedication to Sandy West, who sadly passed in 2006 due to lung cancer (RIP). But other than that, I found the film inspiring, and exciting, hoping that the film will lead more people to hear their music, and then look into Joan Jett's music, and beyond. If it's possible, I like Joan Jett even more, her and the other members of the band really were amazing, wish I had actually been able to see them when they were around! But at least Miss Jett is still very much into her rock n roll, and never stops touring (although not in the UK enough- so if anyone to do with her is reading this- COME TO THE UK MORE!!!) and also Lita Ford has forged a pretty impressive career too.
Go-Go’s -We Got The Beat Pat Benatar -Love Is A Battlefield The Pretenders -Back On The Chain Gang Remi Nicole -Rock ‘n’ Roll Sleater-Kinney -You’re No Rock N’ Roll Fun Bif Naked -Ladybug Waltz Call The Doctor -For Your Leisure We Start Fires -Strut The Runaways -Cherry Bomb The Joy Formidable -Greyhounds In The Slips Roxy Saint -Firecracker Heart -Crazy On You Fire Bug -Eyes Wide Open (unsigned) Ten Tigers -82 (unsigned) Le Monnier -No Power (unsigned artist of the month) Jack Off Jill -My Cat Babes In Toyland -Blood Yeah Yeah Yeahs -Heads Will Roll Client -Price Of Love Tigerpicks -Disco Punk Electro Funk Harry -Goddess On The Floor Lauren Harris -Steal Your Fire Blood Red Shoes -ADHD Alannah Myles -Black Velvet Amy Macdonald -Mr Rock &Amp; Roll Morcheeba -World Looking In Garbage -You Look So Fine Heather Nova -Blood Of Me Patti Smith -Smells Like Teen Spirit
Current Playlist Jane Wiedlin -Rush Hour Giant Drag -Pretty Little Neighbor Land Of Talk -All My Friends ’til tuesday -Voices carry Snake River Conspiracy -Casualty Sneaker Pimps -6 Underground Sahara Hotnights -Cheek To Cheek The Dead Weather -I Cut Like A Buffalo Robots In Disguise -The Sex Has Made Me Stupid The Sounds -Running Out Of Turbo Peaches -Boys Wanna Be Her L7 -One More Thing The Kills -Tape Song Tori Amos -Cornflake Girl Hole -Doll Parts Keira May -Pins And Makeup (unsigned) Dirty Love -Baby You Suck (unsigned) Le Monnier -Kingyo (unsigned artist of the month) Alanis Morissette -Sister Blister The Slits -Newtown Alisha’s Attic -Stone In My Shoe Fleetwood Mac -Seven Wonders The Pierces -Boring Bangles -Walk Like An Egyptian New Young Pony Club -Ice Cream Sixpence None The Richer -There She Goes
Some of my readers may remember that Mike and I went to Offset for the first time last year after being convinced by RX Kitten, we had such a good time that despite the fact of not really knowing any of the bands playing this year (last year The Slits and The Futureheads played- The Slits was enough of a reason for me to go)! we thought we should definitely go again. The only band we actually knew any songs by was Art Brut, and some of the band names rang a bell, but couldn't think of any songs. This year for that exact reason I thought it would be a good opportunity to discover some new music, especially to play on my show. I spent some time investigating before the festival, and I did buy two albums- Thomas Tantrum and Wet Dog and a very helpful person on my facebook fanpage (add if you haven't already- just look for DJ Moonlight on facebook) gave me a long list of female fronted bands that were playing at the festival, so I had a bit of preparation beforehand!
Last year we went in our friend's Dave's car but this year we had to travel down ourselves, so we met our friend Will outside Westcliff station at about 11.30am on saturday, for some silly reason there was no one at the ticket gate so we couldn't buy a ticket from real person, one of the machines was broken and you couldn't see it really as the sunlight was beaming on it, and then we went round to the other side to the other machine that wasn't taking notes! Eventually after much running about we finally managed to get tickets to Upminister, which according to the Offset website was meant to have a shuttle bus to the site, but when we enquired with the train staff, they told us there wasn't one and we weren't the first ones to ask. Apparently we would of had to get two buses from there to get to the site, so we waited for a train to Romford and then we could get a normal bus (again, no shuttle bus) to the site. We were very relieved once we finally got there about 2.30pm! (we live in essex and the journey should have been just under an hour in total) even if we did have to join a fairly lengthy queue to get out wristbands. Luckily Dave was nice enough to have taken some of our stuff in his car.
We met Dave and our other friend Paul once we got our wristbands and then found the campsite to find a spot to pitch our tents up. The campsite was already quite full but they were expanding it as more people were arriving, it was about double the size of last year, indicating ticket sales must have been better and they were also selling tickets on the door this year. We managed to find a nice spot just in the corner. We got all pitched up, helped Will set up as it was his first time camping at a festival then had the joy of inflating our air bed! Soon after RX Kitten arrived, she hadn't been able to come sooner as she had college that day.
When we had a look at the arena we could see straight away that there was a bit more going on this year. There was a small fair this year, we didn't actually end up going on any of the rides, but at least there actually was this time, as they promised one last year and there wasn't! There was also cash points this time, and a special security van where you could store stuff or charge your phone, we didn't personally use it, but I thought it was a good idea. There was several clothes stalls including the vintage clothes tent again, this year I got a pretty necklace from there, it's silver and has a heart charm that says "You Rock and Roll" on it which cost me £5. I saw a gorgeous dress that had guitars all over it but it was £40 :( There was a stall selling Offset merchandise (we got a program from there, but they also had t shirts and bags) and another one that was selling some of the band's music and merchandise.
There was a selection of food stalls but we spent all eating time at one that was called The Wide Awake Cafe which we discovered all their food was vegan- including cheese and everything! We sampled Chili, Pasta, hot dogs, sausage sandwiches, and best of all a full vegan cooked breakfast on Sunday morning :)
Anyway, Saturday. The first band we saw was on the Loud and Quiet stage called Teeth!!! fronted by a slightly mental Japanese female singer, they were electro/punk/noise and fun to dance to.
We hung around as we wanted to see the next band on this stage, who had a interesting write up in the program comparing them to Bikini Kill and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. This band was Comanechi another band that was fronted by a mental japanese woman. She was not only the singer, but also the drummer. She was awesome, the epitome of a riot grrrl. There was a small mosh pit and the security was being really over the top. The slightest movement and they were going in to tell people off but really they were just making it worse, at one point the singer/drummer was telling them to get out the way (they were standing right in the middle of the stage at one point) so she could see her fans, and she got the crowd to start putting their middle fingers up at them! At another point she was drinking straight vodka and then she gave it to someone in the audience. This band was truly the highlight of my weekend, it was very much modern day riot grrrl, I felt this may be the closest I'll ever be to what it was like to see Bikini Kill. Expect to be hearing a lot more of this band on my show soon!
The last band we saw on Saturday was Thomas Tantrum, I thought they were quite good musically but weren't anything special live really, but then again I had witnessed some really amazing bands that day so it was hard for them to compare to them!
We didn't do much else that night really, we did have a boogie in the dance tent at some point and a brief walk in the woods.
Sunday morning we went to the petting zoo type thing that was just across from the forest and got to stroke horses and goats, and look at chickens, donkeys and rabbits. The conditions were by no means perfect, but it was nice to be able to do something like that.
The first band we saw was Wet Dog on the main stage, they were pretty good although to be honest I think either being on a smaller stage or at a later time of day would have been better as there wasn't much energy. as they were first on, most people were just sitting chilling out to it.
The second band we saw on Sunday was Blue on Blue unfortanely as I had so little sleep I couldn't really enjoy them properly but I did really like them, and there was some speculation, which I've now discovered is correct- is the female vocalist was indeed the same vocalist of a band that played last year- who I enjoyed but sadly split up An Experiment on A Bird in the Air Pump
Went back to the tent for a while to attempt to get a bit of sleep, I still couldn't manage so just decided to start drinking instead! When we got back up, we went to see Chrome Hoof as Rx Kitten had told us how awesome they were. She wasn't wrong! (not she ever is ;) ) there was about 10 of them, and they play a blend of metal and disco and somehow make a very interesting and entertaining noise! also an amazing stage presence, dressed in silver and black outfits, with the lead vocalist like a vampire Grace Jones.
The next band we saw was Anna Calvi there wasn't much of a crowd for the band but they were contending with These New Puritans on the main stage. I did quite enjoy them but again, there was no atmosphere, I'm sure this band will get bigger though...
We decided take a quick peek in the Offset Presents tent as I had a funny feeling I recognized the name The Rayographs as soon as I saw them, i remembered i think I had them on MySpace when I actually bothered to use it. I only saw a small glimpse of them but that small bit sounded great, I saw a review elsewhere giving them a glowing verdict so kinda disappointed I missed most of it now!
Anyway we wanted to have more drink at the tent (rather than paying for alcohol in the arena, as you couldn't bring it in with you) so we did that for a bit before going to the arena again. We saw a bit of Caribou (the first band we watched all weekend that wasn't female fronted)! who were quite good, wasn't too impressed with the vocals though, I preferred the instrumentals!
Even though I had heard of them, I had no idea what Atari Teenage Riot sounded like, and everyone kept going on about how great they are so had to see a bit of them. Well my apologies to the legions of fans, but I don't get it? It sounded like just a lot of noise to me, like drum and bass music with shouting over the top or something. I really didn't like it!
We wandered off and watched Gramme who were dancey fun and I loved that the lead singer didn't really fit into the traditional mould of female singer and she looked like she was having a great time!
Well that was it for another year, what great time, can't wait for next year, heres some videos of the bands-
If I could only meet two of my favourite musicians, they would have to be Joan Jett and Kathleen Hanna.
Kathleen Hanna represents everything great about females in music- she's a feminist, a zine writer, a big part of the Riot Grrl scene (whether she believes so or not, she did write a riot grrrl manifesto) and also created some of the best female fronted music there is from her shouty punk riot grrl noise with Bikini Kill, to the feminist electro of Le Tigre and her solo project Julie Ruin.
She was brought up as a feminist from a young child, and has been involved in plenty of activism over the years, she is a icon in the riot grrl scene, it's such a shame that she is still not exactly a household name.
I wish I had been into Bikini Kill and Le Tigre when they were out instead of crappy pop like Spice Girls but at least I found them eventually. I really hope that a lot of young girls who now are more likely to be inspired by the likes of Lady Gaga and Cheryl Cole will eventually scratch a little deeper beneath the surface, like I did, and discover bands like Bikini Kill, and maybe even be inspired to pick up an instrument themselves, or write something, or take part in a march. There are still bands with the riot grrl ethos, they are just in the background of this never ending merry go round of X Factor style shows and manufactured pop bands. I am so glad that women like Kathleen and Joan still continue to inspire women in so many ways.
Since I'm mentioning it, I can't go, but if you can still get a ticket you should go along to Ladyfest Ten fundraiser "More Crackers Please- a Le Tigre themed benefit" on Sunday 29th August. Tickets are £9, it's taking lace at Bethnal Green Library in London, they will be showing a very special preview screening of the forthcoming Le Tigre documentary DVD(which isn't even finished yet) as well as giving people an opportunity sing, dance and be filmed for our karaoke music video of the Le Tigre song Keep On Livin', for submission to the band's contest, which you can find details of if you visit Kathleen's blog which you can find the link to on my side bar.
I'll leave you with some Kathleen Hanna flavoured videos to wet your appetite...
this week I thought you might enjoy some Pigtails and Army Boots approved cover versions, remember I play one at the end of the show every week! I'm afraid some of these don't have videos, so just enjoy the music!
I've wrote about the rather lovely Catherine Elmsbefore but if you haven't checked out already then please do so- especially if you like artists like Tori Amos and Amanda Palmer, as her music really is beautiful and she's just been recording her full length album in a Leeds studio.
Anyway I digress..
Catherine has just made herself even more lovely by setting up girlVIRUS UK now to be honest I somehow bypassed girlVIRUS but I think I vaguely remember being in touch with it's creator Clementine Cannibal via MySpace a few years back. But since then I have got more and more into feminism, and the whole politics of the riot grrrl scene, I feel more knowledgeable than I did back then when it was mostly about the music. It's about more than the music now, I've been on a feminist march, I'm attempting (although very slowly) to set up Southend Fawcett Society and gotten into debates on facebook and twitter.
So now, I'm happy that Catherine has pointed me in the direction of girlVIRUS as it sums up exactly how I feel, it's about liberating women, not only to be equal but to be creative, to make music, to make zines, TO MAKE A MARK ON THE WORLD.
I hope that I am spreading girlVIRUS vibes through Pigtails and Army Boots, and other ways eventually. Anyway, go join the group if you're on facebook or check out the details on Clementine's blog(linked above) and download flyers to spread the grrrl love!
A change is a coming, and I feel that the time is almost here to make those changes.
Basically I am going to stop doing New Music New Talent, I am aware that many people enjoyed this show and I enjoyed doing too, but I feel like I have achieved what I wanted to do with that particular show now and it's now the time to dedicate all my energy into the show I truly feel passionate about and that is of course Pigtails and Army Boots. It's the first show I started doing and my passion has never waned, if anything my passion for female fronted music has increased ten fold since I started doing the show.
I will still be doing New Music New Talent and Pigtails the way they are for the next 4 weeks, but afterwards Pigtails and Army Boots will have some slight changes, still of course playing the best in female fronted music but I will be adding 3 unsigned/indie label bands a week with one of them being "unsigned artist of the month" and also a weekly event guide which will include gigs by both signed and unsigned artists, as well as feminist and female friendly events. I also hope to do more interviews not just with musicians but with females in other areas of the music industry and media, anything that may be inspiring to women!
another blog, another awesome female artist
who else but Amanda Palmer!
I'd known sort of about her for quite some time, as my best friend was a big fan of the Dresden Dolls and done me copies of their albums over the years but it wasn't until about two years ago that I really started to appreciate her sheer awesomeness.
She had not long released her superb solo album "Who Killed Amanda Palmer?" which I had heard a few songs from and liked, another of my best friends convinced me to come to the KOKO in Camden to see her live.
Well that night I fell in love..
it was an amazing show, she had a theatre company called "The Danger Assemble" with her who performed alongside her songs, she even had the fantastic writer Neil Gaiman (who she is now engaged to) play tambourine on the brilliant song "Oasis" and she also did a few Dresden Dolls songs and generally it was a fab night, we went to a good club night afterwards too.
I was so happy and positive about the gig that I actually went out and bought the album the following day and now when I go out djing, it's a permanent fixture :)
I was lucky enough to see her again last year and the gig was totally different, still amazing but a much more stripped down show, just Amanda and a piano for most of it.
But AFP is about more than her live shows, I've never known someone like her to have such a bond with her fans too. She updates her Twitter regularly and talks to fans personally through it as well as on her blog she's even been known to find places to crash at via her Twitter :)
She had some problems with her record label, specifically to do with the video for "Leeds United" apparently they thought in some shots, she looked too fat, so to show their support, fans took photos of their bellies and wrote messages on them and I believe a book was even published!
Miss Palmer has since been dropped by Roadrunner Records and she celebrated by releasing a pay what you like song "Do You Swear to Tell the Truth..." and a couple of days ago she has just released via her website her first independent EP "Amanda Palmer performs the popular hits of Radiohead on her Magical Ukulele" which the minimum you need to pay for it is 84cents which is a percentage going to Radiohead for the use of their songs and some to cover paypal fees. I highly suggest you go download it! <3
Oh,and one last fairly important thing, it was also partly down to her that I decided to learn to play the uke!
well on this blog I've wrote about two of my favourite bands- Joan Jett and The Blackhearts and Kasabian. Another band that has rapidly been becoming one of my favourites is Robots in Disguise I don't think they are very mainstream well known but they do seem to have a bit of a cult following, mainly because of their connection with the also fabulous Mighty Boosh The two front women are Sue Denim and Dee Plume (who I believe is still the girlfriend of Noel Fielding)with their female drummer Gemma Hill. Their music is a blend of electro, rock and pop and they have an unique sense of style with their latest passion being blue lipstick! (you can even buy Robot Blue lipstick by Barry M and get this necklace) I've been lucky enough to see them live three times now, including once right here in Southend and everytime has been like one big party. They more often than not, let the fans come up on stage at the end, I'm yet to join in but certainly hope to sometime! They seem to mainly appeal to young girls, there are certainly some feminist messages in their songs. They had problems with money when it came to recording their fourth album so used the great site PledgeMusic to get their fans to help them make enough money to record it in return depending on how much you donated you could get a gift in return- I look forward to receiving my signed copy of the new album when it's out! I guess the best way to show you how great they are is via YouTube videos (and their videos are excellent) so here are some:
Hey have you missed me? The shows will be back on air as from this Thursday, I've just planned an awesome Pigtails and Army Boots featuring the likes of Florence and the Machine, Portishead, Robots in Disguise and Tori Amos so make sure you tune in!
I've decided I do want a writing blog again after all, so all my poems and other writing will be now here- http://neveredit.blogspot.com/ this blog will be just for music related posts!
Just a brief blog to let you know I will be taking a short radio "holiday" for a couple of weeks, but don't worry the shows will be back bigger and better than before! and I'm sure I'll still find some good music related topics to waffle on about on here! :)
As much as I love music, lately I haven't felt too excited about what I've been playing on New Music New Talent. I'm still playing unsigned bands I really love like Trash Monroe, Zen Motel, Rounds, Death of the Elephant and Catherine Elms but I've known about all of these artists for quite some time now, I've felt the music I've played from some of the other bands I receive is good, but not original. It seems to be a lot of generic indie bands.
Anyway, it's not too often I get blown away by a band (some examples in the previous paragraph)! I get sent music from promotion companies every week. I don't download everything they send, as some is not my kind of music, and some I just think is rubbish, if it sounds reasonable, I'm likely to download one of the songs but not all of them (there's usually maybe about 5).
However last week while I was prepping for my show and checking out what I had been sent, I was blown away by something straight away. This band is Firebug, female fronted rock/blues fusion, that actually made me want to (and did)! download all about 14 tracks I could get.
I liked them so much I've made them my artist of the month for July.
They're from America but I actually found out they are playing one of the smaller stages at Sonisphere, so if you're going, I suggest you go see them!
Hi I'm Hayley,
I'm an internet radio dj. I present the radio show Pigtails and Army Boots which is all female fronted music and available for syndication.
I love music it's my life!
I'm a vegan and animal rights activist.I'm also a feminist.
I love to write and read.
