INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY: OUR TOP 3 INSPIRATIONAL ROCK GODESSES
- Mar 9, 2017
- 5 min read
So today is International Woman’s Day, a day where we celebrate the lives of woman all across the world from their strength and achievements to endless source of courage and inspiration they bring to the world. Sadly we still live in a time where gender inequality is a huge topic of debate. Slowly but surely we are growing out of this poor habitual cycle and into a world where woman can feel empowered and open to the same equal opportunities as their male counterparts be it through business, politics, careers, wages, sport, music or any/every walk of life. The rock music industry is probably still one of the most regressive industries with regards to gender inequality. We see on a day to day basis that the industry is predominantly flooded with boisterous, testosterone fueled manchildren. We don’t have any particular statistics to feed you regarding percentage of female bands against male bands cos’ quite frankly it doesn’t matter, the bottom line is we need to see more female fronted bands or drummers, guitarists breaking through the ranks and claiming their place in rock and roll fame. You heard us girls, pick up your instruments and make some noise, we believe in you! It does all start with the industry officials themselves, that’s right you suit and tie looking motherfucker’s sitting pretty in your fancy record label office overlooking the Thames. Do your bit and be an advocate for the cause! We could waffle on endlessly about this BUT instead of tainting the day by dwelling on the point we’re going to take the opportunity to celebrate a few of our favourite female rockstars that provide a continuous fountain of inspiration for all those young rock and roll queens out there. You may not agree with our selections, you might think we’re missing a few vital stars but hey, these are our picks so lump it!
ALISON MOSSHART - The Kills, The Dead Weather
First up we have the amazing Alison Mosshart of The Kills & The Deadweather! Born in November 1978 this powerful rock goddess started her career back in 1995 with punk rock band ‘Discount’. This venture didn’t last too long as she soon moved on to link up with British guitarist Jamie Hince to co-found their new blues rock band ‘The Kills’. Together they’ve went on to release five studio albums with their latest ‘Ash & Ice’ coming just last year. This gal’ never sits still though and in 2010 she went on to join, the Jack White formed supergroup, The Dead Weather as lead vocalist along with Jack Lawrence and Dean Fertita. Together they released three studio albums most recently back in 2015 with ‘Dodge and Burn’ which, let us just add, is a fantastic fucking album! They’re still yet to tour the record due to other commitments but we’re sure they’ll be back again one day in some shape or form. During her days as a rockstar she’s adopted several stage names with ‘VV’ under The Kills and her illusive alias ‘Baby Ruthless’ with The Deadweather. Not only does she have several projects on the go but she also moonlights as a cameo artist with several appearances with other famous bands. You’ll probably hear these examples and be in shock! “Was she really on that track? I’ll have to re-listen”. From Primal Scream “Dolls (Sweet Rock & Roll)” to Placebo’s 2006 title track “Meds”, Cage The Elephant’s “It’s Just Forever” and of course she joined Alex Turner on vocals for their 2009 Humbug track “Fire And The Thud”. She also joined The Last Shadow Puppets on stage during their 2008 Paris show at the Olympia Theatre. You could definitely say she does her fair share of collaboration with the stars! So let’s take this opportunity to celebrate what a FANTASTIC contribution this glorious woman has made to the music industry and watch her fire a few rounds at Jack White in The Dead Weather’s ‘Treat Me Like Your Mother’ video.
HAYLEY WILLIAMS - Paramore
Next we have none other than the ginger ninja herself Hayley Williams. This ballsy fire cracker is the spearhead of alternative pop punk band Paramore. What hasn’t she achieved over her illustrious career? Well, sold out shows across the UK including Wembley Arena, headline sets at Reading & Leeds Festivals and a Grammy Award for Best Rock song in 2015! And that’s just before breakfast! She founded Paramore back in 2004 and has to date released four studio albums despite several personnel changes and sabbaticals throughout their rather topsy tervy reign. Probably the most successful of their albums was 2007’s “Riot” which stapled them on to Kerrang’s front cover and Scuzz’s TOP 10 hits for the following decade. They’ve got a knack for releasing banger after banger with their most famous track probably being ‘Misery Business’ from Riot. Born December 1988 in Mississippi her musical talent was first discovered by Atlantic Records back in 2003 who had plans to launch her career as a solo pop artist. This was inevitably (in true Hayley Williams style) flat rejected as she objected to their initial plans and said that she wished to be part of a punk band…………. the rest is history. Let’s be honest lads we all had a massive crush on her when we were younger and I bet that full length poster edition of Kerrang magazine you went out of your way to buy is still up on your sweaty bedroom wall now in all its emo teen glory, am I right? This elegant and outstanding lady is a great role model for any young women out there! (It was so hard to pick a Paramore song, do we go for the most famous or pick an outlandish one? We went for the latter).
ELLIE ROWSELL - Wolf Alice
Our final lady of the moment is a newcomer to the world of music but she certainly hasn’t waited around for an invite to the party. Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice has pretty much grabbed the UK music industry by the scruff of the neck since the release of debut single“Fluffy” back in February 2013. They’ve gone on two release two EP’s Blush/ Creature Songs and finally got round to releasing their full debut album ‘My Love Is Cool’ back in June 2015. The album went on to make the shortlist for the Mercury prize that same year which was followed by many other nominations including Best British Breakthrough Act at the 2016 BRIT Awards, Best Rock Performance for “Moaning Lisa Smile” at the 2016 Grammy Awards and two NME Award wins for Best Live Band and Best Track (Giant Peach). They are still yet to release their follow up album and to date no announcements or hints have been made as to when we can expect it. Over the past 2 years she’s been touring relentlessly across the UK, USA and Internationally but we would assume that’ll soon come to an end after this summer’s festival season and plans to hit the studio should soon start to move into fruition. Originally the band started as an acoustic two piece with just Ellie and guitarist Joff they derived their name from a short story by British Author Angela Carter and soon recruited two friends to join them on bass and drums. Their drummer broke his arm shortly after the release of their first ever self-titled EP and stand in replacement Joel Amey took the reigns permanently. Ellie’s childhood friend Sadie Cleary swapped the bass for the books as she decided to focus on her studies and was replaced by, now bassist, Theo Ellis. Ellie is still in the VERY early stages of her career and there is plenty of fame, success and inspiration left for her to take and give back to the world over the years to come. Side note who would love to see a little supergroup collaboration with some members of Wolf Alice, Slaves and Drenge? I think that needs to be a thing at some point in the near future!
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