FOR some, the issue with women in the music industry will never be about representation, or lack of. For the women Tenement TV spoke to when researching this feature, we discovered it’s about power, respect, addiction, friendship, ambition, love, adventure and tenacity. For Tenement TV it’s only ever about the music.
From the start, especially during the punk movement in Britain, women made up a chunky proportion of the musicians, promoters, venue heads, artists and provocateurs in the industry. Today, there’s still a massive gap, hole and void filling the stages but on the ground, it’s an awe-striking balanced crowd filling those venues and those mosh pits.
This year’s shock headline in music news around the globe has seen Kesha at the boot of a disgusting, sexist battle with her label manager. Accepting her Human Rights Campaign visibility award for her work for the LGBT community last night, Kesha delivered a brave and inspirational speech laced in emotion that went out to every person, male and female, who could relate around the world. She said: “Fame is strange and unnatural. My message today is don’t be afraid to speak up against any injustice you experience.”
“Don’t let people scare or shame you into changing the things about you that make you unique. We all have to fight for what is right, even if the cards are stacked against us. That’s the only way that progress happens.”
Sexism has, unfortunately rose it’s ugly head time and time again, one of our interviewees addressing it head on in her chat with TTV: “Respect is a massive inspiration for me and something I relate to women in the music industry. For the respect I have for other women in the industry but also for the fundamental lack of respect that I’ve witnessed for women in the industry, what they have achieved and for what they are capable of achieving.
She continues: “For every time someone tells you “oh they must have fancied you” when you pull off a deal and negotiate well. For every time someone tells you to “stop being so emotional”. (It’s fucking music, of course it’s emotional!) And for every time I’ve seen a woman push through and push past all the shit thrown at her and who she represents with her passion to help herself and others achieve greatness.”
SAY Award winner and general cool as fuck pianist Kathryn Joseph joined us in our quest to uncover the pillars of the female scene, speaking about her addiction to her craft: “The love and hate feeling of wanting to do it and the need and the beautiful and the dark. And the aware of the self obsessed ness and then the way that doing it again makes everything ok and everything better. The being in love with making noise. Fucked up and beautiful.”
Kathryn’s manager Claire, an advocate for women in her own management role, spoke of her own internal issues, juggling being a mother and a boss: “My driving force is love and my internal drama as a woman / mother makes for this strange clash in having two lives and a constant compromised existence.”
If ever there were a lady who represented women in music in Scotland, Laura St Jude stands proud, strong and sexy rocking to her own beat. She spoke to me about adventure and how she relates that feeling to being a women in the music industry saying: “Experiencing the world through music is the most invigorating and rewarding feeling in the world. Anything could happen.”
Last year, we spoke to Honeyblood’s Stina about this very topic and she unfolded her heart full of inspirational mantras for women to get inspired by. TTV are delighted to uncover her pearls of wisdom once more, this time she spoke to us about tenacity and how she feels as a girl in a band: “Some people might call it stubbornness, I think it’s resilience and persistence. On the outside, it might come across as negative but I see it as an overwhelming positive.”
Stina continued: “For the women’s experience, you got to try twice as hard, you are judged quicker and more severely. That’s why tenacity is important; it’s your driving force.”
New kids on the block The Van T’s have smashed their way through 2015, bagging a T Break slot and releasing their debut album. Full of that youth punk spirit that really tantalises the soul: “When we think of our role in music as girls we think of cultivate. This word to us symbolises the importance of growth and enrichment of equality within the music industry in Glasgow. By supporting and energizing this musical community and to continue to create, and work innovatively with each other is important as the industry continues to evolve.”
A very good friend of mine offered some essential perspective on the issue, as she divulged the respect she has for others in music: “My word would be inspiring because the women I work with in the music industry inspire me everyday. From the performers to the people collecting tickets at the door everyone has passion and determination!”
The lack of women in the industry makes me realise how big a part I can play in transforming ideas and creating amazing projects for the benefit of music and music lovers. Being a female in that position, only intensifies the impact this can have on others aspiring to be in the same role. I feel empowered to inspire other women to feel confident to stand among the lions.
My message is simple. Keep supporting and encouraging a fruitful, equal scene in Scotland, the UK and around the world. Keep banging down the doors, beating the drum, running the nights, writing the songs, buying into the lyrics, sharing the gigs and the memories. Keep fighting for solidarity and equality and creativity in music and beyond. Women may have to try twice as hard, but sometimes that makes you twice as good. And that, is everything.
