Loud Women Fest 2018
Loud Women Fest is back - bigger and louder than ever with 21 amazing punk and indie bands across two stages on Saturday 15th September, at The Dome, Tufnell Park, and neighbouring Boston Music Room in London. As well as music, there is food, and stalls with zines and goodies.
Founder and musical powerhouse Cassie Fox was a special guest on John Kennedy’s X-Posure on Radio X recently, playing tracks from the artists. She performs in GUTTFULL and I, Doris.
We asked her how things have changed since the first festival.
This is the 3rd annual LOUD WOMEN Fest! When we started the first one in 2016, it felt like womxn-fronted punk bands and DIY musicians were having to work a hell of a lot harder than men to get the attention and the bookings they deserved, and we wanted to help give their efforts a boost by combining forces, and putting on an event that could bring them to a wider audience.
Cassie Fox with John Kennedy at Radio X
Thriving DIY punk scene
In 2018, the scene has changed somewhat in London particularly – there’s now a thriving DIY punk scene offering lots more opportunities for young womxn and non-binary artists to form bands and perform in safer spaces (hats off to the amazing work done by groups such as Girls Rock London and First Timers).
Other female-focussed grassroots promoters such as Who Run the World and Get In Her Ears put on lots of brilliant local gigs featuring a range of styles of female artists, and the Decolonize Fest and Bent Fest teams ensure that punks of colour and queer punks have a strong platform too. So there’s lots more bands, lots more small gigs to go to, lots more hope.
How much has changed?
The festival features an incredible mix of artists including some of our live favourites Grace Savage, Ms. Mohammed, She Makes War, Petrol Girls, Dream Nails, PUSSYLIQUOR and GUTTFULL.
However outside the festival and the capital the picture is more mixed - with great artists still not progressing as they should, says Cassie.
But beyond the walls of our London DIY bubble though, has much changed? The big commercial festivals are still as man-heavy as ever, even with many of them committed to delivering a 50:50 gender balance by 2022 – you have to wonder how they’re going to achieve that when so many brilliant womxn musicians are still just playing in the back room of a London pub.
Ms. Mohammed
Future Glastonbury headliners
Loud Women has got a Festival line-up here that’s all-killer – chosen by our large and diverse panel, whittled down from hundreds of applications – these are some of the very best and most relevant acts out there right now.
Our aim with the Fest is to showcase those artists, not only to the (likely to be sold-out) audience at the Dome and Boston Music Room, but as far possible beyond the bubble – these are your future Glastonbury Pyramid stage headliners right here!
Grace Savage - pic Katie Frost photography
Vinyl EP release
Cassie revealed there’s also a special release coming up too - a 4-band split EP on 7” vinyl featuring Dream Nails, Ms. Mohammed, You Want Fox and GUTTFULL.
We’re excited to be teaming up with Punk Fox records to release an EP on vinyl to coincide with the Fest, which will be available through Rough Trade, and many of our Fest artists have been enjoying airplay on the mainstream radio stations in the run up to the Fest.
Who knows, maybe next year we might not even need to do all this … it’s huge amounts of fun though, so we probably will anyway!”
Petrol Girls - pic Kitmonsters
In another new initiative, Loud Women have also launched the ‘The LOUD WOMEN ‘Her’cury Music Prize’ - check the albums shortlist here. The winner will be announced the day before the festival in September.
She Makes War - pic Kitmonsters