LOUD WOMEN FEST returns on 2-3 September with another stellar lineup, at The Amersham Arms, we’ve a preview and a chat with festival founder Cassie Fox.
LOUD WOMEN are back with their sixth LOUD WOMEN FEST. Since it started it has become the largest female-led festival in the UK, and this year’s event promises to be another cracker.
LOUD WOMEN was founded by musician and activist Cassie Fox in London, as a response to wanting to play gigs where her band weren’t the only women in the green room, and weren’t automatically put bottom of the bill because ‘women play more gently than men.’
It’s an intersectional feminist music not-for-profit organisation that puts on live music nights, the festival, and also has a record label and online community. There are now LOUD WOMEN chapters across the world including the US, Canada and Australia.
This year’s lineup is incredible, and includes some of our favourite artists such as Cassie’s own band I, Doris.
We’ve seen some previous festival acts go from strength to strength this year, including I, Doris, and asked Cassie is there a change in how people view women in music?
It does feel like some of the female and non-binary-powered bands we know and love from the DIY scene are starting to push through on to bigger stages, and get more mainstream airplay, which is great to see.
Bugeye has been all over the airwaves recently, and Deux Furieuses have played some excellent shows at the Roundhouse and for John Kennedy on Radio X. And my I, Doris are busily name-dropping all the legends we’ve been sharing stages with lately (like Squeeze, OMFG, clang!)
On the whole though there feels like there still so much work to do to get mainstream festivals looking more gender balanced. The BBC reported this summer that out of 200 headline acts at the biggest UK Festivals, only 26 were an all-female band or solo artist - and only 1 was a non-binary solo artist.
Meanwhile, the grassroots music scene is really struggling this year – festivals like the excellent Cro Cro Land had to cancel. Everyone’s feeling the cost of living crunch. The DIY music scene is vital for new and emerging artists to cut their teeth, so I fear it may now take even longer for new female and non-binary artists to get to a point where they’re booked for those big headline slots. But that’s why we keep doing what we do, and we’ll keep putting on LOUD WOMEN Fest until it’s not needed any more!
We’ve featured the amazing Bugeye and interviewed them about how they made their debut album ‘Ready Steady Bang’.
They’ve recently been getting radio play on BBC Radio 1, and BBC 6 Music, as well as a place on the Radio X X-Posure Playlist, with their new banger - an instant classic called ‘Summer In The City’. It’s a road-melting melting fusion of synth riffs and rock sounds.
deux furieuses will be bringing their fast, furious, and visceral punk sound to the fest. They’ve had a great year already, including supporting PiL and Killing Joke as part of Brix Smith’s band. We experienced an unforgettable show they did with Brix supporting PiL in Birmingham, plus they’ve played their own mighty headline shows including one for John Kennedy’s The Remedy that we saw at Signature Brew in east London.
Recent singles ‘Bring Down The Government’ and ‘Know The Score’ have been winning them plenty of new fans, and their new album ‘Songs From Planet Earth’ is out later this year.
Hotly-tipped Fräulein will also be appearing. We caught the duo at a packed show at The Great Escape in Brighton earlier in the year, where they rocked the room. Their debut EP ‘A Small Taste’ is out on vinyl soon.
LOUD WOMEN have announced partnerships with leading feminist organisers and activists Level Up, Safe Gigs for Women, Girls Against and Alliance For Choice for the festival.
Friday 2 Sept:
CHROMA
MUFF
Pink Suits
The Menstrual Cramps
Queen Cult
Saturday 3 Sept:
Bugeye
Charley Stone
Deux Furieuses
Deuxes
Dinosaur Skull
Fräulein
Gilan
Girlcrush
Hannah Rose Kessler
Hotwax
I Am HER
I, Doris
Killdren
Lambrini Girls
Lilith Ai
MIRI
Okay, Bye
Rabies Babies
Shelf Lives
Snoozers
YNES
I, Doris