Revolution Girl Style Now: Girls That Gig
"Inspiring women in music" serves as both motto and remit for the Girls That Gig project – we chat to the pioneering duo behind it
Meet Vicky Hollingworth and Megan Roe. They're the brains behind Girls That Gig, a project encouraging the autonomy and celebration of women and girls who love music. Though GTG is still only in its infancy (setting up camp in July of this year), it's already flourishing as a platform to connect and champion the diverse number of girls and women who share this interest.
Studying at Leeds College of Music and playing guitar in two bands, Roe routinely watched YouTube guitar tutorials where she recalls noticing the lack of female presence. Her intentions to remedy this started with a plan to establish her own channel where women were encouraged to share expertise and interest in “anything from tuning a guitar to talking about pedals.”
The initial target audience were teenagers, giving them a safe and welcoming space to be enthusiastic about music with other like-minded girls (“because being a teenager is horrible,” Roe affirms). Hollingworth adds that the perception of young women being ‘into music’ is commonly stereotyped as either playing the flute after school or fawning over Cowell factory-standard boy bands. There is rarely encouragement to take up ‘masculine’ pursuits like drumming or even sound production.
Growing up, Roe says her idol was Muse’s Matt Bellamy, “which says it all really. I used to Google ‘top 50 female guitarists’ and there was just nobody I could relate to.” Does she still feel the same now? “Well, it’s definitely better.” This part of our conversation slowly descends into lists of favourite female artists, and a collective sigh is heaved for Warpaint (who we subsequently deem the ‘ultimate' all-female band).
The evolution of Girls That Gig
As with most cause-led projects, the idea for GTG quickly morphed once it hit the public domain. Roe realised she would only be scratching the surface of possibility: “It wasn’t just guitarists to think about, there are all kinds of women in the arts that this platform would benefit.
“We didn’t think it would take off though; it started out as just a podcast, aimed at the teen market but as we went on we realised the people who were engaging with our content were also in their 20s, 30s and older.”
Let’s face it: there’s more to music than just playing or listening. There are also the areas where decisions are made. Sound production. Music management. Areas which are, by and large, dominated by men.
This is where Hollingworth comes in. Studying music business management at LCM, she devised a strategy designed to inspire, encourage and support women in music. Girls That Gig's diverse and richly talented audience base inspired the move into connecting women in the creative industries in general, and GTG now aims to be the binding force between these creatives.
The directory is another growing facet of the project, designed to index people’s talents in music whether that be writing, playing or even events photography. Presented in a zine format, the idea is to connect people and generate work as well as feature the actual work of illustrators and review writers.
This kind of resource is open to all, of course, with Roe attesting to male musicians often looking to this talent pool. This makes us ponder the concept of the 'tokenistic' girl in the band, which is little better than the attitude that girls can't be in bands at all. The message that GTG reiterates about equality, however, reassures there’s no room for this attitude. Thus far, they’ve encountered plenty of positivity from females and males alike. “We never set out to be angry or exclusive,” says Hollingworth. “It’s definitely not a 'man-hating' thing, it’s geared up towards positivity entirely.”
“We want to encourage the weird"
Their approach to music is similarly open and inclusive: “We want to encourage the weird as well! It’s all about being yourself,” Roe explains. “Listen to crazy experimental music, or the heaviest metal if that’s your thing.” This comes across in their diverse roster of podcast guests: “We’ve had all kinds of people on the podcast; saxophonists, singer-songwriters, people into really heavy punk, DJs, producers. As far as we know, we’re the only set-up like this in the North.”
Positivity aside, the niche they’ve carved out is also inevitably born from some negative experiences, as Roe recalls with an eye roll: “Rude sound techs, thinking you’re an imbecile. Being looked down on straight away. If you say you play guitar, people just sort of presume that you’re not really good.”
Hollingworth’s motivations also come from concern: “I’d be at gigs where the sound technician would always be a guy, most bands on the line-up would be made up of men, especially festivals.” Roe interjects quite zealously: “And they keep hiring guys because that’s just what people expect. If they don’t book and promote female artists things won’t change.”
Roe cites a text she studied at college on gender in music, which attributes men with an almost obsessive interest in one aspect of music: the need to become an expert in something. Conversely, the appeal for women is said to be the communicative aspect, their focus more on lyrics and melody than the techy, ‘behind the scenes’ elements. Hollingworth opposes this line of thinking: “I think a lot of that is lack of opportunity, confidence and education in that aspect. It’s now about letting women know that they can get involved in the more technical side… It’s all cool!”
Hollingworth and Roe are seeking to do just that. The idea began with ‘top tips’ on the site, gifted by the podcast's guests on topics like booking gigs and writing lyrics. This educational angle now manifests in their events – workshops and gigs that also seek to celebrate and connect women with an interest in music. And while some events are more centred on networking and making friends, there's also an extremely practical side.
“We’re putting an event on about social media marketing, whether you’re in a band or a singer or photographer or whatever,” says Roe. “There is a twist though: it’s definitely not just going to be like a lecture. There’s a practical element – one-to-one time to really help people develop themselves and their USP.”
With all this on a pay-as-you-feel basis, you’d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere such practical, down-to-earth advice that's equally accessible. They're also currently working with anti-violence group White Ribbon to create safety guides for music venues, to help make safer environments for everyone.
In terms of ambitions for the project, Hollingworth and Roe each have their own visions: Vicky hopes to develop the facility to manage artists and creatives under the GTG umbrella much like a label service. Meanwhile Megan, the voice of the weekly podcast, sees it going on the road: “If we could get some funding for a nice hippy van, soundproof it up, whack the logo on the side and just tour the UK podcasting all its talents, that would be the dream.”
The short-term goal, of course, is to nurture the community they currently have and create strongholds in the likes of Manchester and Sheffield. We agree that, once up and running, the wider project is relatively self-sufficient – there are plenty of like-minded groups working towards these common goals, and surely plenty more who'll follow their lead.
Girls That Gig's Dream Podcast Guests
Amber Bain (The Japanese House) and Shura
Vicky Hollingworth: “I feel like we have a lot in common, like we could be friends! They both pretty much started out as bedroom producers and have such unique sounds. I’d like to ask them how they write and what they think about the digital age of music; where they see things progressing.”
VH: “Purely for selfish reasons as I'm a massive fangirl. I'd ask them the secret to their long, successful career, how they adapted and changed their sound over their many albums... I'd also talk to them about twin things, as I am myself a twin.”
Laura Marling
VH: “She’s so intelligent and has so much to say on the subject of gender in the industry. She's just done a series of podcasts called Reversal of The Muse, one with Shura on it!”
Maria Brink (In This Moment)
Megan Roe: “In This Moment are a heavy metal band from California; [Maria]’s really cool. Also Christine and the Queens, and Merrill Garbus, the frontwoman of tUnE-yArDs – she’s awesome, I feel like Merrill just gets it. And of course Debbie Harry!”