Alicja Tokarska of Double A-Side Records on Play It Like a Woman

Towards the end of last year, a study conducted by Fender found that, across the UK and US, women accounted for 50% of aspiring guitar players. This can largely be attributed to a growing number of female musicians making and playing their own music being celebrated rather than fetishised in the mainstream media.

Where once 'girls who play guitars' may have been treated as mythical beings lusted after in Maxïmo Park songs, now women are more commonly seen as the important and influential voices in guitar music. In an article for Noisey in December last year, Lauren O’Neill wrote: "If 2018 has taught us anything, it's that women's dominance of rock music isn't a trend – it's the new normal." But it’s not just in rock music alone that women are setting the trends, across genres female musicians are thriving and, more regularly, leading the conversation.

For their debut compilation, Play It Like a Woman, which coincides with International Women’s Day (8 Mar), Glasgow-based DIY record label Double A-Side Records chose to showcase a selection of the finest female-identifying artists based in or with a connection to Scotland. "We wanted to do a release for International Women’s Day for a long time and it seemed to make most sense to do a compilation so that we could showcase as much talent as we could," says label co-founder Alicja Tokarska. "The idea of making it a charity record followed very quickly."

All proceeds from the compilation and the accompanying launch gig at Glasgow’s Glad Cafe on 9 March – which will see performances from many of the artists featured on the record – will be donated to local charity Glasgow & Clyde Rape Crisis. "One of my good friends volunteers with Glasgow & Clyde Rape Crisis and she told us a little bit more about their services such as their free telephone helpline, staffed entirely by volunteers," says Tokarska. "We think they’re an amazing organisation doing their best to help survivors of rape and sexual assault, which is still a huge issue nowadays."

The compilation, which will be released digitally and on purple vinyl, features contributions from the likes of Martha Ffion, L-space and Carla J. Easton to name a few, all of whom were selected especially by the label. "When we started working on the record there were some artists we definitely wanted to have on the record so we got in touch with them first," says Tokarska. "Some of them were people we’d worked with before, like Hairband or Life Model. I also posted a few words about the project in a Facebook group called Women in the Arts Scotland and we got a few emails from artists afterwards."

Through this, they received a response from Edinburgh singer-songwriter Lou Mclean, who submitted her track Play Dead for the compilation. In addition, Tokarska, along with Double A-Side Records co-founder Angus Lawson, scouted artists at independent gigs, where they found Curdle and Jo Foster. Then they made sure they were covering a range of genres to complete the line-up. "We wanted to make sure the flow of the record was smooth but also wasn’t just all one style," adds Tokarska. "If I had my way, this would be a five-LP box set because we’re spoiled for choice when it comes to talented women in the music industry."

A particularly fitting track selection for the compilation comes from experimental pop musician Law Holt in the form of her 2013 single Hustle. "Music and musicians can be overly introspective. There is always a more important cause than ourselves," says Holt. "Hustle is all about the shady push and pull of sexual economics. It's also erroneously my most identifiable and popular tune. I just want to make my minuscule contribution." Becky Sikasa – one half of Cologne-based, Edinburgh duo LUNIR – echoes this sentiment when it comes to their track selection: "Wadidi is a love song to my independence. It's about empowerment. It just seemed like the right track for a compilation called Play It Like a Woman."

If, like O’Neill says, women’s dominance in rock music is the new normal, it makes sense that the music industry is taking note. When Barcelona music festival Primavera Sound announced their 2019 line-up at the end of last year, which featured an equal gender split, they even went as far as to label it The New Normal. And this is something Double A-Side Records are on board with. "We want to make sure that Double A-Side gigs and regular releases continue to feature a gender-balanced line-up," says Tokarska. "The music industry can be such a boys club and we’re really digging what the likes of Primavera are doing right now. There are countless talented women in the music industry and it’s baffling that many promoters and bookers still need to be reminded about it."

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Play It Like a Woman is released on 8 Mar via Double A-Side Records
Play It Like a Woman All-dayer takes place at The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 9 Mar