katherine

This is a response to an article posted by Vice Magazine recently. You can read the original article here: http://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/blog/the-alt-rock-scene-and-its-lad-culture

I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m just saying that you haven’t bothered to even scrape the surface on my industry. You mention ‘The Cyanide Girls’ like we’re still performing. Honey, we haven’t done a show in two years – don’t get left behind. You have every right to bash people who objectify women - but you've got the wrong scene my love.

Feminism. The word is thrown around like a buzz word now days and I’m fucking sick of it. I’m sick of the scrutiny it puts my industry under, and I’m sick of women fighting women. There are PLENTY of other excellent causes that we could put our good feminist ways towards helping.

Such as the fight against;

Sexual Harassment

Rape

Female Genital Mutilation

Domestic Abuse

And these are things that are just happening in the UK. Just in London. Think bigger.

As for this article that’s been floating around for the last 24 hours; it seems like yet another case of someone not knowing what they’re talking about. How hard is it to listen to the hundreds of girls in my industry screaming “WE LOVE OUR JOBS. WE’RE NOT BEING EXPLOITED”. Sure, you’re entitled to your opinion. But how can you judge the girls making a living this way, when you’ve never been on stage apart from to drunkenly scream along to ‘that’ song you remember from when you were 14. Yea, we’ve all seen the picture. Awkward. But we’ve all been there. Seems like somebody just wants to jump on the band wagon and stir some shit.

Let me explain my job to you. I’ve been doing this for four, almost five years now. Whilst you’re sat behind your cosy laptop we girls are spending hours and hours and hundreds of pounds glue-gunning, studding and sewing our costumes together. We’re lugging our equipment up and down stairs. Ever lifted an aerial hoop? Or 10 litres of paraffin? Try two CDJs and a mixer? ITS HEAVY. Then we’re driving through the night, catching planes and trains to get to the next show for a measly fee. So why do we do it? BECAUSE WE LOVE IT. Nothing beats the thrill of the stage. Not for me or any of the other performers across the country. We spend sweat, blood and tears doing this and it’s not exactly risk free either. Here’s what happens when your angle grinder kicks off your plate and you slam it back into your leg.

That's my skin melted away so you can see the fat in my leg. Not your usual office injury.

I’m not just talking about me, I know most of the other girls in this industry. We’re a tight knit family and if you’re wondering why your article backfired so badly – it’s because we’ve got each other’s backs. We fight together, against the oppression of women. And you’re just setting us back to square one again.

Mel Clarke, a very close friend of mine and columnist for Metal Hammer Magazine, was previously mentioned in the article although this has now been removed due to it (rightly) causing her offence. I’ve seen this girl claw her way through the mainstream, standing up against ‘normal’ beautiful girls. Fighting for the alternative cause. Winning Page 3 Idol and gracing the covers of mainstream magazines such as FHM, Maxim and Zoo. You think she’s hurting the alternative world? She’s fighting for it. Do your research.

Mel and myself embarked on a two month tour around North America with SuicideGirls last year. We lived on a bus, in a bunk smaller than a single bed, with a shower that stayed hot for only 30 seconds and living off the carrot sticks and hummus and pitta on our rider. And that is luxury compared to the backs of cars and vans that I’ve had to sleep in across Europe. And we don’t get paid everyday just for turning up to a shitty job. We work our fucking asses off for it. We fucking love it. Leave our industry alone.

Let’s move on to another good friend of mine, Stuart May – the organiser of the popular alt-night mentioned in the article: FaceDown. What does he have to say? Well you could have used better pictures, the ones chosen are two years old! Seems like someone did some digging, surely you could have gotten your facts right then at least? Stu books the girls to perform after the main band has played to keep the entertainment going all night. We get a cushty changing room with a shower, free booze and a decent wage. Nope, nothing bad here either.

What do half naked girls have to do with rock you ask? Have you been living under a rock? Because girls and exciting music have been walking hand in hand across festival stages worldwide for many many years longer than you and I have been alive. May I draw your attention to a well-known song by a well-known artist which is very appropriately titled ‘Girls Girls Girls’.

This doesn’t look like exploitation to me, I’m sure the girls got a decent lump of cash for shooting that video. In fact, it almost looks like the men are worshiping the girls. It’s only the other girls who have a problem with it. Isn’t that just funny.

Perhaps the thing that made me chuckle the most about this article, is the slander of brands such as ‘Big Deal’ and ‘Honour Over Glory’ apparently using models to model their clothes in “unimaginative” and “pornographic” ways.

Well let me just draw your attention to this. This is Hannah, the author of the original article, getting her arse out for her five seconds of fame in FRONT Magazine wearing Big Deal panties. Need I say any more? Once again, I’m a friend of the original FRONT Magazine (RIP) crew and if you ever meet a more hilarious, female friendly bunch of raving alcoholics then I’ll eat my shorts.

Just in case you hadn’t offended enough people, you continued to place the blame on yet another group. Bands. I don’t know how many bands you know but you can’t just CHOOSE not to play a venue because of another act, because of the stage sponsor or for any other reason. It’s a fight, a bloody battle to make a name for yourself. You play the venues that you need to play and you party with the people you need to party with. So don’t go telling them that they aren’t trying hard enough, they’ve got enough on their plate.

So you’re the one fighting for women’s rights? Well I don’t know what I’m doing then but I tell you, I’m having a hell of a lot more fucking fun. Why don’t we ask the ‘lads’ that you’re condemning. What do you think boys? Knowing now that we all love our jobs, we’re not being exploited and that apparently it’s all your fault for objectifying us. I think I see where this is going to go.

I'm done. I'm not going to fight anymore. I was just sick of seeing articles against my industry and thought my side should have a go. Peace. X

P.s. Fire performers don't wear many clothes because they are a fire hazard. Duh.