‘Chaos’ is the debut album from Cambridge based punk band The Baby Seals. The band formed back in 2014 after a chat in a pub, discussing the need for a band that looks at the everyday female experience with a playful, humorous lens.
The band established itself officially between 2015-2019- writing songs and building their reputation by touring, including touring in Germany 3 times, touring in Italy and playing at Blackpool’s Rebellion Festival. There was an inevitable pause during the COVID pandemic and some maternal leave was also needed, so it was 2022 before The Baby Seals continued to amass fans. There were even more tours, playing with other awesome bands like The Raincoats, The Pearl Harts and The Menstrual Cramps among others.
Fast forward to March 2023, and ‘Chaos’ was being recorded. The album has been released today on their own label Trapped Animal. I absolutely adore this album! It’s a feminist punk dream, and the slice of humour that goes with it just makes it even better.
‘It’s Not About The Money Honey’ has a grungy, slight nineties gritty vibe, and is about gender inequality and has an epic rock n roll finish to the song. Body shaming and body love make several appearances in the incredibly catchy song ‘Nipple Hair’ and ‘My Labia is Lopsided but I Don’t Mind’. Coming up with Na-Na-Nipple Hair and La-La-La-Labia in the lyrics is simple but genius in my opinion. Chief songwriter of the band Kerry Divine said this about ‘My Labia is Lopsided and I Don’t Mind’ –
“Labia was the firstborn Baby Seal song. It pretty much sums up the whole ethos of the band. We want to make people feel good, specifically about themselves. You will not be judged here, only celebrated. No one ever spoke about how much variation there was in all the different vulvas, and I’d started to hear about a growing trend in young women getting labiaplasties. At around the same time, artist Jamie McCartney started exhibiting the Great Wall of Vulva. Four hundred women contributed to this huge wall made up of all shapes and sizes, glorious women’s genitals. I was really confused about the increase in labiaplasties—of course, we’d grown up in a generation in which no one talked about your ‘privates,’ and all my mates and I felt really embarrassed about this area of conversation when I was growing up. I wish we’d had the Great Wall of Vulva when I was a teenager. So, the song really is the sonic version of that piece of art—it’s about having pride in your body, even if it doesn’t match the media pushed/societal version of what we’re supposed to look like.”
Other topics touched upon on ‘Chaos’ include female masturbation on shouty song ‘Vibrator’, Misogyny on the heavy ‘Mild Misogynist’ and questioning why women might feel good when they get id’d at a supermarket on brilliant single ‘Id’d at Aldi’. I particularly like the verse ‘Little grey hairs didn’t give it away, Superflow tampons didn’t give it away, IBS meds didn’t give it away, Giving zero fucks didn’t give it away, didn’t give it away..’
Overall, this is a fantastic feminist punk album that still has the same rage that you find behind other feminist punk bands, but with the addition of a bit of cheekiness, just a touch of silliness, but still really getting the very topical messages across. If you enjoy shouty punk, that you can sing along to, then you might just enjoy this album.
‘Chaos’ is out today via Trapped Animal Records and you can buy it here
Upcoming Gigs
20 APR – Punk Rock BBQ Stamford
Find The Baby Seals online- Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Article by Hayley Foster da Silva
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