I was absolutely delighted to be attending the fantastic Loud Women Fest hosted by Cassie Fox, for my third year in a row. The only disappointment was I was unable to book the day off work, so I couldn’t attend for the whole day this time.
Loud Women Fest has been my musical highlight of the last few years. The festival is dedicated to promoting fabulous women in music. Every year, not only do I see a few bands I know and love, but I discover so many new ones too. Loud Women Fest has now been running for 8 years, and it’s still as relevant as ever, when the majority of the larger festivals still consist of male dominated headliners.
The festival is always busy and thriving. This year they received nearly 1,000 applications from artists to play, and they came from all over the world- 6 continents to be precise.
This year, Loud Women Fest took place at the same venue as last year- Rich Mix– an inclusive arts space in the heart of Shoreditch.
Coming straight from work this year, I arrived just after 5pm- so just in time to catch disco punk rockers ‘Bugeye’. Bugeye are an all female band from Croydon and their set was a lot of fun. I had heard of the band before, but not heard their music, and I really enjoyed their catchy, vibrant style. I found them comparable to the style of ‘Le Tigre’.
This time around, I’d had a brief look through the line up and timings to figure out who would be the best to see- I am not personally a fan of rap, so admittedly I skipped those artists out. As it turned out, this meant myself and my friend didn’t have to keep changing floors (as the bands would alternate between two stages on two different floors) as all the ones we wanted to see were on the bigger stage downstairs. The only trip to a different flight was to have some dinner- as per last year, some amazing vegan curries were on offer.
Next up on the agenda for us was Cassie’s band ‘I. Doris’ who inevitably play every year and are always a highlight. Fun, sparkly feminist punk with relatable lyrics. It was great to hear ‘Do It Myself’ , a song that samples ‘We Got The Beat’ by the Go Go’s that lists amusing terms for female masturbation. It also featured on Vol 1 of Joyzine’s 20 Years of Joy Compilation albums that came out last year. They also treated us to a new song ‘Beach Body’ which I immediately loved, and of course ending with a cover of ‘Rebel Girl’ by Bikini Kill, this year changing the lyrics to ‘Rebel Doris!’
The next act we caught was a band I didn’t know- ‘Baby Said’. ‘Baby Said’ were formed by Portsmouth based Italian/Punjabi sisters Veronica and Jessica Hal, who are a mere 17 and 19 years old. Alongside Holy Knowles (Guitar) and Maddie Hackett (drums), this band was absolutely outstanding and possibly my favourite of the evening. The music was catchy rock with a bluesy, classic vibe. I predict big things for this band and I will certainly be looking forward to more from this talented band.
I reviewed fellow Essex girl ‘Bridget’’s EP for Joyzine back in February, so I was very excited for the opportunity to see her live. Earlier on, I had met her briefly as my friend and I wanted to buy some cute ‘Punk as Fuck’ handmade bracelets on her merchandise stall and she was lovely. (and the bracelet is now a firm favourite accessory)! Bridget’s set of catchy grungy metal punk infused bangers was awesome. Her energy was amazing, as she really got involved with the audience, moshing with the crowd and even crowd surfing. Another artist who is not on your watch list, definitely should be!
Up next, another new act for me- Irish band ‘Cherym’ who were loud, proud and heaps of fun. The music is pop punk with a cutting edge, not afraid to tackle all sorts of subjects that are current, and relevant for many.
The headliner of the evening was ‘Bangzz’ who we didn’t catch the full set of sadly but the part we saw was fantastic. Bangzz are a duo from North Carolina, USA. They were fabulously in your face, riotous punk.
Every year, I leave Loud Women Fest feeling inspired, energised and wishing I had an iota of musical talent! I am so happy that Loud Women fest and all its iterations (Loud Women also has regular gigs, a radio show and a music zine too) exist. Cassie and her team work very hard to create something welcoming, diverse and gloriously feminist- and every year it just gets better.
The next gigs LOUD WOMEN have coming up are:
12th October- Shallow Honey, Casual Wednesday, The Empty Page, Felicette, I, Doris and Urgent Sea at The Hope and Anchor, Islington
17th October- Bloody Good Time in support of Bloody Good Period with- Hypsoline + Stripped Back Twats (Twat Union) + Melina Blanco + Shelley Byron at Doña, Hackney
1st November- The Cleopatras and more- Halloween Special at The Piper, Hastings
Follow LOUD WOMEN- Facebook / Instagram / X
Article by Hayley Foster da Silva
Photographs by Magda Campagne- with thanks to Loud Women, and photo of Baby Said (5th photo) by Hayley Foster da Silva
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