Team LOUD WOMEN went to witness an herstoric night last night. Three bands we know and love from the DIY scene – Big Joanie, GHUM and Fräulein – taking over one of London's foremost mid-size venues, The Garage. And, by all accounts, blowing the roof off it. Check out stunning photos by Keira Anee, and commentary by Charley Stone and Julie Riley.
Charley Stone: The queue backed up the road meant many of us got in late to see Fräulein. Everyone was there: the elders, the youngers, the DIYers, the decolonisers… a celebration, an event, an occasion which all three bands rose to.
Fräulein are guitar and drums and vocals, all wrestling each song into being. A fierce force, like early PJ Harvey with the dials turned right the way up.
Julie Riley: The second song was blinding and a little birdie tells us it is going to be their next single so I’m very much looking forward to that!
Charley: GHUM have a sway and a swagger; not one that says “look at me” but one that just sits quietly confident at the centre of swirling Cure-like warm clean riffs and pulsing bass and driving drums.
Julie: The drumming was particularly great!
Charley: How far Big Joanie have come since I first saw them playing first on at a LOUD WOMEN gig. They feel like bigger bolder, shinier versions of themselves – equipped to reach the masses, while keeping their DIY ethos, and with sounds far richer than the raw guitar + bass + minimal drums from those early shows. Their message is amplified, their stance is clear, and although it feels intimate and homely, as they talk about the importance of community and of the stage and the crowd feeling like “home”, you know that it’s reaching beyond, to the people at the back, the people brought along by friends or curiosity, the people reading about them in a magazine or hearing them on the radio for the first time. They’re out there in the world,* impacting on wider culture and it’s wonderful to see.
* Big Joanie just announced a massive US tour – check out this beaut:
LOUD WOMEN 