Last night (11 May) at the Hope & Anchor was a splendid reminder why LOUD WOMEN gigs are so vital. Four very awesome woman-powered bands from up and down the country, and across the Atlantic (Miss Eaves, TV Face, Feral Five and I, Doris) ; a fun raffle full of awesome prizes (original Bikini Kill poster! records! golden pineapple ornament!); filming for Gaptooth‘s new music video (Post-Patriarchy Disco!); plus the friendliest, most up-for-a-good time crowd you could wish to hang out with on a Saturday night. More of this sort of thing please!
Miss Eaves, TV Face, Feral Five, I, Doris, The Noise and the Naive, BbyMutha, The Shangri-Las, Rico Nasty, Argonaut, Billie Eilish, Janelle Monae, Kero Kero Bonito, GUTTFULL, Leikeli47, Le Tigre, Sisteray, Lizzo, Miss Red, Chaka Khan, SAULT, Ibibio Sound Machine, ILL, Party Fears, Sink Ya Teeth, Christine and the Queens, Neneh Cherry, Pom Poko, The Breeders, The Lovely Eggs, Velodrome, Pip Blom, GGAllan Partridge, Cid Rim, Tacocat, Mo-Dettes, X-ray Spex, The Slits, Missy Elliott, M.I.A., Ana Tijoux
Massive thanks to Abby/Doris Werth for the particularly choice selections ❤
Last month we gathered our best bitches and flew to New York for the launch of LOUD WOMEN NYC. Here’s a rockumentary, nay, Dorisumentary, from our all-time supreme favourites, the LOUD WOMEN team band I, Doris.
Ever wondered what the story of Squeeze‘s classic ‘Up the Junction’ might look like from her point of view? London’s I, Doris are here to tell you.
The band are releasing today (fittingly, International Women’s Day) their debut single, ‘The Girl From Clapham’ – a loving, fuzzed-up tribute to the original song, with a poignant reminder that women’s experiences are all too often erased from history.
The new song lyrics were written by punk poet Janine Booth, and published in her brilliant anthology ‘Disaffected Middle Aged Women‘. Squeeze’s Chris Difford has given the new lyrics – and the I, Doris version of the song – his personal seal of approval. All profits from the sale of the track on Bandcamp are being donated to domestic violence charity Women’s Aid.
I, Doris are a self-proclaimed “kitchenpunk mummycore” band, consisting four 40-something women, dressed in dinnerlady-esque tabards, and answering to the name of Doris (that’s Doris on guitar, Doris on bass, Doris on drums, and Doris on – wait for it – keytar). Audience members are sworn in to the Doris collective with a group pledge at the start of each gig. Their live set is 60s girl-group style pop with lashings of fuzzy punk and plenty of good-humoured swipes at the patriarchy. At least, we think they’re good-humoured.
Bassist Doris (AKA LOUD WOMEN’s own Cassie Fox) takes the lead vocals on ‘The Girl From Clapham’.
L-R: Doris, Doris, Doris and Doris.
“I’ve always loved the song, and feel so honoured to get to sing this version” she says, “I am, legit, a girl from Clapham though. My childhood and teens were spent by/on Clapham Common, mostly trying to stay out of the way of my drunk and violent father. The song strikes a big power chord for me. That feeling at the end – of being trapped in a hopeless situation – it’s painfully familiar to a lot of people I’m sure, particularly women. This is the reason I was keen for the profits from the track to go to Women’s Aid.”
I, Doris are currently blazing a gloriously happy trail through the DIY gigs circuit, and beyond – they’ve played with Mekons in Leeds, the launch of Loud Women NYC in Brooklyn, they’re playing the Royal Albert Hall on 17 March, and Rebellion Festival on 2 August. Keep an eye on the I, Doris Facebook page for news of their continued adventures.
Join us on 17 March for a LOUD WOMEN takeover at London’s Royal Albert Hall! Headliners ILL will be performing a one-off “witchy queer cabaret”, with a collage of dealing with the topic of identity (with added bits from ILL videos) on a loop as a backdrop to their killer set. Here’s a sneak preview of the video:
Support on the night will come from:
* Nun Habit – London-based five-piece, whose fuzzy garage rock sound places a heavy emphasis on loud noises, pop-y tunes and having a good time.
* Lilith Ai – a DIY singer-songwriter, who performs poignant tales of modern city life. Born in northeast London Ai grew up streetwise. In her early teens with only £70 in her pocket, she ran away to America and spent the next few years living on the streets Queens New York which has heavily influenced her music.
* I, Doris – Mummycore riotpop kitchenpunx. “One of the most radical and fun bands we’ve ever seen … they take a glittering disco punk meat cleaver to the gender challenges that no-one else is talking about. Armed with a keytar, a wealth of wit, and a communal I, Doris pledge, you can imagine these Londoners going down a storm at any kind of event.” – Kitmonsters
The event is part of the Royal Albert Hall’s Unstoppable Voices series of events, in partnership with LOUD WOMEN and The Quietus.
“Feminist post-punk delivered with a fun DIY attitude and heaps of humour … I, Doris are hilarious, thoroughly entertaining and ready to take the patriarchy on one gig at a time.” – Soundblab
Plus raffle, singalong punk Christmas choir, and Christmas Magic* more!
I, Doris are a “mummycore art-pop foursome”, comprising 3 of LOUD WOMEN’s key team members – Cassie Fox, Lucy Morgan, and Abby Werth – plus a rolling, Spinal Tap-esque conveyor belt of drummers that have included Crack Foxes‘ Louisa Edwards-Knight (the official drummy Doris) in London, the Mekons‘ Jon Langford in Leeds, Party Fear‘s Eilis Frawley in Brighton, and T-Bitch‘s Stevie Ramjet in Newport! On stage though, everyone’s “Doris”: as their themetune snipes at the anonymity befalling women under patriarchy, “girls are all the same, chicks are all the same, birds are all the same – Doris is our name”. Their set is a mix of electro-punk witty-lyric bangers, and covers selected for their originally problematic sexual politics, rewritten with a feminist bent and heaps of humour. The band were described by one reviewer as “feminist in a relatable and light-hearted way”, but I, Doris is deadly serious – make no mistake, they’re laughing right at the patriarchy. I, Doris is pretty much the LOUD WOMEN house band now, so you can catch them at our Christmas party on Thursday 13 Dec at the Lexington with Young Romance and Sit Down, in Brooklyn NY’s The Well on 1 Feb for the launch of LOUD WOMEN NYC, and back in London on 9 Feb at the Hope & Anchor with Ill, Hysterical Injury and Gender Chores. In the meantime, get to know them a bit better with our 10 question interview …
1. If you could add one member to your band – any person, living or dead, musical or otherwise – who would it be, and what would they play? Doris/Abby: Mavis Riley off of Corrie on theramin. I think she is a perfect Doris.
2. What was the last song you wrote, where were you when you came up with the idea, what inspired it, and how did it turn out? Doris/Cassie: I’m writing a song at the moment called ‘I’m not your mum’! I was in the car when I came up with the idea – I do most of my songwriting while driving. I was thinking of exes, well one particular ex, who really wanted a mother rather than a partner. I had to remind him to brush his teeth, urg! The song is coming along nicely.
3. Which was your favourite gig you’ve a) played and b) watched? Doris/Lucy: a) Leftfield Stage at Glastonbury with Thee Faction – total bucket list item
b) Pet Shop Boys at the third Bestival – they brought their full stage set and every single audience member was in fancy dress and dancing without a care in the world.
4. Recommend a record you think our readers might not have heard of. Doris/Louisa: The Sound of Music sound track. After recovering from your initial disgust after hearing 16 Going On 17 basking in the fact we have come a long fucking way since then 😂 Also Coral Fang by The Distillers because Brody Dalle is not celebrated nearly enough.
5. What’s your best piece of advice for new guitarists? Doris/Abby: Find a way of playing you like the sound of – for me out of taste and necessity it’s playing in a simple way – I think I’d practice loads more if I had time though – it’s good to sound sharp even if what you’re playing is pretty basic!
6. Which would you prefer to play: a small venue packed with friends, or a large venue packed with strangers? Doris/Lucy: Tough one. I would be much more nervous playing in front of 10 people I know than 1000 I didn’t! But I love it when my friends turn up and I love it when I they are smiling/nodding along (we can see you from the stage, you know!) so I will go with the former, though with maybe a large glass of wine to steady the nerves first.
7. Your top 3 most beloved albums ever – go. Doris/Abby: These change quite a lot – except for one… my favourite. These are all albums I’ve loved for years and never tire of though. So at the moment I’ll pick Arular by M.I.A, Dragnet by The Fall and my favourite album of all time is Cut by The Slits. It never fails to make me laugh and cheer, and it’s really catchy but also experimental.
8. Give your top 5 Dorisses. Doris/Louisa: Obvs the 3 Dorises who stand in front of me on stage, the Mrs, and my little kick ass girl🙌 Also: Brody Dalle
Kylie Minogue
Malala, the brave girl who got shot in the face for going to school and is now fighting the good fight.
Kristen Stewart for making Bella gay
Kate Winslet, before she defended Woody Allen 😳
9. What advice would you give to “grown-up women over the age of 35” who are considering forming a band? Doris/Lucy: CRACK ON. Being in a band is amazing. You’ll pick up a whole new load of life skills without knowing it, it will help your confidence, you will meet a whole heap of new people, but mostly it will be a massive amount of fun. There are very few bands in this age category from what I can tell, and we definitely have a very different perspective on life but equally valuable. Go show the young ‘uns how it’s done!
10. What’s the most important thing we need to know about you/your band right now? Doris/Cassie: I, Doris have a spangly single coming out very soon, along with a spangly video just as soon as we get around to filming it in my kitchen! Next year we’re hopefully going to play lots more gigs, record some more, travel the world, and overthrow the patriarchy!
