SONiC celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8th! Here are just some of the female SONiC artists that rock.

Gwen Stephani – No Doubt

Many have said that Gwen Stefani became the soundtrack to female empowerment in the 1990s.

Gwen Stefani originally wrote the song “Just A Girl” while frustrated with her father about being overprotective because of her gender. “I wouldn’t trade being female, for anything, but the guys don’t understand what a burden it can be sometimes.”

She and her mother were once driving to a show in California when the song first became popular, and her mother asked if she was “going to say those curse words onstage” because she had invited some relatives. Gwen said she wasn’t planning on it but the frustration grew inside her on stage and she refused to change her song just because it seemed inappropriate for a girl to curse.

Tom Dumont told The Orange Country Register about how Gwen Stefani’s writing process addressed these feelings.

“She had a notebook of ideas and this was an idea of hers about coming to terms with growing up and seeing what challenges there were in being a female and growing up,” he said. “There was sort of this sarcastic take on it, and she wasn’t just singing like ‘Girl Power.’ She was singing it in such a clever and sarcastic way.”

The Beaches

These ladies were offered their first record deal while most of them were still in high school. The Beaches are a four-piece female rock band who do describe themselves as a feminist band, and use their personal experiences within their lyrics. For example Jordan Miller, their lead singer, has said that their song “Snake Tongue” is about “the unwanted male attention we’ve received as both a band and as young women, and how we’ve decided to confront that attention, but rejecting it and by poking fun at it.”

In countless interviews they’ve shared stories about the people who’ve underestimated them due to their age and gender. To those kinds of comments, their keyboardist Leandra Earl says: “Girls can rock just as hard as the boys. We’re there to put on a rock show.”

The band has named many female role models who inspire them like Emily Haines and Leah Fey (who they’ve worked with), as well as Avril Lavigne, Patti Smith, Annie Lennox, and Debbie Harry.

Aimee Allen – The Interrupters

Aimee Allen is the lead vocalist in the ska punk band, The Interrupters. The band had lots of success with their single “She’s Kerosene” which according to Billboard was unexpected. They said “Contemporary alt radio doesn’t play much punk and is generally slow to play to female singers, across all genres.”

Allen was discovered by American Idol’s Randy Jackson when she was only 20 years old. She told Billboard that back then, she just really wanted to be shocking.

“I wanted to be like, “Listen, I can be tough with the boys, I can be shocking with the boys, I can out-drink you, out-punch, out-punk you,” you know? I think I tried to prove how tough and how punk and crazy I was in my songwriting. I sometimes went for shock over good craft. I was like, “I’ll just throw the F-word in here and that will make it good.” The F-word, as I get older, isn’t that shocking.”

Over the years The Interrupters have worked with many talented punk artists, including Rancid’s Tim Armstrong (who discovered them as a band), Travis Barker and Mark Hoppus. The melody for one of their songs “Broken World” was even given to them by Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, saying “I don’t know if you guys want it – if not it’s cool – but I just thought it would be cool for you.”


Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse was an English singer/songwriter who’s music had unique qualities of soul and jazz. Her work was inspired by a lot of early female blues artists such as Big Mama Thornton, Ethel Waters, Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. However, Winehouse always stood out as been unapologetically herself.

The Guardian put it well when they said “Here was a woman who refused to conform – not in the eccentric mad woman in the attic mold of Kate Bush or Björk, but a woman who chose to live a little wild, follow her heart and sing of the simple stew of being female.”

Amy Winehouse’s album Back To Black has become one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century, especially in the UK. There is also a charity that was set up by her family after she passed away called The Amy Winehouse Foundation, which helps thousands of children and young people to feel supported, informed and inspired.

Florence Welch – Florence and the Machine

Florence Welch is the lead vocalist of the indie rock band Florence and the Machine. Welch has touched on many topics and addressed many important issues with her music like feminism, gender fluidity, depression, eating disorders and more.

She’s said that “ideas of beauty should never be typified by gender.”

“I definitely consider myself a feminist and it matters. The idea of what a feminist is is changing. I have so many strong women in my life. Throughout making this record I was really supported, consoled and held by the women in my life. My mother is a professor of renaissance history so I spent a lot of time in France as a child. Going to the Duomo and seeing St. Agatha with her breasts cut off was particularly shocking and made a mark. When you have a history of women behind you, you are constantly being floored by something powerful. It’s like waves of truth. It is humbling to listen to strong women and it makes me realize my capacity. I had to go through this as I was making the record. Through advice from other women, I felt like I [gained] more strength.”

A lot of the themes that were difficult or never really talked about for Welch were thrown into her music.

Emily Haines – Metric

Emily Haines is a Canadian singer/songwriter, and the lead vocalist for Metric. Haines has also worked for years with the organization Global Citizen, campaigning on issues relating to health, education and gender equality.

“So often we are handed really very strict and unrealistic versions of what femininity is,” Haines told Global Citizen in an interview. “It’s either an idealized virginal child, or it’s some sort of disrespected sexual power or it’s the matronly mother or — god forbid — the crone.” Discussing her solo album Choir of the Mind she said, “All of these archetypes are so well established, and so I was already looking at those themes on the album. But “Statuette” in particular, lyrically, is sort of examining that.”

She’s never been afraid to bring politics into Metric’s music either, especially with their fifth album Synthetica. After the release of this album she chatted with Rolling Stone about feminist ideals and existential identity.

“The band that I’m in, it’s not like these guys have different views than I do on issues that are important. We’re all in the same reality. It’s just the endless insistence on making a gender divide. It’s just so tedious. It’s a bit of a riddle, and it’s why I haven’t been more outspoken about gender as a topic in the past because I always was like, “I want to play on the regulation court. I don’t want to be in the pink corner.” I want to be in the main room. I don’t want to be in a separate category, because then it’s just too many qualifiers before your name. It’s like, “female-fronted Canadian and indie” is all a bit much. How about fronting Metric?”

Some of these themes are continued in their 2018 album Art of Doubt. 

Jaycelyn Brown – Said the Whale

Jaycelyn Brown is the keyboardist of Vancouver-based band Said the Whale. She’s been a classically trained pianist since she was only 5 years old and in a rock band since she was 20.

She did a photoshoot and interview with Raw Beauty Co, a small female owned business, dedicated to helping women live from a place of self love.

In the interview she said, “Being in a band there are many young people listening to our music and seeing us perform live. I’m always done up in my show clothes and makeup. They rarely get to see me natural. I want to show everyone that I’m not always like that, that I’m comfortable without makeup and in sweatpants and baggy shirts. It would be awesome to inspire people to not depend on clothing or makeup and just be who they are. It does take time to accept you for you, especially when we are being thrown into a world that promotes a certain type of “perfection” through advertisements, magazines, movies, and the all-mighty internet.”

Molly Guldemond and Jasmin Parkin – Mother Mother

Molly Guldemond and Jasmin Parkin are two members of the Canadian indie rock band Mother Mother. Both of them play keyboard and share vocals with Ryan Guldemond.

“That’s kind of our shtick, so it’s important and it’s fun and it’s different,” Guldemond said. “People regard that as something they don’t hear very often. It’s nice to have a signature. It’s fun to craft these little interweaving parts.”

Music isn’t their only passion either, in her spare time Molly Guldemond makes masks and Jasmin Parkin owns a yoga studio in Squamish, BC.

You can watch Brooklyn’s chat with Molly and Jasmine from International Women’s Day 2019, below.

Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish has accomplished many things since her first Soundcloud upload in 2016. She began writing her own music from the age of 11, and is now 19. She’s been nominated for many Grammy Awards and recently released her own documentary.

.@BillieEilish’s “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?” has now spent 100 consecutive weeks in the top 35 on the Billboard 200.

— It’s the first female album to achieve this since @Adele’s “21” (2011).

She has also made powerful statements against body shaming. During her massive debut world tour she took the opportunity while on stage in Miami to address her body shamers. During the concert’s interlude, a pre-produced video of Eilish played on the screen as she narrated the scene.

“The body I was born with, is it not what you wanted? If what I wear is comfortable, I am not a woman. If I shed the layers, I am a slut.

She continued saying, “If I wear more, if I wear less, who decides what that makes me? What that means? Is my value based only on your perception? Or is your opinion of me not my responsibility?”.

Eilish had previously discussed her decision to wear baggie clothes on stage and in public to avoid objectification. In a Calvin Klein ad, Eilish said, “Nobody can have an opinion because they haven’t seen what’s underneath. Nobody can be like, ‘she’s slim-thick,’ ‘she’s not slim-thick,’ ‘she’s got a flat ass,’ ‘she’s got a fat ass.’ No one can say any of that because they don’t know.”

Amy Cole – The Rural Alberta Advantage 

Amy Cole takes on keyboards, bass, and backing vocals in the Toronto indie rock band The Rural Alberta Advantage.

She founded the band along with Paul Banwatt and Nils Edenloff in 2005. Since than, the group has earned several Juno nominations, were long listed for the Polaris Music Prize and awarded the CBC Music Prize for Best Independent Artist. Throughout her 14 years in the industry, Amy says she has witnessed an increase in representation.

“It used to be that I’d be the only girl in the band, the only girl on the line up, the only girl on the tour. But that’s not true anymore.”

She has also worked as a producer and writer on a variety of television shows like Odd Squad, The Next Step and Lost & Found Music Studios.

Danielle McTaggart – Dear Rouge

Danielle McTaggart is originally from Red Deer, Alberta. She formed the Vancouver-based electronic rock band with her husband Drew in 2012 but before that, she was working as a solo artist. The band she played with was also in a way named after her hometown. It was called Gaetz Ave, after a street in Red Deer.

The diverse capabilities of her talents are explained in Dear Rouge’s bio, stating:

“On tracks like “Wicked Thing” and “Live Through the Night,” Danielle explores darker psychic recesses, homing in on how affection can veer toward obsession, and how past demons can thwart forgiveness. She shifts gears for the exuberant fizz of “Boys and Blondes,” offering up a sly anthem of feminist empowerment, and taps into a kind of epic grace for “Stolen Days,” a gorgeous tribute to Drew’s late cousin.”


Leah Fay – July Talk

Leah Fay is the co-founder of July Talk and an outspoken feminist. She credits artists like Stevie Nicks for paving the way for other female musicians. As a part of July Talk, she uses her platform to increase awareness about sexual and racial equality.

In 2016, Leah called out a sexist heckler at a July Talk show who told her to “show her tits” saying, “Do you listen to our music? Do you have any idea what this band is about?”.

 In 2014 she was dubbed one of “28 Top Front Men and Women” by the CBC.

JJ Wilde

JJ Wilde is a solo rock artist from Kitchener, Ontario who’s music is very expressive with personal experiences. 

“Mercy” is a very personal song to her. She explains, ” “Mercy” is a story of revenge. It is about a man who tries to steal something from a woman. Her sense of self, safety, control. He tries, but he does not succeed. We have all wanted revenge at one moment in our lives, whether it’s just a thought, or we actually go through with it. In this case, it is taken to the extreme, and she is pushed to the absolute limits. This story/song, like many of my songs, comes from personal experience. ”

Wilde uses her musical platform to speak out and spread the message of empowerment. Her single “Best Boy” is about society’s views and treatment of women.

“For me, this song is about trying to change the narrative that society has accepted about women. It is clear, especially in the music industry that women are viewed more like objects a lot of the time than actual humans — seen not heard type of thing. Well, I want that to change – what women “should and shouldn’t do”, what society deems acceptable, what women are shamed for. All of the above. We are beautiful creatures. And I don’t think we should feel ashamed to express that. This song is taking a stab at what men have always been free to talk about in songs — doing whatever they want with whoever they want — but from a woman’s perspective.”

Tegan and Sara

Tegan and Sara Quin formed their first band at only 15 years old called Plunk, without a guitarist or a drummer. Nowadays, they’re known as Tegan and Sara. The two have accomplished many things together from releasing a memoir to recording at Sound City Studios, where Tom Petty, Pat Benatar, Fleetwood Mac and Nirvana have all recorded.

Although the duo is known not just for their music, but also for their mission to work towards “economic justice, health, and representation for LGBTQ girls and women.”

They’ve created the Tegan and Sara Foundation to support this movement.

“Tegan and Sara have openly identified as queer since the beginning of their career in 1998, and have been outspoken feminist advocates for LGBTQ equality and gender justice.”

You can read more about the Tegan and Sara Foundation here.

 

Be You. Be Different. Be Empowered.

Happy International Woman’s Day!

 

Filed under: Amy Winehouse, Billie Eilish, Dear Rouge, florence and the machine, International Women's Day, JJ Wilde, July Talk, Metric, Mother Mother, no doubt, Tegan and Sara, The Beaches, The INterrupters, The Rural Alberta Advantage