Louder Girls! Nova Twins, Sh!ts!ck, I,Doris rock the Loud Women Party
Gearing up for Loud Women Fest (15 September) in fine style, TheZineUK's Lorna Cort catches Nova Twins, Sh!ts!ck and I, Doris totally smashing it live, at the Loud Women Summer Party
What a line-up! Loud Women know how to put on a show, The Lexington in Angel (London) is the venue for the Loud Women Summer Party, and it’s already packed down the front when the festivities begin with the kitsch and feisty I, Doris.
Dressed in a uniform of red, dinner lady style tabards with added sparkle, the band – all named Doris – start the evening with the ‘I, Doris Pledge’. A promise to be kind to our fellow Dorises, and to help a Doris in need, the crowd duly raise a hand and repeat ‘I, Doris’ in unison, so tonight, we are all Doris.
The band play a fun set which has everyone smiling, including classic songs with alternative feminist lyrics, their version of Up the Junction by Squeeze is fantastic, now narrated by ‘the girl from Clapham’ who gets together with Gordon, who comes from… Morden. Doris makes sure the gig ends on a positive vibe by handing out vibrators to the crowd! Thanks Doris, very thoughtful!
If you are looking for originality, energy, style and a social conscience, Sh!ts!ck are the band for you. With a great backing band mixing punk, ska and rock the three front-women take to the stage dressed in grey boiler suits and pigeon masks and open with the riotous and apt Living on the Ledge.
Discarding the boiler suits for a #stagestyle mix of tartan and PVC this is a band with a proper punk aesthetic, like Bananarama with massive balls, they have opinions and they want to be heard.
Shout-along songs with titles like Punk Mums, Suck Sainsburys, and Your Mum’s a Don are so refreshing and so honest, and the crowd agree, with a female-led mosh-pit loving every minute. Last song, Fascist Country is a tirade against the current government and right-wing propaganda. The band invite girls onto the stage to join in their Tartan Army. The stage is soon crowded with friends and fans to sing "We’re all c**** in a fascist country!"
How do you follow that?
Headliners and TheZineUK favourites, Nova Twin,s don’t disappoint, Amy and Georgia appear in graffiti covered white hazard suits and play under permanent red lights, as if we’re crowded into a bunker under a post-apocalyptic London.
Their signature distorted basslines and snarling vocals grab you by the throat and refuse to let go. With female empowered songs like Thelma and Louise and Mood Swings, their set is a riff-laden onslaught from start to finish, don’t expect to hear a love song tonight, but you will hear an intense and unique grime/punk/ rock hybrid.
The band refuse to stand still for a second and their infectious energy transfers to the ever-growing mosh-pit, which I swear has steam rising from it by the end of the gig!
Thank you to Loud Women for such a great night of not only loud women, but talented, creative and inspiring women, to quote the sadly missed Aretha Franklin ‘Sisters are Doing It For Themselves’, long may it continue.
loudwomen.org/
Words and Images by Lorna Cort
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