• Uncategorized

    It’s Oh So Noisy: The Icelandic Punk Museum (Pönksafn Íslands)

    You don’t walk into Pönksafn Íslands; you descend into it. The new Icelandic Punk Museum in Reykjavík is located in a former public toilet: 0 Bankastræti in the city centre.   As I descend into Pönksafn Íslands on my second day in Reykjavík, curator and famous Icelandic punk Svarti Álfur Mánason is rocking out, noisily and messily, at the bottom of the graffiti-covered steps, his pink spiked hair the first thing I see. He apologizes for his messy riffing, welcomes me to the museum and tells me I can play any of the instruments and put on any of the clothes in the place. “Go in order,” he advises. “And…

  • Song of the Moment

    Song of the Moment: “Nothing’s Gonna Change That Girl” by Hurray for the Riff Raff

    I’ve been obsessed with Hurray for the Riff Raff for years, in love with their bluesy bayou folk and with frontwoman Alynda Segarra’s brilliant songwriting. But in the indie folk band’s newest album, The Navigator (2017), Segarra draws on Puerto Rican protest music too. The Navigator is a political concept album about a Nuyorican girl (quite like Segarra) named Navita Milagros Negrón who learns about her ancestral history and develops a resistant consciousness. She sings about gentrification, genocide, and gender politics. My current Song of the Moment, “Nothing’s Gonna Change That Girl,” is a danceable, defiant ballad with Segarra’s characteristic illustrious strumming and unforgettable voice. Listen for my favorite part, the shift…

  • Artist Spotlight,  Band Information

    The Venus Flytraps: We Met in a Dream

    The Venus Flytraps (Cleveland, Ohio) chats with Women in Rock about animal language, biker bars, and wanting to do everything. Your first EP, Clamp Down, was released on Quality Time Records just last year. Congrats! When and how did you start playing together? In the spring of 2016, we met in a dream. Besides a mutual fascination with all things other-worldly we are drawn together inexplicably and irresistibly and now here we are.   Can you describe your sound in your own words? Rock n roll from the midwestern jungle.   Do you have a favorite song or lyric from your album? (Personally, I love the title track and “Cherry…

  • Artist Spotlight

    An Interview with Joe Klug from Wussy

    We had the opportunity to sit down with Joe Klug, the drummer from Wussy, and ask him about his work with Cincinnati’s most beloved indie band, the role of indie music, and being a stay-at-home dad. How did you get your start playing with Wussy? Some years ago there was a benefit at the old Southgate House (I believe it was for Donna Jay’s dog “Bunny”) where there were like fifteen to twenty bands, and we all had to play one song that had something to do with a dog. I was playing in Staggering Statistics at the time, and Lisa Walker walked up to me and said: “Our drummer’s…

  • Song of the Moment

    SOTM: Alabama Shakes, “The Greatest”

        Brittany Howard — the big, beautiful lead frontwoman and guitarist for Alabama Shakes, whose 2015 album Sound and Color is a masterpiece of brilliant, erm, sound and color — rocks. Just listen to this fun, rockin’ freak-out showcasing Howard’s soulful voice and brilliant riffs.     Now listen again, this time to a bluesy live version that switches up the pace (plus, check out Howard’s awesome glasses!). She is THE GREATEST!

  • A Little Slice of History,  Book Reviews

    The Collected Lives of Patti Smith

    Someone asked if I would consider Woolgathering a fairy tale. I have always adored such tales but I am afraid it does not qualify. Everything contained in this little book is true, and written just like it was. ~Patti Smith Two years ago, a dear friend gifted me a signed copy of Patti Smith’s little book, Woolgathering. Published in 1992 — nearly two decades before the National-Book-Award-winning Just Kids & a full twenty-three years before the bestselling M Train — Woolgathering is a lesser-known work, an unassuming 76 pages of lyrical vignettes and photographs depicting Smith’s early life. I read Woolgathering during a time of upheaval in my life, a series…

  • Song Playlist

    :) :) Celebrate! :) :)

    We’re celebrating our first print issue of Women in Rock — released August 16, 2016 — with summery songs that make us jump for joy! Here, you can listen to the playlist!  We had such a fun time at the Women in Rock magazine release, thanks for being there!                     Le Tigre– “TKO” Best Coast– “Happy” Kimya Dawson– “Loose Lips” Lady Lamb– “Vena Cava” Patti Smith– “Redondo Beach” Tegan & Sara– “Northshore” Courtney Barnett– “Aqua Profunda!” Screaming Females– “Boss” THEESatisfaction– “QueenS” tUnE-yArDs– “Hey Life” PJ Harvey– “Good Fortune” Wussy– “Happiness Bleeds” Hurray for the Riff Raff– “Too Much of a Good Thing”…

  • Artist Spotlight

    Punch me in the face: a conversation with Screaming Females

    “Lyrically, our songs are […] about a very personal and internal struggle while you navigate through what feels like a dystopian nightmare.” ~Marissa Paternoster                     May 26, 2016 Screaming Females — featuring Marissa Paternoster on lead guitar & lyrics, King Mike on bass, and Jarrett Dougherty on drums — sprawls cheerfully across two shabby couches in a dim upper room at the Northside Yacht Club, eating vegan sandwiches and chips as they speak with us about creativity, community, and being “working musicians.” Women in Rock: can you describe the moment when you realized that you wanted to play music professionally, become a…

  • Playlist,  Song Playlist

    Songs with Horns

    I played string instruments growing up, so I’ve always been fascinated with brass. Horns and trumpets, when juxtaposed with guitar, bass, and drums, lend an entirely different mood to a song: bold, stout, clean and weighty, bright and jazzy.  The songs on this playlist use horns in different ways and to different ends, but they are all brassy, in the positive sense of shameless or strident. Valerie June, “Working Woman Blues” Probably my favorite song of 2013. It starts with folksy guitar, drums, and June’s one-of-a-kind voice, but wait for the horn solo, which makes the song.   Carpenters, “Close to You” A classic that ought never be forgotten, with a modest trumpet…