Ali Barter"I had a girl come up to me at a gig once and say 'you're singing in such a sweet way, but you're saying such fiery, angry stuff', and I was like 'Love, there's many ways to say something'. And I'm glad because you don't want to put people off by saying 'this is fuuuucked' - there's lots of ways to do it," Barter says by way of describing her style. That's not to say there isn't a sting in the tail - but she's making music in a way that interests her.
"My voice can be very sweet and very pure, and I could make very sweet, pure music if I wanted to. But I didn't want to - so to counteract that I've got big fuzzy guitars and I think it works. I think if I had a really growly, angry voice it would be too much, but for some reason having those fuzzy guitars with it really works. And there were so many women who did that in the '90s - just like, like Madonna has such a sweet high pitched voice and her music's not exactly grunge, but there's a contrast."
A Suitable Girl, lead by single Girlie Bits, is an honest and often playful exploration of modern (female) adulthood, and an interesting way to approach what is often a hard experience to spell out. You might expect such insight and balance to come out a bit later in an artist's career, but for Barter it was about a few stars aligning. "I'm not sure if it's my age, or it's what's happening at the moment, or a bit of both," she says. "Well, I'm 31, so I've had quite a bit of time to consider my place in the world. And maybe I was just with people talking about this stuff, so it could just be that, it could just be timing. But I do think it's just such a thing at the moment, I think we're very aware of it, we're all very conscious, and the last 5 years [gender identity] has become something people are very interested in talking about. And maybe a few years ago I wouldn't have written in that way because my brain wasn't 'on' in that way yet, but it definitely became relevant for me, and I figured out what I wanted to say. I ask myself those questions as an artist - 'What am I talking about? What do I want to say?' - and when I started asking those questions, this is what came out."
Getting ready to go on the road for her One Foot In tour, Barter is also combining words (and lyrics) with action. The tour will feature her existing music (as well as some new previews), as well an opportunity for some awesome community engagement. "We're working with a company called Gift Box Organic, and they do like a one for one thing. So for every tampon or box of tampons a person buys, they give a box to women who are disadvantaged - homeless women, refugee women. It's such a great company, and I'm really proud to be working with them."
Although it is 2017, was Barter ever concerned about a possible backlash about the initiative and her active support of it? "I mean, I did have someone tweet at me 'is there an initiative for men who behave psycho once a month?', and I was just like 'mate, just get stuffed'. But I don't think so. I'm lucky that the male fans I have, they sing Girlie Bits louder than the girls sometimes. And it's just not meant to be like that - I don't like dividing people. It's something we all need to talk about together, and I'm very passionate about men's issues as well. To me, it makes more sense if I talk about women's issues, but I am very passionate about men's issues and I talk about them a lot with my husband, and with my beautiful male friends too, who are all involved in all that stuff. I just think it shouldn't be an either/or, it should be 'all in'. And I don't like it when it gets knit-picky with each other - and I won't get involved in that."
In addition to new tunes, also keep an eye on Barter's Instagram and Facebook for little 'in between' bits of content, including a zine and weekly History Girls series. "Yeah, it's fun", she says of the whole variety of outputs and engagement. "I love these different forms of writing too - little extra bits of me".
