'Fuck Folk': Glitoris Are Pure Punk Mayhem

What do you do when you write a protest album in 2018 and have to deal with online trolls branding you as “left wing BS with no respect”? You take it in your stride and deliver a debut LP that absolutely rips, that’s what. You deliver an album that, according to frontwoman Keven 007, is “equal parts political and loud and absurd and funny and lyrically daring”. 

“Songwriting-wise we have a few different methods; it’s not like a blanket method for all our songs,” she says of their debut.

“We'll either have one person bring together a fully-formed song or an idea or a riff or something like that and then we'll all workshop it together or one of us will walk in and rant about something and then Andrew will be 'there's a song in that' and she'll start playing a riff and then a song is born ten minutes later.

“For example, Sex Video, I won't name any names but that was a story someone brought to the table and then it was a song,” she chuckles. 

“And I wrote Dippin' My Wick and that was like fully formed so I brought that to the band and then Andrew's guitar solo is pretty amazing on that one. So even if we have a fully-formed song we'll all add our own flair to it or whatever.”

The band has come a long way from their inception though, originally forming for a one-off show at a local festival in 2014. 

“It was originally, ‘Let’s play some loud and absurd music wearing nothing but glitter,’” Keven remembers of the experience.

“So we were completely nude. That had such a large response and people going, ‘When's your next show?’ so we continued on and then Andrew, the lead guitarist joined the band.”

"Let’s play some loud and absurd music wearing nothing but glitter."

Because of this response and the lyrical content of the tracks, the band has made a name for themselves as a fairly political outfit. 

“We're standing for anyone who feels marginalised, anyone that needs help with expressing themselves or you know helping people with confidence and just having a voice so we certainly have lots of fans from LGBTQI for example, those communities.”

It is curious then that on the press release, the band are referred to as 'four fearless female musicians' rather than simply 'four fearless musicians'. But with a name like Glitoris, maybe it is important for them to have that distinctly feminine stamp on there.

“You know what actually no and I don't know who put that in there,” Keven quickly dismisses. 

“Quite often when we do get addressed or described as female musicians, usually one of us will go, ‘Ahh we're just musicians,' or if we have someone say, ‘So who are your female influences?’... Actually, a lot of us listen to heaps of male musicians and a lot of our icons are male.

“We don't use the fact that we are female to sell who we are at all. 

“I guess having it in a press release for people who don't know who we are, having an all-female band, playing that kind of music, you know that might make an impression on someone that is female, maybe,” she muses on reflection. “Like an incentive to come and see us.”

What is it then about women making music and labelling themselves as feminists that has such a dirty connotation? Why does it attract these labels and comparisons to other band's doing the same?

“It's certainly not just music - I think it's across the board. That word 'feminism' is still wildly misunderstood and still has a negativity associated with it sometimes. 

“Quite often our response is, ‘Yes we're feminists,’ but I mean the words 'feminism' and 'equality' go together and I think that's what a lot of people still don't understand. You know we certainly love men and we all have very important men in our lives. 

“I guess yeah we're more into equality, that's certainly something we need to put forward even more. We welcome all groups to our shows, but it is at the same time standing up for women and giving them a voice if they feel there's isn't strong enough. 

“Giving them that vehicle to feel more free and certainly listening to the album itself I would hope people feel that sense of freedom and that confidence.”

One could argue the main ethos behind the punk scene is one of inclusivity. Was that what drew them to this style of music to act as the vehicle for their message?

“But also lots of people don't like punk…” Keven laughs. 

“We all have very different musical backgrounds within the band, that's one reason why we do have that heavy influence but also that pop, rock, glam metal and all of that as well comes in. I just think of that's where we were all at, at the time. 

“I think I said the words, ‘Fuck folk,’ because I was just so sick of it and I didn't want to hear another violin."

"I used to play folk music and I still have a folk band, I've got a jazz band. I do other styles of music, as does our drummer. She played Porktober the other day like on the accordion [laughs]. 

"But I certainly love heavy music and I know Andrew on the guitar loves heavy music as well. And with us being the guitarists, well [laughs] we kind of have most of the say in the crunchy realm of sound. But you know it's just the right sort of vehicle I guess for the lyrical content - you need that power I guess. 

“I think I said the words, ‘Fuck folk,’ because I was just so sick of it and I didn't want to hear another violin and I was like, ‘I’ve been waiting to play this music for probably my whole life.’ All my listening to Tool and Metallica in my teenage years, it's just all come out."

The band head off on a national tour this month in a show Keven describes as, “punk mayhem”.

“It's theatrical, it's loud, it's absurd, it's well worth getting up the front if you can. It's interactive.”

And is glitter still a mandatory requirement?

“Glitter isn't mandatory and I say that because yes we used to play covered in glitter and we continued to do that for a while but then we added pants to the equation," she laughs. 

“We just found performing with pants was logistically, well I certainly put on a better show. 

“Now we're often seen to be wearing catsuits or we make our own costumes on occasion. But yeah, when you're touring, glittering up venues and hotels doesn't always go down really well. But that said, we do maintain a glittery component."

Glitoris tour from 16 Nov.