Lou Barnell from Royal Gala takes us through some of the female musical talent in Nottingham...
The last time I did anything with LeftLion, it involved suspect Viagra pills, several bottles of red… and ‘cranking’. Now I’m writing an article about women (queue band mates giggling into their pints… I can spell my own name!)
My tiny female brain is thinking. A dangerous past time for a woman I know (I don’t usually go beyond fluffy kittens). What do women actually do, I hear you cry, beyond sprouting babies and buying shoes?
Changing the world, playing politics and the Nottingham music scene, I reckon. I’ve had four staggering years as a front woman in Royal Gala, playing everything from Barges in Battersea, Asylums in Dublin and erm… posh cinemas in Hockley. I had never imagined it would involve wearing so much effing Lycra though. I started as a shy ex-student. I realised as the gigs got bigger and songs like Kochanie got written, that I had started to reflect the theatrics. By dressing as a swan, or a pond, or a leopard (or just by getting my arse out) I acted out the music.
Reason is, I’m a clumsy eejit. I fall over daily, I have no rhythm (the band hide tambourines from me). If you cock it up in front of hundreds or thousands of people, it’s got to look funny or intentional. So I practice under the maxim of my Mum’s advice: "Always laugh at yourself, then you have control. Except when you’re really injured."
This has meant that I have face-planted, arse-dived, and fallen off a lot of stages. Did I mean to do it? Sometimes... Was I pissed? Sometimes (a lot of people ask if I’m drunk - the red wine is a prop).
Being a woman on stage has huge highs and its complement of lows. I often forget I am one. I got changed in front of 600 people at Headstock because I was late and I honestly forgot I had tits.
On the high side, Royal Gala are a band you can get loose to. Everyone has license to go mental. My connection with other women is very close to me. I love women. Once you get women dancing, the whole room follows. I love the boob flashing, the abandon, the kisses, the shimmying arses. Maybe that’s why we have a wicked slice of Nottingham’s gay scene coming to gigs. I have recently had some beautiful female musicians message me and ask for tips or youtube me before they go on stage to get ideas. It is the biggest bloody compliment (queue more piss-taking from bandmates).
On the low side, this sense of liberation perhaps means it’s always open season. People sometimes feel they can say and do whatever the hell they want to me. As one really drunk Spanish woman announced when she invaded the stage and grabbed my mic a couple of years ago; ‘Who is this B**ch in a Leotard!?’
I get grabbed up a lot. When it’s a guy groping you, a swift punch in the chops and a nod to security works well. Somehow when it’s a woman grabbing me I’m more passive. I get worried it’ll end in a full blown fight, because, as I learnt in the playground, girls hit you back. It has never ended my love affair with being a ‘bird’ though.
As a Londoner, I’m in awe of the sense of friendship and support between female performers in Nottingham. Seldom is heard a discouraging word. You can go for a coffee with someone who inspires you. I bumped into Natalie Duncan in a coffee shop last week. A soulstress of huge repute with a voice like caramel on toast, destined for hugeness. Likewise; a nice pint with Emily Marten - a feathery light songstrel with brilliantly observant wit and a vocalist for the retro trip hop ‘We are Avengers’, Nina Smith, another huge talent - her pared down acoustic style, sweet, yet strong gets me every time *sniffle* are ones to watch. Eyes peeled please Ladles and Jellyspoons!
It’s difficult to get everyone in to one little article. They’re all so bloody good. There’s Alexa Hawksworth’s unique branch of sea shanty blues and folk, Kym Bignell, of band ‘Delta Sun’, with a voice like the sea on the shore, (I hope you’re taking notes?) Harleighblu - literally a sexier female version of D’angelo’s New York soul, Emily Suffolk of ‘Rugged Soundsystem’ (quantic soul-slick, rock-steady dub ) phew. Don’t Forget Cecille Grey - If Regina Spektor was a cuter Pixie with an English accent and vocals were crack… that’s her. Oh, and ‘The Smears’ bloody love their NYC ‘Lunachicks’/’Le Tigre’ style with UK punk politics.
The deadlier half of the species is also electronic. I love Ronika’s schizo-belle pop-package of influences ranging from Zappa to early Madonna. With a new album launched last month she WILL rule the universe. ‘Stiff Kittens’, Nott’s finest DJ’s have me dancing like a nutty puppet on acid with quality ‘beats, bleeps and messiness’.
There are several more women who I reckon are the pulse of the Nottingham scene. They keep it ticking and bubbling with affordable exciting ways to see new music and get spannered. Jody Rothera is a management tour de force - tearing the way for class indie pop, folk and epic Jazz acts such as ‘Captain Dangerous’, ‘Maniere Des Bohemeniens’, and Will Jeffery. Then there’s Hannah Larnham, our lushest alternative promoter who brought us the Waterfront Festival. With ‘Audacious Face’ promotions, watch out for Kerblammo in December with a host of national and local headline acts and Perdition, a new metal rock club night launching in February at the Maze.
A fave of mine is Parisa Eliyon (she is well fit) a world music singer, MC and promoter with a political edge, she’s run the hugely successful Accoustickle at the Maze for 3 years and there’s some big dub nasty nights in the pipeline… watch out for future vocal collaborations with N3ON from PNG.
Talking of multi-tasking, (yes, women are better at it - I can cry, eat, ride my unicycle, masturbate, and sleep all at the same time, kids). Nat (The Smears) organised ‘Lady Fest’. A frankly, brilliant festival for women and family charities in Nottingham. It boastsed dozens of tasty female acts across venues in Nottingham last month.
A final shout out to the brilliant women I know who give us the music rather than the vocals; Vicky Twist (bass) ‘Venom and the Terrortones’, Amy Helliwell (trumpet) ‘Hhymn’, ‘The Undercats’, and ‘Royal Gala’, Ruth Anderson (sax) ‘Royal Gala’, Ruth Ohm (trumpet) ‘25 Past The Skank’ and Regan (congos) ‘25 past the Skank’ and ‘Royal Gala’.
Sorry if I forgot anyone. Love you.
And, yes I am proud to call many of these women friends.
Catch Royal Gala headlining Sounddhism at the Bodega on Wednesday 28 December.
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