Babe Punch: Causing a rrriot
Hello, how are you today?
Molly: We're feeling great as we're doing a recording session currently.
Who does what in the band?
Molly - vocals, Abbie - bass guitar, Carys - lead guitar, Erica - rhythm guitar, and Astrid - drums.
How did you get together?
Abbie: Molly, Carys and I have been close school friends for a long time and have always been really interested in music.
Molly: Me and Carys had been playing and singing together for a while so when Abbie said she wanted to start a band I thought of Carys straight away for a guitarist. Luckily, Abbie knew Astrid who said she'd drum for us.
Astrid: Carys couldn't make practice one day so my sister Erica filled in and then became part of Babe Punch.
How would you describe your music?
Carys: We would describe ourselves as alternative rock with a few grunge and punk influences.
Erica: A lot of people have described us as punk, but we're not 100 percent sure on that label yet.
What can we expect when we go and see you play live?
Astrid: Lots of energy and feel good music. Fab music to dance to with a crowd full of wicked people.
What has been your favourite gig to play so far?
Abbie: By far the Vic Inn in Derby.
Erica: That was our first headline gig with a super turnout. We are all big fans of the venue, definitely would recommend it.
When did you play your first gig and what was it like?
Molly: We played our first got in September last year at the Nottingham Contemporary Art Gallery. It was a bit nerve racking as one of us was nearly sick and quite ill.
Carys: But we still had loads of support from our friends luckily, which made it better. It was a good gig at the time, but looking back on it...not so much!
As a new band how have you gone about trying to get gigs and getting your name out there?
Astrid: We've found it surprisingly easy - The Maze's 'Notts in a Nutshell' was a gateway to being offered the gigs that we take up now.
Erica: Also the Nottingham music scene is very supportive of new bands and has a lot of opportunities.
What do you hope to achieve with your band?
Astrid: We want to use this to have lots of fun, meet wicked people and make great music that stands out.
There are a couple of live recordings up on your Soundcloud - do you have plans to record in a studio and release some music?
Abbie: Yeah, we're recording this weekend. So we will have a single available 6 March and new recordings on SoundCloud. So excited to put it online and on the CDs.
How do you find time to fit in time for writing, gigs and rehearsing around school?
Carys: We're all very passionate so we use the majority of our spare time we have away from school, revision etc to work with Babe Punch.
Abbie: It's a lot of fun and we're all really close friends so we don't mind at all.
What other local music would you recommend we check out?
Molly: Same Streets are doing pretty well at the moment, so I'd definitely recommend them.
Astrid: Phoebe Ball is a close friend of ours and her music is very unique.
Abbie: Fleets, The Tangents, and Flatskins who are a band from Sheffield, not as local but still so good.
What can we expect from your band in the future?
Carys: We're holding back our gigs for a while until after exams.
Erica: But in the summer we'll be back for tonnes of gigs.
What do you like to do when you are not playing in the band and making music?
Abbie: We all love watching other bands live at gigs and listening to new music.
Carys: Some of us also have a strong interest in art and drama as well.
Any final words for the LeftLion readers?
Molly: Hopefully we'll see some Leftlion readers at our next few gigs.
Babe Punch, Police Drama and Monotony play at JT Soar on Friday 6 March 2015.
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
