🔗 Share this article

When asked about the most punk thing she's ever accomplished, Cathy Loughead answers without pause: “I performed with my neck injured in two locations. I couldn't jump around, so I embellished the brace instead. That was an amazing performance.”

Loughead belongs to a growing wave of women redefining punk music. As a recent television drama highlighting female punk airs this Sunday, it mirrors a scene already blossoming well beyond the screen.

The Spark in Leicester

This momentum is most palpable in Leicester, where a 2022 project – currently known as the Riotous Collective – sparked the movement. Cathy participated from the start.

“When we started, there were no all-women garage punk bands here. By the following year, there seven emerged. Today there are twenty – and counting,” she remarked. “Riotous chapters exist around the United Kingdom and worldwide, from Finland to Australia, recording, playing shows, taking part in festivals.”

This explosion doesn't stop at Leicester. Around the United Kingdom, women are taking back punk – and transforming the landscape of live music simultaneously.

Breathing Life into Venues

“Various performance spaces across the UK doing well because of women punk bands,” she added. “So are rehearsal studios, music instruction and mentoring, studio environments. The reason is women are in all these roles now.”

They're also changing the audience composition. “Female-fronted groups are playing every week. They're bringing in more diverse audiences – attendees who consider these spaces as secure, as intended for them,” she remarked.

An Uprising-Inspired Wave

Carol Reid, involved in music education, stated the growth was expected. “Women have been sold a ideal of fairness. But gender-based violence is at alarming rates, radical factions are using women to peddle hate, and we're manipulated over topics such as menopause. Ladies are resisting – through music.”

A music venue advocate, from the Music Venue Trust, notes the phenomenon altering local music scenes. “We're seeing more diverse punk scenes and they're feeding into regional music systems, with independent spaces programming varied acts and building safer, friendlier places.”

Entering the Mainstream

Soon, Leicester will stage the debut Riot Fest, a multi-day celebration including 25 all-women bands from the UK and Europe. In September, a London festival in London celebrated ethnic minority punk musicians.

And the scene is entering popular culture. The Nova Twins are on their maiden headline tour. A fresh act's initial release, Who Let the Dogs Out, charted at sixteenth place in the UK charts recently.

One group were shortlisted for the an upcoming music award. Another act earned a local honor in 2024. Recent artists Wench performed at a notable festival at Reading Festival.

It's a movement originating from defiance. Across a field still plagued by gender discrimination – where women-led groups remain underrepresented and live venues are closing at crisis levels – women-led punk groups are forging a new path: opportunity.

Timeless Punk

Now 79 years old, one participant is evidence that punk has no age limit. Based in Oxford percussionist in her band started playing just a year ago.

“Now I'm old, all constraints are gone and I can do what I like,” she declared. One of her recent songs contains the lines: “So yell, ‘Who cares’/ This is my moment!/ The stage is mine!/ I am seventy-nine / And at my absolute best.”

“I adore this wave of elder punk ladies,” she remarked. “I couldn't resist during my early years, so I'm doing it now. It's wonderful.”

Another musician from the band also noted she couldn't to rebel as a teenager. “It's been really major to finally express myself at this point in life.”

Another artist, who has performed worldwide with various bands, also considers it a release. “It's about exorcising frustration: feeling unseen as a parent, at an advanced age.”

The Power of Release

Comparable emotions motivated Dina Gajjar to form Burnt Sugar. “Performing live is an outlet you didn't know you needed. Women are trained to be obedient. Punk isn't. It's raucous, it's raw. It means, when bad things happen, I think: ‘I'll write a song about that!’”

But Abi Masih, a percussionist, said the punk woman is all women: “We are typical, working, talented females who love breaking molds,” she explained.

Maura Bite, of her group She-Bite, shared the sentiment. “Ladies pioneered punk. We needed to break barriers to get noticed. This persists today! That fierceness is within us – it feels ancient, elemental. We are incredible!” she declared.

Challenging Expectations

Not every band conform to expectations. Band members, part of The Misfit Sisters, try to keep things unexpected.

“We don't shout about the menopause or swear much,” commented one. Her partner added: “However, we feature a brief explosive section in all our music.” Ames laughed: “Correct. Yet, we aim for diversity. Our most recent song was about how uncomfortable bras are.”