Wakestock

I’ve spent the last few days at Wakestock in Pwllheli sunning myself on the beach in the morning and listening to music in the evenings which was rather nice. There were a few problems with camping at the site but on the whole I’d recommend Wakestock to anyone who is fed up with the big festivals (although don’t camp on site - it’s expensive and your stuff will get wrecked and stolen!)

However I have to say that this was one more in a long line of cultural events totally dominated by men. The only female musician I saw all weekend was the fabulous Abi Harding, saxophonist with The Zutons. A couple of times we were tempted into tents by female voices only to discover it was a band of prepubescent male rockers! I do find this frustrating. I love my music and get fed up by the amount of effort it takes to discover female bands and musicians. However if the marketing moguls and publicists don’t think that women sell unless it’s pop then I guess I am going to have to keep on making this effort.

I’ve noticed this trend in a lot of the blogs that I read – a desire to consume female produced cultural products alongside genuine frustration that they aren’t more easily obtainable. It is frustrating. We make up pretty much 50% of the market but are so frequently sidelined. I was a little too young and naïve to be aware of the riot grrl movement when it was at its peak – old enough to like Hole and Verruca Salt I was definitely not aware of anything less mainstream. I love the influence it has had on some of the bands that I listen to now and really wish I had experienced it.

The female bands/musicians that I listen to are pretty disparate - my latest splurge on HMV dot com included Lily Allen (obvious but fantastic nevertheless), Robots in Disguise (I was persuaded to try them by a friend of a friend of a friend – jury still out), and Metallic Falcons (yet to arrive but destined to be fabulous). Where is the sense of community? I feel that if I choose to listen to female bands then I become socially isolated with no focal point, and this is such a shame because one of the greatest things about music is its capacity to unite. However whenever I attend a gig or a festival I feel isolated in a different way. Gigs aren’t female friendly. I love being in a pit as much as the next person but not if it means having unwelcome fingers in my pants or people desperately grabbing my tits. Some of the lyrics my favourite musicians write are pretty vile and I end up having to choose - is this music good enough to excuse the words? It seems that there isn’t any way to conclude this post, I’m eternally frustrated by the one thing I love most in the world and I don’t see the situation changing any time soon.