Venus Grrrls - Goth Girl
Venus Grrrls are an all girl rock band from Leeds with an objective of promoting the participation, acknowledgement and respect of women in the music industry.
With singer/guitarist Grace’GK’ Kelly fronting the band, she is joined by Jess Ayers (guitar), Hannah Barraclough (bass), Grace Stubbings (synth) and Gabby Cooke (drums).
After the release of their fabulous debut EP Wicked Things last year Venus Grrrls have kick started 2021 with their new single Goth Girl which came out on Friday 22 January.
When asked about the story behind the track lead singer GK said:
Goth Girl is most definitely a story, there is a running order to it. It begins painting a picture of two friends hanging out, who eventually realise their struggles for their choice of clothes and makeup. It's no surprise to those that know us that it was Rebel Girl by Bikini Kill that glued all of VENUS GRRRLS together when we first met. My favourite thing about that song was the upmost appreciation it had for women, the idea of empowering each other and holding each other up high. I was thinking about this when writing the lyrics to Goth Girl, I wanted there to be this figure in it that I could bond with. The idea of borrowing each other's shoes and listening to music together felt comforting, but I quickly began to think about the strange and unique stereotypes people associate with alt/goth people. There are still struggles and strange interpretations of counter-culture, e.g. Witches/Goths 'hexing' people, but currently Goth has come more into fashion than it used to be, which is fine. Albeit, I imagine it to be difficult for those who were treated unfairly in the past to accept this, just because something was less socially acceptable at the time. The rest of the song went from there, considering all of these different ideas and feelings. It just got us thinking about how fickle society is, and how it's always ready to point the finger at something new. Goth Girl clings to all of these notions, and most definitely is an ode to our younger selves.
Goth Girl is a blast of in your face rock’n’roll tinged with some glitzy punk attitude. The rhythm of the track set by the bass and drums of Hannah and Gabby is the perfect framework for their most accomplished track to date.
Jess’s guitar as usual is sharp and on point but it’s the first track that showcases all the groups talents as Grace shines on the synth.
As always GK brings a powerful rock vocal, confident and enough angst to give it their trademark punky girl power edge.
The lyrics are a tongue in cheek look at how much of society views Goth culture and this is perfectly illustrated by the verse “light as a feather, stiff as a board I’m casting the spells on those who shunned us and more, tell us again, what happened where why and when, on billboards towards, the ones who damned us before”.
With each release Venus Grrrls get bigger and better and Goth Girl really justifies why I have tipped them as one of the bands to watch in 2021 it is a fantastic blast of punky rock’n’roll.
Give Goth Girl a stream below:
Venus Grrrls can be followed on:
https://www.facebook.com/VENUSGRRRLS/
