Introducing: We Rock Like Girls Don't

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We Rock Like Girls Don’t. All the clues are in the name. Like the bitch love-child of Elastic and QOTSA, their blistering riffs, punkish noise and brainless lyrics (“I just want to stick my head in the bass drum”), the World is their oyster… Before they track me down and beat me up, I got them to tell us a bit more about the band and their influences… And, if you’re lucky enough to live in Cambridge, you can catch them as part of the Ciarafest which happens on Sat 6th December.

For people out there that have never heard of you. Give us three reasons why they should…
Three reasons why people should hear of We Rock Like Girls Don’t are the contagious energy of the band live, the raw power of the recordings and the riff-driven pop gems that get our spines tingling.

Can you recall the moment when you first decided you wanted to become a musician?
I never decided to become a musician – music claimed me. There was no choice, no contest. It was a language I felt I had always understood. I remember hearing Twist and Shout by The Beatles on Radio Clyde and was thrilled by the relentless guitar riff and screaming. I represented something dangerous they weren’t telling me about at school or church.

Where do your songs come from? What’s your inspiration?
The songs come from me sitting down with a guitar, singing the first thing that comes into my head along to the beat. The inspiration is from feelings of happiness, excitement, frustration, anger which just come out in this way. It’s something I’ve been doing since I was thirteen. If something interests me and is real to me then I’ll work on it a bit more until I have a riff, a couple of verses and a chorus. I then play it to Vas the drummer who tells me what she thinks and usually plays something unexpected on drums. We work on the final song structure together in rehearsals and four track it in her attic prior to going into a studio.

Name your Top 5 records.
Connection – Elastica
O Stella – PJ Harvey
Into The White – Pixies
QOTSA – No oneKnow
Bob Dylan – like a rolling stone

What was the first gig you ever played and was it a success?
A gig in Glasgow at the Queen Margaret Union, someone told me he believed me and it was like The Dead Kennedys, we were all wearing black leather jackets and a bit drunk but I definitely wanted to do it again.

What one piece of criticism has stuck in your mind and was it justified?
An A&R man from EMI said I don’t smile, he was right. My dad said people like me don’t form bands, he was wrong!

What one thing has caused you to waste your free time in the past 6 months?
Time better spent on music was wasted earning money to pay for our album.

If you weren’t making music, what do you think you’d be doing?
Dying a little bit more each day

What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
Ushering at The Theatre Royal in Glasgow where I had to wear a full length long brown skirt and frilly blouse (with DM boots underneath) and serve arrogant, wealthy, impatient audience members ice creams. After looking quite normal at my interview, I shaved my hair off and turned up as the new me.

We’d like you to make us a mix-tape. Pick five tracks with a theme of your choice.
On tour late night van songs – PJ Harvey – This Is Love, Britney Spears – Toxic, Sinead O’ Connor – Nothing Compares To You, Kate Bush – Sat On Your Lap, Elastica – Annie.

We Rock Like Girls Don’t on Myspace