Women have much prominence as singers in many popular music styles. However, groups of professional women instrumentalists are uncommon in popular music, particularly in genres such as punk, rock, and blues. As the world of modern rock music remains a predominantly male space, many all-female acts remain under the radar, offering their raw talent and feminine energy solely to the underground scene. Here are five modern all-female bands you’ve probably never heard of.
5. The Coathangers
This Atlanta-based garage punk three-piece isn’t afraid to merge the playful with the political, as they deliver punchy, driving anthems that straddle the lines of irreverence and anger, perfectly graced with a little southern charm. Since starting in 2006, the group’s music has evolved from a raw mixture of untrained yelps, accidental riffs and amateurish command of instruments to a less wiry, thicker-chorded punk sound drenched in frenetic energy and unapologetically feminist independence. With this, the band has been able to remain relevant in the alternative rock scene, as their unpretentious and deliciously infectious rowdy house-show vibe greatly accompanies their devil-may-care attitude to the current socio-political climate.
Essential song: Watch Your Back – video
4. Skating Polly
If there’s a band that deserves to be properly compared to the feminist grunge acts of yesteryear, it’s this multi-instrumentalist teenage Oklahoma stepsister twosome. The group’s snarling, furious cyclone of punk rock skewing to alternative pop sensibilities embodies the forefronts of the Riot Grrrl movement, like Babes in Toyland and L7. This characteristic allows them to address the chaotic angst, confusion, and drama that follows contemporary teenage life when it’s accompanied by the struggles of a patriarchal and misogynistic society. Kelli Mayo’s intensely poetic hollering vocals and Peyton Bighorse’s distorted instrumentals compliment the reclamation of stereotypes and the evident self-confidence that was used as a powerful tool of feminist empowerment in early 90’s alternative female radio rock. Taking the reins of teenage punk with an eclectic array of grunge tendencies with childlike yet mature prowess, these siblings are pushing the limits of female rock with a vengeance.
Essential Song: Queen for a Day – video
3. Haim
With a Fleetwood Mac-inspired soft rock that balances both 80’s synth and 90’s R&B plus an analysis of paradoxical feelings of loneliness, this Californian trio’s music exuberates honeyed melodies, synthesized pulses and vintage pop perfection that can alleviate those in need of retro vibes. Consisting of sisters Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim, this pop rock band from Los Angeles specializes in up-tempo and syncopated new wave riffs, channeling elements of contemporary compressed pop economics, cool-handed spaciousness, and wound-coil precision that work as a well-worn vector for themes such as relationships, heartbreak, and independence. The striking mixture of danceable boppy pop and introspective rock in the band’s sound exhibits a certain transformative power that the indie scene has been missing, as they use what worked in the classics to their actual advantage instead of solely focusing on the power of the past. Through this direction, the group has cracked the formula for feel-good vintage nostalgia, calibrating their old-school influences in a modern but always reverential fashion.
Essential song: The Wire – video
2. First Aid Kit
With Klara Söderberg’s hypnotic vocals and guitar accompanying her sister Johanna’s potently melancholic melodies with her singing and bass guitar, this Swedish folk duo’s music is as beautiful as it is haunting. Since 2007, these siblings have offered the public a variety of lush back-to-basics style of Americana-inspired harmonies reminiscent of the genre’s darker origins, employing the noir moodiness of Gram Parsons, the grittiness of Johnny Cash, and the spellbinding lilt of Emmylou Harris in their modern sound. Their songs usually employ a bruised yet tough essence, as the band often exhibits a sharp, unsentimental eye for disintegrating relationships while using the buoyancy of acoustic roots-oriented rock to counterweight the loneliness inherent to the theme. With the balm of unity on their hands, the group is able to charm an audience with an emotionally impacting bitter sweetness while lending an implicit feminist strength hidden beneath vintage country pop dynamics.
Essential song: My Silver Lining – video
1. Deap Vally
This fiery LA duo has brought an unapologetically rebellious attitude to femininity and sexuality into the world of garage rock ever since they first blew up in the California alternative blues scene in 2011. Guitarist Lindsey Troy’s inclination to fuzzy riffs as a result of chronic pedal lust and drummer Julie Edward’s filthily infectious caveman beats commonly draw comparisons to Jack White and Led Zeppelin. Despite this, the group stands out from their male predecessors with raw grandeur because of the way they pay tribute to the distorted heaviness at the core of rock, punk, and grunge, while still managing to grow and break free of previous sonic confines with their explorations of themes involving love, sex, and pure self-assurance. The twosome’s liberation anthems are doused in slick solos, messy rhythms and low-fi vocals oozing thrashy swagger, all wrapped up in a blues-punk brutalism that adds an extra kick to an already high-octane sound. As such, the band offers a gritty and wild ferocity to fuel an unplugged and unfiltered feminine empowerment under the sweet submission of classic rock and roll.
Essential song: Baby I Can Hell – video
In this day and age, women are proving more than ever that they can stand alongside men in any aspect, including in the music industry. As the noticeable surge of talented women in previously male-dominated sub-genres of modern rock takes the world by storm, female bands are putting their own unique spin on the music scene, unapologetically belting out their voices against those who think otherwise.