WENCH

My name is Hebe and I play bass in Wench.

My name is Sev and I play guitar in Wench and I also sing.

I'm Kit, I play drums for Wench and I also sing and shout a lot. Wench for me is, we don't really stick to a genre s o we wouldn't call ourselves punk or this or that or grunge or whatever.

Wench is more like an embodiment, it's more like a genre, we are a genre. It's formed of rebellion and anger and it's taking all of our experience with our music. Angry female music is how I describe it. There's a lot of feminine rage and just angst. It's very angsty music. It's not to say that all of our music is completely screaming. A lot of it is yes. But there is some, there's elements of folk, there's elements of like, I don't know, all sorts.

First me and Kit met at college. I came to one of your gigs I remember. I'm in another band called Avis where I'm like, "Shameless Plump." Kit came to that gig and I was like, "Yo, you're in my music class." And they were like, "Yeah." And then we just saw, we made a band. But it's crazy because I was manifesting a feminine rage type of band for many months before. I'd been going around the college going, "Hello, do you play instruments?"

I had no friends. I started the college like a month later or something. And I was just going around to anyone who looked kind of interesting. Who just, you know, sort of just looked a bit musical even they just had headphones on. Excuse me, do you play music? Do you like music? Can you listen? Do you listen to music? Do you have ears? I was just asking a lot of people and then I remember seeing seven of my music class. I was too scared to go to like in class and so I was like, "Let me just go to a gig." That's less creepy.

So I go to the gig and I was like, "I think I'm in your music class." "Do you want to be in a band?" And she was like, "Yeah, go on then." And then, "How did you know I do Hebe?" You sent me a message saying, "Do you want to join a band called?" Oh yeah, I found heebie. I found you. I think you came up to me once. Yeah, yeah, I thought you were like the coolest person in the world. And I was like, "I really like that." You had like a rocky hurricane on your back and I was like, "I like the rocky hurricane." So we got talking about music and stuff and then I got a message being, "Do you want to start a band with me in a circle?"

Scouting people. Yeah, pretty much that's like that. Long story short, we had to pick a cover for like a school thing so we ended up doing some of the Pilani graphics. We realised by doing that that's not what we wanted to do. And then I think we just, we were like, "We don't really want to do covers." Usually bands start off with covers but no. I remember I gave you some lyrics and I was like, "Right, we're going to make this song out of this." And then I played some chords and we just sort of started a song with that and then you put the guitar in. And we all sort of like had our own, like when we write songs it's not just like one person, we all sort of have a part playing it. It was really nice, like one person or another, it's another person or another chorus and someone else will put it to music and do you know what I mean? Like it's just something. And I think the way we write songs, I've been in like a couple bands before and it's always just like one person writes it, delivers it to everyone else and says, "This is what we're doing. If you don't like it then there's just a bit of like tension and it's a bit weird." But like, I think with us, we all just kind of piece it together while we're in the studio.

Sometimes we'll just write the lyrics while we're there. And it feels nice that way because it's really neat to us. I think we formed in October. October 2020. Spooky seasons. We played the Adelphi, we played Werny, we played Dive, Polar Bear, some really really good venues. We played with a pub called Paulgate Tavern and it was very funny that the bankers weren't playing in a tavern. It was well received though. And that was really fun. I loved doing like really random gigs. Yeah, the atmosphere was just so fun. It was so relaxed and chilled out. Yeah, it's great.

We are in the process of recording a single with the Warren which is going to come out at some point in the near future. And speaking of the Warren, we love you Warren. We love you Warren. We've also received PRSF funding which means we will be recording three songs minimum in the next up to March. Yeah. And so that's very exciting. So there will be music soon. There will be. When there's music you will know by there's no escape. There is no escape from the wrath of Wench. You will feel the wrath. Not like bat signals but like Wench signals. There'll be carrier pigeons flying about dropping spot firecoats to people. There'll be planes. There'll be planes on the side. Yeah, you'll know if you can't. There'll be a little crash. Definitely.

So plans for the band? I mean I want to go to like London, Manchester, make it. Faster than three. Yeah, you laugh but. Next year, next year. But yeah definitely in our ambition we really want to do festivals. We really want to get like out there in other cities and stuff like that. I think it'll be great to go. This is very, I'm dreaming big here. It would be so cool to go to like Tokyo or something. Oh would it? Or just like the whole like Japanese culture and everything. I feel like Wench. It would be great. It would be so awesome. I know America. I want to travel the world with Wentch. That's the dream. In the next, within the next five years I want to get. I want to get to a different continent. Yes. Within the next five years. Yeah, that would be very cool. That's doable. Every continent in the next five years.

Obviously just want to like keep releasing. We won't, like we've probably said something yet, but to keep releasing music and creating art and creating a community is the main thing. That's probably like the main thing I love about Wench is like the community that I think we've created. So it just feels so safe. Yeah. I think it's because we're all like non-male and we're all like a little bit queer in both senses of the word. I think that sort of makes the environment just feel safer and just more relaxed and more free I think. And so I hope to keep building that, spreading the Wentch around. Well done. Well done Wench. Yeah, we're 12 and 5. I've had this thing I'm really grateful for. We've got such like a huge like community of fans. Little Wenchers. It's just amazing. We've just got to do what's right for the band, definitely. If a record label was to come to us and they were the right record label, that would be amazing. We don't want to really say yes to anything because I feel like as an old female band I feel like it could be fairly easy for us to get exploited and could be fairly easy for us to get used as a diversity sort of, just to fill a diversity quota or just to sort of like bring the age down. But just really or just as the image. But I think if we found, if the right label reached out to us, I think we definitely would consider it 100%. I don't think we're in any rush to, we've got to get signed. We've got to get signed. Like if the right opportunity comes along great, but we've just got to put our band on. We are, we slightly skint though. We do need, if we're going to go to Tokyo, we do need some... We need at least 10 more quid. 10 shillings perhaps. A couple of shillings.

My inspirations are really boring. You can't, though. Well, I'd say my main inspirations are, I don't have a very punk/riot-bill background in what I listen to. I mainly listen to folk or indie. I got very into Radiohead for a while and I inspired quite a lot more lyrics and stuff for quite a bit. I think you can tell through that. The Smiths as well. Yeah, I think it's quite reflective in a lot of the song-sav-sings that she's inspired by the Smiths. And that's not supposed to be a dig. It's not supposed to be a dig. I think like lyrically, I think you can tell. What about you, Nibbu? I'm really inspired by people like Jen Jett and bands like the Keely Kill. Hunk bands, right? Girl bands in the sense. But also music that's just fueled by rebellion and anger and things like that. Musicians that have taken their anger and put it into music. I think that's absolutely incredible.

Musicly. I'm really inspired by people like Jimi Hendrix that, like, I don't know how to play bass, but that sort of direction that I'm really trying to find. And you can really tell. Yeah, you definitely can tell. You've got a very, like, blues focused background. Yeah, I think my background before went, which was in the blues. And that's where a lot of my bass singers come from. I think, right, this might sound a bit weird, but it's not weird. My main, one of my biggest inspirations is Jack Black, right? And no, he's not a Riot Girl punk or anything like that. He could be. Get him some fishnets. He could be. He could be a cypher. He might be a cypher, so I ask, "He's beautiful." I think, I just love anyone who's got a bit of energy. I just love that. I love David Byrne. I love Jack Black. I love so many people. I fell in love. But in terms of, like, drummers, I love Stuart Copeland, Dave Grohl. I love singers. Like, I've got a very, very broad music taste. Anyone that knows me knows me. I've got a very, very bipolar music taste. But I think, I love people like, I just love, I love the Pixies. I love all '90s surfer rock kind of bands. Like, I look Sonic Youth. Obviously Bikini Kill. Obviously, like, La Tigra. I just love everyone, guys. I'm full of love. I just love music. I love music. I love it.

Well, I think the Warren is just amazing for young people. Like, honestly, it's given us such a, like, boost up into the, like, the musical world. Because in whole, it's kind of a bit difficult to get into the music scene all the time. Particularly if you're a bit young and inexperienced. So even with my first band, they got us gigs. And then that was like, the doors had opened for me. And I was like, there's a whole world there. And then we started playing through the college route. And then the Warren sort of was like, okay, you're part of the Warren now. And we were like, just kidding. Yeah, they just adopted us. They just took us under the wing. I think I got a message on Instagram just saying, would you be, do you want a headline on Warren Records gig? And this was like a third gig or fourth gig or something. I think it was our third ever gig. And it was full. It was jam packed. Obviously, like, Warren gigs are free. And it's like, so, and young people who can't be afforded in like, tickets, tickets more than a five or really. Even more than three quid is a bit steep for someone like who's our age and who doesn't have a job, which is a lot, a lot of people. The Warren, especially with every, it's a charity. And it just, it's just ace. Like, I can't, I felt like we'd won the lottery. We were like, the tickets are free. It's completely, completely full jam packed. It was just, it was just, that gig has felt so grateful for the Warren for my age, for our fans everything. It was like, it was such, that gig was just so full of love. It was just amazing. Yeah, and we've, we've been so lucky with the Warren, because obviously we're still like a relatively new band, right? But we've been lucky enough to receive the funding from the PRSF Foundation, which means that we're going to have a little bit of extra support as well on top of the immense amount of support they already give us. And all the programs that they run for young people, they do, like the DJ sessions, they do, like all the, like, art stuff they do, all the things they do with queer youth as well. It's just so like, it's just so important. And I was actually recently approached in, I was sat in East Park just learning about, and I got approached by a guy who was like doing a survey about what's important, what do you think is important in whole, and what do you think needs more care. And I was like, art and music need more care. And he said to me, what's, what is one thing about the music scene in whole that you love? And I said, the Warren, and it's just without the Warren, there wouldn't be a music scene. Yeah. Genuinely, at least for people our age, like. I'm so grateful. We're so grateful.

But also like, there's so many like teenagers our age is so grateful for Warren records, for a new project, it's all about it. Like, we are so grateful. Like, music is, it sounds cliche, but music is like, music heals people and it brings people together. And when it's free, and when people can just come on out like after college, they're not happy and they're hormone, and they're just angsty and they just want to go out. You can come to a free wench gig. It's just great for mental health and everything. It's just music heals. And the Warrens do an incredible job. Like, we couldn't be here today, if it wasn't for them. And so many other bands couldn't be here. Like, they do so much good work. And everyone who works there, they're just so cool. They're the young police with the loveliest people I've ever met. Like, I've never felt more complied with it. Like, they are so amazing. It's like a really like trustworthy community in the music scene. Like, if we ever have like, someone were like, hmm, we're not sure about this. Is this the right direction to go? And we've got like a whole bunch of people who'll help us out and help us. Don't speed time. They're the right decisions. Because, oh, it's just great. I love the Warren so much. Like, they've helped us out with music, but they're our support network as well. Like, they're just, they're upstanding jewels.

Favorite gigs. Okay. The thing is with me, I basically live at gigs. I'm one of those people. I swear I saw that, I swear I saw that gig last week. And you probably did, because I just kind of live around, live in the, at gigs. I think, man, this is really hard, because I've literally been to hundreds and hundreds of gigs, especially like locally. I really loved, I love bands like Fire the Unstoppable Force. They're a band from Hull. And I've seen them a couple times. Every time I see them, they're absolutely amazing. And I've also seen a band called Dirty Sound Magnet, who came to Hull. But that was absolutely insane. They really reminded me of a band called the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. And just like King Gizzard and stuff like that. Speaking of King Gizzard, also to mention every Bugface the Gig I've ever been to, I love. And they're another band with the Warren, who we all absolutely love. Every Bugface the Gig is great. And then, I can't know it down to single gigs in particular, which one's my favorite, but like, those bands are probably some of my favorites. And then in terms of gigs outside of Hull, I've been to Red Hot Chili Peppers. That was the biggest gig I've ever been to. And that was in, I went to see them in Lyon, in France. And that was absolutely mental. I think it was the group I'm a stadium we saw them in. And I think it was purely because of the fact that French crowds are so calm, that you can just slip right through. I got there like two minutes before it was supposed to start. And it was Iggy Pop and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And I got Barrier. And I had to step back because the visuals were that immense. And because they're just, the recent album that came out is really like, all the artworks really like, Psychedelicke and like, Swirlian. You know? And so all of the visuals were just absolutely amazing. And so that was probably, that was an experience. That wasn't just a gig. I felt like a changed woman. I was weeping. So it changed me, that gig. I loved it. What about you, Seville? What's your favourite gig you've been to? I don't go to many gigs. I'm terrible for it. Everyone went to a gig? Yeah.

What's your favourite gig that we've done? Probably the first one, Record Form we did. That was really fun. But I don't know, I just don't, I don't get out of the house much. I think, yeah. Bush bits scared me. My favourite gigs have been to In Hull. Obviously, by the Nstuffel Force, they are incredible. Bunk bass is incredible. Yeah, they were absolutely insane. Out of town, I go to a lot of festivals, things like Wormland and Towsie. And bands that aren't necessarily punk, but I just, I'm like, I saw Weather for Raymond at Towsie and I thought she was absolutely incredible. I was like completely in awe. And yeah, I just, something about being at a festival. I wish you remembered. You've been to see the users. Oh my God, yes. Wasn't that in Hull? That was in Hull. That was at the Polar Bear. The users, they were insane. They were incredible. Yeah. I was like, how should I, how should I, how should I get in this room? That was like monumental. That was, oh my God. I'm jealous. I'm so jealous. That was life changing. And that was, that was a year and one day after our first gig at the Polar Bear. Yeah. And I remember playing, being on that stage at the Polar Bear, I'm like, this time a year ago, I was watching the users. Yeah, it's absolutely crazy. So it's like, it was really, really sweet. Full circle moment. That was like my first time seeing a band that was like so openly themselves and so openly unique on stage. It was something really special about that gig. Because it was like, this is what I want to do with my life. I saw them and I was like, oh, that's awesome. Yeah, that's the thing. When I saw Red Hot Chili Peppers, I know for some people they're like, Marmite, but what I love so much about them is how there's not a lead. Yeah. And I think we're the same. Yeah. And let's think we're the same because we have friggin bass solos. Yeah. The bass is like a fairly lead instrument, which is quite unusual. We don't have a lead singer. Yeah. And I feel like we're all fairly even. We're all leads. Yeah, we're all leads. We're all the leaders in Wench. But I think that when I saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I was like, they're like, what? Why do I look? Because they're all just so mesmerizing. And everyone's doing some absolutely A's. Yeah, I saw that. And that's so inspiring to me. I saw one of the skirm in Manchester. And another thing I really value about that band is they don't have like, they're all like equals in that band. They're all great performers. Yeah, they're all incredible, but there's no like, all of them. Yeah, there's no like signature, this person. It's like, it's not one person leads a band, which is what I'm really like. I feel like we're all like one third of Wench. There's no lead. It's the same with that. Yeah. Well, I've got too many gigs, guys. I just live. I live at gigs. I live to Mosh.

I'm going to get that tattoo on my chest. I'm going to get that tattoo on my chest. I think it's about, what's kind of like interesting about Wench, humble brag. I think it's, we're all kind of random in our musical origins, in our musical backgrounds, and even just like, currently, like where we're at. I don't get to gigs, but I sort of like live in the Hull folk scene. Like I'm always like going to random folks. That's the thing, you're always at folk, like folk shows. Yeah. Yeah, so there's that like.

It's like before Wench, I was heavily inspired by like, blues music. So a lot of my music comes from blues. Like I'm brainwashed. But like the bands I was in before Wench, it's the same with you and like, cell bands and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah? Yeah, just love it a little. In terms of women's safety at gigs, this is a less, it's a less like the light hearted topic really. Yeah, because I genuinely feel like until some huge change is done, some law is faster. Women aren't going to be fully safe. It's just not going to happen. Especially because the music scene is so male dominated. And it's not even like, I was like, "Oh, it's poor women." Like, I think there's some at like 30% of jobs in the music industry go to women. And it's even less when it's women of colour. And then when it comes to safety at gigs, that's just reflected in that. It's like, I felt really, really unsafe. Yeah. at own gigs. Yeah. And I shouldn't have to feel unsafe when I'm going on stage, screaming my arse off and even pretending like that. Like, sometimes I feel like I have to pretend to be I'm scary. Yeah. And I don't want to be, I want to be approachable. You're always so conscious about being a certain way. And it's like, I just want to be myself. And I just want to be safe while I'm doing it. And I've had a traumatic experience that I did before when somebody did invade my personal space at a gig. I weren't going to detail about it, but it happened so much. And it goes so unnoticed. And if you don't report it, nothing gets done. But then it's so hard to report it. And I don't know, in terms of us making it a safe space for women, I think all we're able to do, which still doesn't feel to me like it's enough. I wish I could go out there and just like protect all the women. But it's like, by us singing the lyrics we sing. And by us being as strong as we are on stage and as angry as we are on stage. I think it might scare any of the perpetrators away. Or just, I don't think, I'd like to think that people who commit such horrible things wouldn't be coming to watch our band because it just would be very ironic and it just wouldn't make sense. They're watching like, oh maybe this is for me. Oh that's my plans. Those are my plans for later. Oh it's ruined now, what are we doing? I think as much as I want to just, I think we all want to just stop it, we want to make it 100% safe, it's absolutely impossible.

And it's like, all we can do is just scream about how angry we are and kick people out when we see it. And tell people to kick people out when they see it. Tell people that if they need help, ask for Angela at the bar. Tell people that they can talk to us, tell people they can message us if they've got problems or we'll try and sort it. If something's happened at a gig, they can talk to us, they can talk to me. And it's just, it's really tricky. Do you have anything, what do you think? I really hope that our lyrics can bring comfort to women out. I hope to empower people. That's what we want, we want. Not just women. Yeah, we want people to be empowered and their voices don't have to go, everything doesn't have to go second to the wrong, their voices can be heard. And we just, it's really, it's awful, it's such an awful thing. But we want anyone out there who's been made to feel uncomfortable at each time. We are, those are the anger I say, space. But if it gets to it, I will strike. If I do catch anything, I'm not the type to just leave it. None of us are. I think another good thing about like, Wench, or like what we're trying to do is, we're trying to say, women belong in the music scene as much as men do.

And like, if you're a woman and you play an instrument and you want to be in a band and you do it, you belong on stage, you belong in the scene as much as men do. How many times have you been told, oh by the way, this goes there? Oh my god, oh my god. Mansplainers at gigs! I asked to borrow this guy's amp, and he told me how to turn the volume up. I've been playing guitar for nearly half a decade. I think, I think obviously people don't mean, don't mean bad by it. But I think sort of as well, if we label ourselves as a riot girl band, it's sort of like, it puts an image into people's head. Oh, those are girls, by the way, they're girls. Like it's sort of, some people I think it puts to them the gender before the actual music. And the way we look as well, we have an image. And I think people sometimes just, they're not there for the music, they're just there for, oh the girls. They're girls and they've got instruments. Oh, and they're pretty and they're on stage and, oh, ooh. But I think like, even just interacting with people at gigs sometimes, like even other musicians and things, it's sort of like, they're like, treat us differently because we're women. And even if it's not in a negative, directly negative way, it's sort of, even in the way we get spoken to, it might be that we're young guys, it might be that we're female, but the way we get spoken to is undeniably and noticeably different. Yeah, there's too many, because we are young women, there's so many, like, man-spanning people, like subconsciously treat us differently. Hi, girl, it's like, oh, are you going to be alright, like, doing this and you know. You can mark it off of it. I'm not going to deny it. By labelling ourselves as a right girl, we are somewhat marketing off of our gender. But it's not where you can do the picture, I think it's what picture I can do for you. No.

I think Hull definitely has its creative opportunities. There's things like Freedom Fest, Humber Street, like Street Stash, things like that where... There's not enough. I'm just going to say it. Yeah, that's good. There's not enough. I'm trying to wrap my brain of creative opportunities. That young people know about, because there's definitely things going on, but whether people actually know about them... My head's up in the air. I don't know. I need it shoved in my face. Just a big mass of Instagram. This is going on, flashing in my eyes. By the way, Arts and Crafts this weekend. Arts and Crafts, Arts and Crafts. I don't know. Sequins. Sequins. I think there's definitely, like, creative opportunities. There's some, but there's not enough. There's a shortage, especially for young people. This is another thing. There's youth groups, and there is youth clubs, but I actually think a lot of young people, I'm just going to say it, if something's labeled as a youth group, they're less likely to go. Yeah. Because I think a lot of them... I'm not a youth. I'm not a youth. No, me included, because I'd totally be like, "I'm too cool for that." But I think in terms of creating, it's so hard, in terms of music, hard to find people you're like, "You're going to get a stick for it." Whatever you do, there's going to be someone telling you they don't like it, so you better just do what you want to do. I think in terms of music, I'm sure with... In terms of being on stage and people pleasing, it's a thing, I think we all probably struggle a little bit with it, but I've realised no matter what you do on stage, no matter what you do, we're still going to get Instagram messages calling us "discussing." Discussing. Excuse me, learn to spell first before you come first. Discussing. Yeah. Like, "Oh, just, I got one message on, you're proper gay, you." And I went, "Yes, me, I'm, thank you very much." But I think in terms of creating and whole, I think... I don't know, in terms of what specifically, but I think everywhere, in terms of creating and finding a comfortable place to create within the music scene is so hard. It's so hard to find a band that you click with, and it's taken me a long time. Discussing. Real. His being a band is so like, if you don't click with a...

My advice, guys, my advice is always be yourself, because if you're chat people by not being yourself, then how are you ever going to be yourself when you're in with those people? You can't, because you chat them, you're in a fake person. You know? So, be yourself, guys. You can't look yourself how the hell you can love somebody else. I think it may be just excited what the future's going to take us. Like, I think when she's such a future ahead of itself, I'm so, like, excited for it. And then, there's no one else I'd rather like working it back with than these two, like, genuinely. I want to be positive, because I do... there's things I like, but all the things come to mind.

Hull is... Okay. Hull will do. It's fine. I get it's got a lot going, like, it's getting like... Hull is got... Hull is got a lot going for it. No, but it's not. I mean, like, it's like... It's getting interaction and stuff. I think some sick cultures, like, yeah, a lot of them are... Hull is cultural. The quote is going to be on your grave. Hull is alright. Hull is not that good for transport. [laughter] Hull is ever so slightly naff. That's my quote. There you go. FINAL EDIT MR My name is Hebe and I play bass in Wench.
My name is Sev and I play guitar in Wench and I also sing.
I'm Kit, I play drums for Wench and I also sing and shout a lot.
Wench for me is, we don't really stick to a genre so we wouldn't call ourselves punk or this or that or grunge or whatever.
Wench is more like an embodiment, it's more like a genre, we are a genre. It's formed of rebellion and anger and it's taking all of our experiences of life and putting them with our music.
Angry female music is how I describe it. There's a lot of feminine rage and just angst. It's very angsty music. It's not to say that all of our music is completely screaming. A lot of it is yes. But there is some, there's elements of folk, there's elements of like, I don't know, all sorts.
First me and Kit met at college. I came to one of your gigs I remember. I'm in another band called Avis where I'm like, "Shameless Plump." Kit came to that gig and I was like, "Yo, you're in my music class." And they were like, "Yeah." And then we just saw, we made a band.
But it's crazy because I was manifesting a feminine rage type of band for many months before.
I'd been going around the college going, "Hello, do you play instruments?" I had no friends. I started the college like a month later or something. And I was just going around to anyone who looked kind of interesting. Who just, you know, sort of just looked a bit musical even they just had headphones on.
Excuse me, do you play music? Do you like music? Can you listen? Do you listen to music? Do you have ears?
I was just asking a lot of people and then I remember seeing Sev in my music class. I was too scared to go to like in class and so I was like, "Let me just go to a gig." That's less creepy. So I go to the gig and I was like, "I think I'm in your music class." "Do you want to be in a band?" And she was like, "Yeah, go on then." And then, "How did we find you Hebe?" You sent me a message saying, "Do you want to join a band?" Oh yeah, I found Hebe.. I found you. I think you came up to me once. Yeah, yeah, I thought you were like the coolest person in the world. And I was like, "I really like that." You had like a Rocky Horror pin on your bag and I was like, "I like the Rocky Horror pin." So we got talking about music and stuff and then I got a message being, "Do you want to start a band with me and Sev?" Scouting people. Yeah, pretty much that's like that. Long story short, we had to pick a cover for a school thing - so we ended up doing something by Lenny Kravitz. We realised by doing that, that's not what we wanted to do. And then I think we just, we were like, "We don't really want to do covers." Usually bands start off with covers but no. I remember I gave you some lyrics and I was like, "Right, we're going to make this song out of this." And then I played some chords and we just sort of started a song with that and then you put the guitar in. And we all sort of like had our own, like when we write songs it's not just like one person, we all sort of have a part playing it. It was really nice, like one person will write another, then it's another person or another chorus and someone else will put it to music and do you know what I mean? Like it's just something. And I think the way we write songs, I've been in like a couple bands before and it's always just like one person writes it, delivers it to everyone else and says, "This is what we're doing. If you don't like it then there's just a bit of like tension and it's a bit weird. But like, I think with us, we all just kind of piece it together while we're in the studio. Sometimes we'll just write the lyrics while we're there. And it feels nice that way because it's really neat to us. I think we formed in October. October 2020. Spooky season. We played the Adelphi, we played Welly, we played Dive, Polar Bear, some really really good venues. We played with a pub called Holgate Tavern and it was very funny that a band called Wench were playing in a tavern. It was well received though. And that was really fun. I loved doing like, really random gigs. Yeah, the atmosphere was just so fun. It was so relaxed and chilled out. Yeah, it's great. We are in the process of recording a single with the Warren - which is going to come out at some point in the near future. And speaking of the Warren. We love you Warren!. We've also received PRSF funding which means we will be recording three songs minimum up to March. Yeah. And so that's very exciting. So there will be music soon. There will be. When there's music you will know by there's no escape. There is no escape from the wrath of Wench. You will feel the wrath. Not like bat signals but like Wench signals. There'll be carrier pigeons flying about dropping Spotify codes to people. There'll be planes. There'll be planes on the side. Yeah, you'll know if you can't. There'll be a little crash. Definitely. So plans for the band? I mean I want to go to like London, Manchester, make it. Glastonbury! Yeah, you laugh but. Next year, next year. But yeah definitely in our ambition we really want to do festivals. We really want to get out there in other cities and stuff like that. I think it'll be great to go. This is very, I'm dreaming big here. It would be so cool to go to like Tokyo or something. Oh would it? Or just like the whole Japanese culture and everything. I feel like Wench - would be great. It would be so awesome. I know America. I want to travel the world with Wench. That's the dream. In the next five years I want to get to a different continent. Yes. Within the next five years. Yeah, that would be very cool. That's doable. Every continent in the next five years. Obviously just want to like keep releasing. We want to keep releasing music and creating art and creating a community is the main thing. That's probably like the main thing I love about Wench is like the community that I think we've created. So it just feels so safe. Yeah. I think it's because we're all like non-male and we're all like a little bit queer in both senses of the word. I think that sort of makes the environment just feel safer and just more relaxed and more free I think. And so I hope to keep building that, spreading the Wench around. World Domination!. I've had this thing I'm really grateful for. We've got such a huge like community of fans. Little Wenchers. It's just amazing. We've just got to do what's right for the band, definitely. If a record label was to come to us and they were the right record label, that would be amazing. We don't want to really say yes to anything because I feel like as an all female band I feel like it could be fairly easy for us to get exploited and could be fairly easy for us to get used as a diversity sort of, just to fill a diversity quota or just to sort of like bring the age down. But just really or just as the image. But I think if we found, if the right label reached out to us, I think we definitely would consider it 100%. I don't think we're in any rush to, we've got to get signed. We've got to get signed. Like if the right opportunity comes along great, but we've just got to put our band on. We are slightly skint though. We do need, if we're going to go to Tokyo, we do need some... We need at least 10 more quid. 10 shillings perhaps. A couple of shillings. My inspirations are really boring. You can't, though. Well, I'd say my main inspirations are, I don't have a very punk/riotgirl background in what I listen to. I mainly listen to folk or indie. I got very into Radiohead for a while and they inspired quite a lot more lyrics and stuff for quite a bit. I think you can tell through that. The Smiths as well. Yeah, I think it's quite reflective in a lot of the songs Sav sings that she's inspired by the Smiths. And that's not supposed to be a dig. It's not supposed to be a dig. I think like lyrically, I think you can tell. What about you, Hebe? I'm really inspired by people like Joan Jett and bands like the Bikini Kill. Punk bands, right? Girl bands in the sense. But also music that's just fueled by rebellion and anger and things like that. Musicians that have taken their anger and put it into music. I think that's absolutely incredible. Musically. I'm really inspired by people like Jimi Hendrix that, like, I don't know how to play bass, but that sort of direction that I'm really trying to find. And you can really tell. Yeah, you definitely can tell. You've got a very, like, blues focused background. Yeah, I think my background before Wench was in the blues. And that's where a lot of my basis comes from. I think, right, this might sound a bit weird, but it's not weird. My main, one of my biggest inspirations is Jack Black, right? And no, he's not a Riot Girl punk or anything like that. He could be. Get him some fishnets. He could be. He could be a cypher. He might be a cypher, so I ask, "He's beautiful." I think, I just love anyone who's got a bit of energy. I just love that. I love David Byrne. I love Jack Black. I love so many people. I fell in love. But in terms of, like, drummers, I love Stuart Copeland, Dave Grohl. I love singers. Like, I've got a very, broad music taste. Anyone that knows me knows me. I've got a very, bipolar music taste. But I think, I love people like, I just love, I love the Pixies. I love all '90s surfer rock kind of bands. Like, I look Sonic Youth. Obviously Bikini Kill. Obviously, like, La Tigra. I just love everyone, guys. I'm full of love. I just love music. I love music. I love it. Well, I think the Warren is just amazing for young people. Like, honestly, it's given us such a, like, boost up into the, like, the musical world. Because in Hull, it's kind of a bit difficult to get into the music scene all the time. Particularly if you're a bit young and inexperienced. So even with my first band, they got us gigs. And then that was like, the doors had opened for me. And I was like, there's a whole world there. And then we started playing through the college route. And then the Warren sort of was like, okay, you're part of the Warren now. And we were like, just kidding. Yeah, they just adopted us. They just took us under their wing. I think I got a message on Instagram just saying, do you want a headline on Warren Records gig? And this was like a third gig or fourth gig or something. I think it was our third ever gig. And it was full. It was jam packed. Obviously, Warren gigs are free. And it's so young people who can't afford tickets more than a fiver or even more than three quid is a bit steep for someone who's our age and who doesn't have a job, which is a lot, a lot of people. The Warren it's a charity. And it’s just, it's just ace. I felt like we'd won the lottery. We were like, the tickets are free. It's completely, completely full jam packed, That gig has felt so grateful for the Warren for my age, for our fans everything! It was like, it was such, that gig was just so full of love. It was just amazing. Yeah, and we've, we've been so lucky with the Warren, because obviously we're still like a relatively new band, right? But we've been lucky enough to receive the funding from the PRSF Foundation, which means that we're going to have a little bit of extra support as well on top of the immense amount of support they already give us. And all the programs that they run for young people, they do, like the DJ sessions, they do, like all the, like, art stuff they do, all the things they do with queer youth as well. It's just so like, it's just so important. And I was actually recently approached in East Park by a guy who was like doing a survey about what's important, what do you think is important in Hull, and what do you think needs more care. And I was like, art and music need more care. And he said to me, what is one thing about the music scene in whole that you love? And I said, the Warren, and it's just without the Warren, there wouldn't be a music scene. Yeah. Genuinely, at least for people our age, like. I'm so grateful. We're so grateful. But also like, there's so many like teenagers our age so grateful for Warren records, for Warren Youth project, it's all about it. Like, we are so grateful. Like, music is, it sounds cliche, but music is like, music heals people and it brings people together. And when it's free, and when people can just come on out like after college, they're not happy and they're hormonal, and they're just angsty and they just want to go out. You can come to a free Wench gig. It's just great for mental health and everything. It's just music heals. And the Warren do an incredible job. Like, we couldn't be here today, if it wasn't for them. And so many other bands couldn't be here. Like, they do so much good work. And everyone who works there, they're just so cool. They're the loveliest people I've ever met. Like, I've never felt more comfortable with it. Like, they are so amazing. It's like a really like trustworthy community in the music scene. Like, if we ever have like, someone were like, hmm, we're not sure about this. Is this the right direction to go? And we've got like a whole bunch of people who'll help us out and help us. Don't speed time. They're the right decisions. Because, oh, it's just great. I love the Warren so much. Like, they've helped us out with music, but they're our support network as well. Like, they're just, they're outstanding angels. Favorite gigs. Okay. The thing is with me, I basically live at gigs. I'm one of those people. I swear I saw that gig last week. And you probably did, because I just kind of live around gigs. I think, man, this is really hard, because I've literally been to hundreds and hundreds of gigs, especially - like locally. I love bands like Fire the Unstoppable Force. They're a band from Hull. And I've seen them a couple times. Every time I see them, they're absolutely amazing. And I've also seen a band called Dirty Sound Magnet, who came to Hull. But that was absolutely insane. They really reminded me of a band called the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. And just like King Gizzard and stuff like that. Speaking of King Gizzard, also to mention every Bugfacer Gig I've ever been to, I love. And they're another band with the Warren, who we all absolutely love. Every Bugfacer Gig is great. And then, I can't narrow it down to single gigs in particular, which one's my favorite, but like, those bands are probably some of my favorites. And then in terms of gigs outside of Hull, I've been to Red Hot Chili Peppers. That was the biggest gig I've ever been to. And that was in Lyon, in France. And that was absolutely mental. And I think it was purely because of the fact that French crowds are so calm, that you can just slip right through. I got there like two minutes before it was supposed to start. And it was Iggy Pop and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And I got to the barrier! And I had to step back because the visuals were that immense. And because the recent album that came out is really like, all the artworks really like, psychedelic and like, swirling. You know? And so all of the visuals were just absolutely amazing. And so that was probably, that was an experience. That wasn't just a gig. I felt like a changed woman. I was weeping. So it changed me, that gig. I loved it. What about you, Sev? What's your favourite gig you've been to? I don't go to many gigs. I'm terrible for it. What's your favourite gig that we've done? Probably the first one, Record Form we did. That was really fun. But I don't know, I just don't, I don't get out of the house much. I think, yeah, Moshpits scare me. My favourite gigs have been to In Hull. Obviously, by the Unstoppable Force, they are incredible. Bunk bass is incredible. Yeah, they were absolutely insane. Out of town, I go to a lot of festivals and bands that aren't necessarily punk. But I just, I'm like, I saw Weather for Raymond at Towsie and I thought she was absolutely incredible. I was like completely in awe. And yeah, I just, something about being at a festival. I wish you remembered. You've been to see the Users. Oh my God, yes. Wasn't that in Hull? That was in Hull. That was at the Polar Bear. The Users, they were insane. They were incredible. Yeah. I was like, how should II get in this room? That was like monumental. That was, oh my God. I'm jealous. I'm so jealous. That was life changing. And that was a year and one day after our first gig at the Polar Bear. I remember playing, being on that stage at the Polar Bear, I'm like, this time a year ago, I was watching the Users. Yeah, it's absolutely crazy. So it's like, it was really, really sweet. Full circle moment. That was like my first time seeing a band that was like so openly themselves and so openly unique on stage. It was something really special about that gig. Because it was like, this is what I want to do with my life. I saw them and I was like, oh, that's awesome. Yeah, that's the thing. When I saw Red Hot Chili Peppers, I know for some people they're like, Marmite, but what I love so much about them is how there's not a lead. And I think we're the same. And let's think we're the same because we have frigging bass solos. The bass is like a fairly lead instrument, which is quite unusual. We don't have a lead singer. And I feel like we're all fairly even. We're all leads. Yeah, we're all leads. We're all the leaders in Wench. But I think that when I saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I was like, they're like, what? Why do I look? Because they're all just so mesmerizing. And everyone's doing some absolutely Ace. Yeah, I saw that. And that's so inspiring to me. I saw Maneskin in Manchester. And another thing I really value about that band is they're all like equals in that band. They're all great performers. Yeah, they're all incredible, but there's no like, signature, this person. It's not one person leads the band, which is what I really like. I feel like we're all like one third of Wench. There's no lead. It's the same with that. Yeah. Well, I've got too many gigs, guys. I just live. I live at gigs. I live to Mosh. I'm going to get that tattooed on my chest. I think it's about - what's kind of interesting about Wench, humble brag. I think it's, we're all kind of random in our musical origins, in our musical backgrounds, and even just like, currently, like where we're at. I don't go to gigs, but I sort of live in the Hull folk scene. Like I'm always like going to random folk gigs. That's the thing, you're always at folk, like folk shows. Yeah, so it's like before Wench, I was heavily inspired by like, blues music. So a lot of my music comes from blues. Like I'm brainwashed. But like the bands I was in before Wench, it's the same with you and like, soul bands and stuff like that. Yeah, just love it a little. In terms of women's safety at gigs, this is less the light hearted topic really. Yeah, because I genuinely feel like until some huge change is done, some law is past. Women aren't going to be fully safe. It's just not going to happen. Especially because the music scene is so male dominated. And it's not even like, I was like, "Oh, those poor women." Like, I think there's something like 30% of jobs in the music industry go to women. And it's even less when it's women of colour. And then when it comes to safety at gigs, that's just reflected in that. It's like, I felt really unsafe. Yeah. at our own gigs. And I shouldn't have to feel unsafe when I'm going on stage, screaming my arse off and even pretending like that. Like, sometimes I feel like I have to pretend to be. I'm scary. And I don't want to be, I want to be approachable. You're always so conscious about being a certain way. And it's like, I just want to be myself. And I just want to be safe while I'm doing it. And I've had a traumatic experience at a gig before when somebody did invade my personal space at a gig. I weren't going to detail about it, but it happens so much. And it goes so unnoticed. And if you don't report it, nothing gets done. But then it's so hard to report it. And I don't know, in terms of us making it a safe space for women. I think all we're able to do, which still doesn't feel to me like it's enough. I wish I could go out there and just like protect all the women. But it's like, by us singing the lyrics we sing. And by us being as strong as we are on stage and as angry as we are on stage. I think it might scare any of the perpetrators away. Or I'd like to think that people who commit such horrible things wouldn't be coming to watch our band because it just would be very ironic and it just wouldn't make sense. They're watching like, oh maybe this is for me. Oh that's my plans. Those are my plans for later. Oh it's ruined now, what are we doing? I think as much as I want to just, I think we all want to just stop it, we want to make it 100% safe, it's absolutely impossible. And it's like, all we can do is just scream about how angry we are and kick people out when we see it. And tell people to kick people out when they see it. Tell people that if they need help, ask for Angela at the bar. Tell people that they can talk to us, tell people they can message us if they've got problems or we'll try and sort it. If something's happened at a gig, they can talk to us, they can talk to me. And it's just, it's really tricky. Do you have anything, what do you think? I really hope that our lyrics can bring comfort to women out. I hope to empower people. That's what we want, we want. Not just women. Yeah, we want people to be empowered and their voices don't have to go, everything doesn't have to get swept under the rug, their voices can be heard. And it's really, it's awful, it's such an awful thing. But we want anyone out there who's been made to feel uncomfortable at each time. We are, those are a safe space. But if it gets to it, I will strike. If I do catch anything, I'm not the type to just leave it. None of us are. I think another good thing about Wench, or like what we're trying to do is, we're trying to say, women belong in the music scene as much as men do. And like, if you're a woman and you play an instrument and you want to be in a band and you do it, you belong on stage, you belong in the scene as much as men do. How many times have you been told, oh by the way, this goes there? Oh my god, oh my god! Mansplainers at gigs! I asked to borrow this guy's amp, and he told me how to turn the volume up! I've been playing guitar for nearly half a decade. I think, I think obviously people don't mean, don't mean bad by it. But I think sort of as well, if we label ourselves as a riot girl band, it's sort of like, it puts an image into people's head. Oh, those are girls, by the way, they're girls. Like it's sort of, some people I think it puts to them the gender before the actual music. And the way we look as well, we have an image. And I think people sometimes just, they're not there for the music, they're just there for, oh the girls. They're girls and they've got instruments. Oh, and they're pretty and they're on stage and, oh, ooh. But I think like, even just interacting with people at gigs sometimes, like even other musicians and things, it's sort of like, they like, treat us differently because we're women. And even if it's not in a negative, directly negative way, it's sort of, even in the way we get spoken to, it might be that we're younger - it might be that we're female, but the way we get spoken to is undeniably and noticeably different. Yeah, there's too many, because we are young women, there's so many, like, mansplaining people, like subconsciously treat us differently. Hi, girl, it's like, oh, are you going to be alright, lik, doing this and you know. You can mark it off of it. I'm not going to deny it. By labelling ourselves as a riot girl, we are somewhat marketing off of our gender. But it's not where you can do for the patriarchy, I think it's what the patriarchy can do for you… I think Hull definitely has its creative opportunities. There's things like Freedom Fest, Humber Street Sesh, things like that where... There's not enough. I'm just going to say it. Yeah, that's good. There's not enough. I'm trying to wrack my brain of creative opportunities. That young people know about, because there's definitely things going on, but whether people actually know about them... My head's up my arse! I don't know. I need it shoved in my face. Just a big mass of Instagram. This is going on, flashing in my eyes. By the way, Arts and Crafts this weekend. Arts and Crafts, Arts and Crafts. I don't know. Sequins. Sequins! I think there's definitely, like, creative opportunities. There's some, but there's not enough. There's a shortage, especially for young people. This is another thing. There's youth groups, and there is youth clubs, but I actually think a lot of young people, I'm just going to say it, if something's labeled as a youth group, they're less likely to go. Yeah. Because I think a lot of them... I'm not a youth. No, me included, because I'd totally be like, "I'm too cool for that." But I think in terms of creating, it's so hard, in terms of music, hard to find people you click with, "You're going to get a stick for it." Whatever you do, there's going to be someone telling you they don't like it, so you better just do what you want to do. I think in terms of music, I'm sure with... In terms of being on stage and people pleasing, it's a thing, I think we all probably struggle a little bit with it, but I've realised no matter what you do on stage, no matter what you do, we're still going to get Instagram messages calling us "discussing." Discussing! Excuse me, learn to spell first before you come first! Disgusting! Yeah. Like, Oh, just, I got one message, you're proper gay, you. And I went, "Yes, we are, thank you very much!" But I think in terms of creating in Hull, I think... I don't know, in terms of Hull specifically, but I think everywhere, in terms of creating and finding a comfortable place to create within the music scene is so hard. It's so hard to find a band that you click with, and it's taken me a long time. Being in a band is so like, if you don't click with a… My advice, guys, my advice is always be yourself, because if you attract people by not being yourself, then how are you ever going to be yourself when you're with those people? You can't, because if you attract them, you're a fake person. You know? So, be yourself, guys. If you can't love yourself - how the hell you can love somebody else? I think it may be just excited what the future's going to take us. Like, I think Wench has such a future ahead of itself, I'm so, like, excited for it. And then, there's no one else I'd rather like working it back with than these two, like, genuinely. I want to be positive, because I do... there's things I like, but all the things come to mind. Hull is... Okay. Hull will do. It's fine. I get it's got a lot going, like, it's getting like... Hull has got a lot going for it. It's getting interaction and stuff. I think since the City of Culture, Hull is cultural. The quote is going to be on your grave. Hull is alright. Hull is not that good for transport. Hull is ever so slightly naff. That's my quote. There you go.