The co-hosts of CFRU’s Infernal Sirin (Mondays from 9 to 10 p.m.) want to change the loud music scene in Guelph.

“I came here from a scene where women were very involved, like women were in lots of bands, women were audience members, women weren’t like some asshole’s girlfriend,” Infernal Sirin co-host Brianna said, referring to Winnipeg’s punk and metal scene. “Women were there playing shows, setting up gear, doing sound, part of running coops, part of running venues, and musicians.”

At the same time, long-time Guelph resident Rebecca said there “hasn’t really been a super great punk or metal scene in this city, but when there has been (in spurts here and there), when I was younger and going to a punk show, or when the metal shows do happen, I’d sorta go and I’d wonder where my representation is because it’s not fucking on stage, or very rarely is it on stage. You go to a punk show here in Guelph and you go to the Shadow and have some beers, and there’s a bunch of bros on stage, playing great fucking punk rock, and then all these aggressive bros in the pit throwing elbows, and you’re like “I can do that too, but I would feel a lot better doing it if I wasn’t the only fucking girl in the pit, or the only girl who wants to go up on stage and sing with their favourite band.” So it’s not like we don’t have a scene, we can bring that music in sometimes, but there’s never really been much representation of women especially when it comes to the bands and the musicians.”

These two lovers of loud music may have been left only with their frustrations if it hadn’t been for the SHE ROARS: Loud Band-Off! which brought them together this May. Organized by Brianna and former CFRU outreach coordinator Sarah Mangle, the event featured bands consisting entirely of female-bodied and female-identified members, playing “loud music.” It not only brought the future radio hosts into closer contact and discussion, it proved they weren’t alone.

In June they launched their show on CFRU, with a mission of playing only “loud music” by bands with at least one female-bodied or female-identified member. They found some enthusiastic support at the radio station, but assumed that beyond the office, no one out there was listening. However, a growing stream of emails has started to convince them otherwise.

The duo hope to use this growing platform to help in the building of the loud music scene in Guelph. At the moment that means getting it out there on the radio, and building CFRU’s catalogue, but while the two admitted work and school commitments limit what they can do on their own, in the future they hope to go further.

“It would be cool if at some point there was enough stuff going on that we could put on shows, invite bands to play: that would be sweet, and it would be cool if we had another band off,” Brianna said.

“First and foremost I do this radio show for me, it keeps me involved in music, it surrounds me with music, it keeps me really fucking happy,” Rebecca said. “And secondary, if I can help other people be stoked about music and want to get involved and really encourage women and young women to be like “I wanna fucking do this, and I can do this,” that’s such a huge bonus and really fucking great. Often women in the harder music scenes aren’t taken as seriously. I want to show that women are more than the tokenistic front woman or the “hot drummer”: that women know their instruments, they know their scene, and not only can they fucking carry it, but they will melt your fucking faces!”

“I want to take over in a really dark way,” Rebecca continued, expressing maybe slightly more ambition.

 

 

 

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