00:00Founded in 2015, when her all-female band struggled to find gigs or lineups where they were not singled out as the token women act,
00:12Cassie Fox wanted to create a space where not only her own band, but fellow underrepresented musicians could come together to play music.
00:20That one gig has grown over the last 10 years to levels of international recognition.
00:24Last year, we also put on a festival in Melbourne, Australia. And this year, our anniversary year, we kind of pulled out all the stops and we've been collaborating with kind of different bands and partners around the world.
00:37We've got Larry underscore 73 as well, kind of a really cool local band as well as these really cool Canadian and American and Ukrainian bands in town. It's just turned into this kind of global movement.
00:51But how do the bands feel about being included in a festival holding such a unique place within the circuit?
00:58It's been incredible. We've never played outside of Canada until last night. So last night and tonight are our first international shows ever.
01:04And those shows being loud women is incredible to know that there's a space being created for us, specifically women, trans women, non-binary folks, that this is like a space cultivated for us.
01:17To like know about this collective that is also trying to highlight like femme and queer musicians and then to be recognized by said collective was really special and like felt as a musician, like very validating.
01:30Well, I think it's an honor to be part of loud women in general. Like I think the whole organization, like uplifting women and queer people is really awesome. And being a part of that is like we feel honored.
01:42And playing smaller venues is like that's a lot of what we do in New York City and like our favorite shows are the DIY shows that just like everyone is there for the love of music and getting to play a show like that here is also amazing for us.
01:55I find representation really important. And I see like the more we do to support representation, it just helps boost other people's self esteem.
02:08And so I think being a part of something like this, it's really important in terms of that.
02:13I've always grown up being told I can't do stuff because I'm a girl. So I did car mechanics, I've done karate, I've done cadets, I've done marching bands, now I get to do it playing music. So it seems to well with me.
02:24So why did loud women choose to mark their 10 years here in Canterbury?
02:30We've partnered with the Lady Luck a lot in the past. Emma, who runs the venue, you know, it's fantastic to work with a female owned venue.
02:40And the Lady Luck is such a unique venue as well for having this kind of really dedicated local crowd that kind of turn up for travelling bands, for touring bands, as well as the local talent as well.
02:54And yeah, it's a kind of a really great grassroots venue that we're really proud to partner with for this.
03:02And what should we expect to see from loud women in the future?
03:05It sounds odd to say but it would be great in a way if in 10 years time loud women didn't exist or didn't have to exist.
03:12If kind of all festivals were diverse and, you know, the kind of needing to look at gender as an issue on festival lineups didn't have to be a thing.
03:29Ronnie Glastow for KMTV in Canterbury.
