#or what about some Girlschool? That could be more your thing

[cherrydreamer]

Max, in her bedroom the first night of moving into the trailer, is jolted awake by the sound of a Metallica album playing loudly enough to have the walls shaking.

It's Eddie, of course. But she doesn't know that yet.

So for a moment, just one wonderful, half-dreaming moment, she thinks that it's coming from Billy's room.

She thinks that her brother is back.

[swordlesbean]

this means war | 80s catradora mega mixtape [listen]

track listing and lyric selections under the cut

tape 1: raised on you

| 01 shadows of the night pat benatar |

we're running with the shadows of the night / so baby, take my hand, it'll be all right / surrender all your dreams to me tonight / they'll come true in the end

| 02 the best tina turner |

give me a life time of promises and a world of dreams / speak the language of love like you know what it means / it can't be wrong / take my heart and make it strong, baby / you're simply the best, better than all the rest

| 03 right by your side eurythmics |

give me two strong arms to protect myself / give me so much love that i forget myself / i need to be right by your side

| 04 wish upon me suzi quatro |

wish upon me / count on me to infinity / my love will be here / when the stars burn out / so reach out and touch me

| 05 raised on you heart |

let's go tell the world / to quit turning cold / just let me be raised on you / don't have to change just now / we can laugh about the load

| 06 everywhere fleetwood mac |

i'll speak a little louder / i'll even shout / you know that i'm proud and i can't get the words out / oh, i wanna be with you everywhere

| 07 only you yazoo |

all i needed was the love you gave / all i needed for another day / and all i ever knew / only you

tape 2: falling out

| 01 the last beat of my heart siouxsie & the banshees |

reach out your hands / don't turn your back / don't walk away / how in the world can i wish for this never to be torn apart? / close to you till the last beat of my heart

| 02 don’t turn around bonnie tyler |

i'm gonna be strong / i'm gonna do fine / don't worry about this heart of mine / just walk out that door / yeah, see if I care / go on and go now but don't turn around / cause you're gonna see my heart breaking

| 03 falling out kim wilde |

what can i say now after all is said and done / you cut me up in pieces when the shooting first begun / what did i do to you to make you turn away? / cause now there's nothing left for me / there's nothing i can say

| 04 borderline madonna |

you let me down, when i look around / baby, you just can't be found / stop driving me away, i just want to stay / i've given all i can / cause you got the best of me / borderline / feels like i'm going to lose my mind

| 05 love is a battlefield pat benatar |

you're begging me to go / then making me stay / why do you hurt me so bad? / it would help me to know / do i stand in your way? / or am i the best thing you've had?

| 06 i call your name roxette |

i close the door behind me, and i turn the lights all down / there's no one there beside me, i call your name

| 07 who will you run to heart |

you're sure the life you're living with me / can't go on one single minute / and there's a new one waiting outside this door / and now's the time to begin it / you found a new world / and you want to taste it / but that world can turn cold / and you better face it / who will you run to when it all falls down?

| 08 get up and go the go-go’s |

i was on the inside / looking out for you / but you're the one to make the change / there's nothing i can do / now's the time for you to move / actions shout out loud

| 09 stop draggin’ my heart around stevie nicks ft. tom petty & the heartbreakers |

i know you really want to tell me goodbye / i know you really want to be your own girl / baby, you could never look me in the eye / yeah, you buckle with the weight of the world / stop draggin’ my heart around

| 10 breakdown grace jones |

it's okay if you must go / i'll understand if you don't / you say goodbye right now / i'll still survive somehow / why should we let this drag on?

| 11 edge of a broken heart vixen |

it won't be easy, but i've got to be strong / and if i wanna cry i don't need your shoulder / i been living on the edge of a broken heart / don't you wonder why i gotta say goodbye

tape 3: moth to a flame

| 01 i love playing with fire joan jett & the blackhearts |

i love playing with fire / i don't wanna get burned / i love playing with fire / don't think i'll ever learn

| 02 action reaction missing persons |

action reaction, the girl knows just what to do / action reaction, she gets some reaction from you / she's gonna take you by surprise / she's gonna hit you right between the eyes

| 03 bring your love down (didn’t i) yazoo |

if you think you need a change / well, i'm sure we can arrange for you to get on your own for a while / but i don't need to worry, cause you'll get back in a hurry / i know that you like my style / you play your games but the fact remains / i'm the only one that can hold your reins

| 04 moth to a flame olivia newton-john |

here again drawn like a moth to a flame / an invisible force pulling me close to you / i can't break free / there's some kind of hold over me / like a magnet, you attract me like steel

| 05 who’s that girl madonna |

she's trouble, in a word get closer to the fire / run faster, her laughter burns you up inside / you're spinning round and round / you can't get up, you try but you can't

| 06 regrets eurythmics |

i've got a delicate mind / i've got a dangerous nature / and my fist collides with your furniture / i'm an electric wire / and i'm stuck inside your head

| 07 who’s problem? the motels |

so, whose problem am i / whose problem am i / whose problem am i / if i'm not yours?

| 08 state of mind suzi quatro |

fire burning in my heart / tearing me apart / you're the fire / you knocked my defenses down / bare as the day i was born / you're the one

| 09 breakdown girlschool |

i'm gonna make you understand / that i've seen it all before / i twist your mind and break your heart / and you still come back for more

| 10 long time joan jett & the blackhearts |

you can always wake the beast in me / that's the thing that never lets me be / it's gonna take a long time / to get you off of my mind

| 11 winter kills yazoo |

pain / in your eyes / makes me cruel / makes me spiteful / tears are delightful / welcome your nightfall / how winter kills / i tear at you, searching for / weaker seams

tape 4: goodbye to you

| 01 cat-o’-nine-tails L7 |

you're scratching me, baby / right down to my heart / claw the couch now that we're apart / think i'm allergic

| 02 had enough joan jett & the blackhearts |

you rain storm cloud / you ain't no friend / don't wanna see your face again / had enough of you / you ain't for me

| 03 winning the war ‘til tuesday |

you fight just for the sake of it / you know what hurts the most / you might have once been faking it / but now it cuts too close / winning the war and losing every battle / you close the door on happy ever after

| 04 cry wolf stevie nicks |

you can try, but you can't get me into the fire / cause i'm all out of sympathy / and, baby, i can't walk this wire / find yourself somebody new / to catch you when you fall

| 05 thorn in my side eurythmics |

to run away from you / was all that i could do / thorn in my side / you know that's all you'll ever be / so don't think you know better / cause that's what you mean to me

| 06 state i’m in bananarama |

can we carry on / or must we still pretend / that we're really friends / those feelings have gone / but we're not the same / and we're both to blame / there's nothing left to tell you / nothing left to give you

| 07 goodbye to you scandal feat. patty smyth |

baby, it's over now / no need to talk about it / it's not the same / my love for you's just not the same / and my heart can't stand the strain / goodbye to you

| 08 this means war joan jett & the blackhearts |

it hurts me so to fight with you / but since you closed the door / this means war, and you will see it's senseless / this means war, and soon you'll be defenseless / cause you can't win this war

| 09 harden my heart quarterflash |

darling, in my wildest dreams, i never thought i'd go / but it's time to let you know / i'm gonna harden my heart / i'm gonna swallow my tears / i'm gonna turn and leave you here

| 10 don’t watch me bleed ‘til tuesday |

i guess you gave as good as you got / i guess this love is dead at last / but i paid such a lot / don't just kiss me goodbye / don't watch me bleed

tape 5: change of heart

| 01 change of heart cyndi lauper |

here i am just like i said i would be / i'm your friend just like you think it should be / did you think i would stand here and lie / while our moment was passing us by / oh, i am here waiting for your change of heart / it just takes a beat to turn it around

| 02 sorry me, sorry you jefferson starship |

out on the edge / such a dangerous place to be / when darkness falls / and you got no way to see / don't turn away from me / you say you're sorry / i'm sorry too

| 03 we can change belinda carlisle |

i swear we don't have to hurt anymore / throw the old ways out and close the door / nothing remains the same / we can't hold on, but baby we can change

| 04 fighting divinyls |

gotta stick to the fight when you're hardest hit / is when things hurt the most that you must not quit / i'm losing my resistance and i'm coming after you / this time i gotta cause worth fighting for

| 05 before this night is through bonnie tyler |

come inside, close the door, come to me now / we'll find our way, we know how / let the past be the past, let it all fall away

| 06 something to believe in the bangles |

i lost direction in the darkness / couldn't stop myself from running / i could feel the sun on my back / but i was afraid to let the light in / now i can't run anymore / now i see this gift you bring me

| 07 surrender gloria estefan |

you've got the key / so open up your heart and be my destiny / come back, baby, come back / surrender to me

| 08 (we want) the same thing belinda carlisle |

no matter what we say / no matter what we do / beyond the battle lines, baby, we know what's true / we dream the same thing / we want the same thing / and all that we need is to see it together

| 09 never heart |

we can't go on, just running away / if we wait any longer, we will surely never get away / anything you want, we can make it happen / stand up and turn around, never let them shoot us down

| 10 nothing’s gonna stop us now jefferson starship |

let em say we're crazy, i don't care about that / put your hand in my hand, baby, don't ever look back / let the world around us just fall apart / baby, we can make it if we're heart to heart / we can build this thing together / standing strong forever / nothing's gonna stop us now 

| 11 we belong pat benatar |

we belong to the light, we belong to the thunder / we belong to the sound of the words we've both fallen under / whatever we deny or embrace for worse or for better / we belong together

[chelseawolfemusic]

Chelsea Wolfe interview ahead of GIRLSCHOOL performance // Lenny

photo by Kristin Cofer // words by Dianca Potts

Last January, GIRLSCHOOL, an LA-based collective dedicated to supporting women in music, celebrated its inaugural music festival at Bootleg Theater. Featuring acts like Gothic Tropic and Maria Taylor, GIRLSCHOOL's first festival confirmed that powerful things can happen when women collaborate for the greater good. This year, founder Anna Bulbrook and co-founder Jasmine Lywen-Dill hope to conjure a similar spirit of solidarity and community. "It's my ultimate dream to have a nexus of incredible women thinkers and doers around us," Anna says. This year's lineup is not only intersectional but also sonically diverse. "In today's political climate, it especially matters to have these outlets that unify and celebrate women," Jasmine says. "I hope [we] can be a vehicle for change and for raising awareness of girl-positive organizations in the arts." Set to kick off this Friday, GIRLSCHOOL's weekend extravaganza is exactly what we need right now. I was lucky enough to catch up with the festival's headliner, the forever busy and immensely talented Chelsea Wolfe. Best known for haunting dirges like "Dragged Out" and hypnotic ballads like "Mer" and "Feral Love," Chelsea's fusion of folklore, Jungian theory, and gothic motifs is as beautiful as it is brooding. A week before the festival, I chatted with Chelsea — who's currently working on a new album — about the importance of taking credit for your work and why darkness isn't always a bad thing.

Dianca Potts: What did music mean to you when you were growing up?

Chelsea Wolfe: When I was a kid, my parents divorced, and my mom was always a creative person herself, making clothes, drawing, and painting, and she'd listen to great music like Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt. On the weekends I'd go to my dad's house, where he had a home studio for recording and practicing with the country band he had with my stepmom. Hearing them harmonize and work on Fleetwood Mac covers was my first inspiration to write my own songs.

I really connected with Lindsey Buckingham's voice. I think I took some vocal styling from him back then that I still use today. Over the years, I've been drawn to singers and bands with androgynous voices — Nina Simone, Placebo, and bands who go to extremes musically, like Sunn O))) and Swans. I find some comfort in things that aren't easy to define, maybe because I always felt like I was an in-between myself.

DP: In a feature for Under the Radar, you mentioned that in the past you haven't given yourself enough credit for the work that you do. I feel like this is something that a lot of creatives, especially women, struggle with. What advice would you give to younger creatives who feel hesitant to celebrate their accomplishments in fear of coming off as prideful?

CW: I'm glad you're bringing that feature up. I spent a lot of time doing a full interview about "sexism and misogyny in the music industry" and they only used that one line from it, of course. I do think there's kind of an unspoken societal thing where we're not supposed to talk about our accomplishments very much. I always felt like my work spoke for itself, and I wanted people to be able to relate to it in their own way, without everything being over-explained. But as I slowly gained more of an audience, someone's gonna be offended by what you're doing, and there was a person who tried to start a campaign against me, making false claims of what I was inspired by or what my music and videos meant. I didn't fight back publicly because, well, I'd rather spend my time on music than Internet drama, but all my friends in real life and in the music industry who knew about this reached out to me with messages of love and support and reminders that they know I've always followed my own path and been true to myself. That was really heartening when I was bummed about being attacked like that. I learned that I need to take credit for my work more publicly, and be a little more outgoing with what I share about myself and my music.

My advice to younger female and nonbinary artists is this: take credit for your work, always and rigorously, otherwise some jerk might come along and try to take the credit for you, or they'll say that a man wrote your songs for you. Fuck that. I think Grimes is a great example of someone who makes sure it's known that her work, ideas, and production are her own. Follow her lead.

DP: Your music is often described as dark. What do you feel is the value of exploring the dark side of emotion and human experience?

CW: From a young age, I wanted to know both sides to every story. I used to have these recurring nightmares of macro and micro. I would be in a white room with an object in the middle, like a book or a telephone, and the object would grow really, really large and fill the room, smashing me against the wall, and then the object would grow small again, back and forth. It was maddening, but I think it kind of represents how I approach writing songs. I'm hyperaware of the macro, the world as a whole, and all the fucked-up things that are happening at the same time: bombings, rapes, suicides. That is all really dark stuff to write about, but it's not like I'm making it up. At the same time, I'm also able to focus in on my own life or community and write a song that comes from there. It's all a contrast of the hideousness of life and the beauty of life. My first album, The Grime and the Glow, was kind of the beginning of this exploration in contrasts.

DP: How did you get involved with GIRLSCHOOL?

CW: Through the Echo Society, which is a group of composers who put together this great night of original music with an orchestra and guest collaborators each year. They reached out to me to compose a piece, which I did with the help of my bandmate Ben Chisholm, since he's a master of arranging string samples and percussive elements. Anna Bulbrook was running the Echo Society show in LA. On day one of the rehearsals, I was in the wrong place at the right time, and Anna was so kind as to relocate me to the place I was supposed to be.

On the drive there, we got to know each other a bit, and she told me about GIRLSCHOOL. I had heard of it before and was blown away to be talking with the person who started it. My drummer Jess Gowrie and I had just been talking about how inspiring it is to see women musicians onstage when you're a young, aspiring female musician, and we were hoping that we could help do the same for the younger generation. So when Anna said there was a festival involved, I was like, "If you'd ever want my band to play, I'd be honored."

DP: What makes organizations like GIRLSCHOOL so vital?

CW: They normalize the idea of an instrument in a young woman's hands, or a woman being the leader of a band. And of course they encourage young people to explore music and the arts and gain confidence and self-acceptance through that. I know I grew up feeling the pressure to be society's typical, subdued definition of "feminine," even though I never felt that way inside, and my body type has never represented that either. It was difficult for me to assert myself as an artist when I was starting out. I'm here representing for the late bloomers. Nowadays I think a lot of younger folks are moving past all those antiquated gender restraints much quicker than I did, which is great to see.

(via Lenny)

[indiecation]

This 3-day music festival invaded the Bootleg Theater in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, January 27-29, 2017. This year, Girlschool LA teamed up with Play Like a Girl (PLAG), NastyGal, and Lyft to put together a lineup featuring all female-fronted bands including headliners Chelsea Wolfe, Deap Valley, and the Bird and the Bee along with speakers including Shirley Manson from Garbage. All of the proceeds for this $45 a pop event will go toward the Rock and Roll Camp for Girls, encouraging young women to empower themselves through music.

I arrived on Friday night just in time to catch Shirley Manson’s interview with Eve Barlow in which the Garbage singer shared about sexism in the music industry and gold nuggets of wisdom including, “Women’s sexuality is the most powerful currency in the world,” so be careful who and where you show your body to.

“Women have to have each others’ backs.” –Shirley Manson, Garbage

She was also asked about the influence of celebrities in this political climate, to which she responded that change is more likely to happen at the grassroots level, and how the older she got the more she stopped trying to change people, and instead decided to be the change. 

The music began promptly at the Bar Stage at 7:30 with opening band, Kona. She got the crowd grooving to some R&B, jazz and funk sounds. With 30 minute set times, performances were over quite promptly whether we liked it or not. Moving from the Bar stage to the main Moon stage made these 30 minute transitions pretty seamless, and bands were given a small window to set up and then start performing as soon as the room starting filling in. Luna Shadows took the Moon Stage first and changed the tone to electronic, industrial pop. Vox continued with the theme back at the Bar Stage, but in a more ‘Purity Ring’ kind of tone. This solo act was both eerie and breathtaking. I had seen her perform on that very stage before, and was blown away yet again at her powerful, trembling voice. The acts switched again, this time to some ’50s inspired surf rock with the Summer Twins and then in a more punk direction with the Regrettes. Friday headliner, The Bird and the Bee really stole the show that night with ’80s-pop inspired beats reminiscent of Michael Jackson. Lead singer, Inara George had a very charming on stage presence. She was accompanied by backup singers instead of her male counterpart—or “the bee” as I’d imagine. Regardless, they performed a magical set, ending the night with a heartwarming acapella version of “How Deep is Your Love,” to which the crowd joined in.

Day 2 began with a series of speakers from 11 a.m.-3:00 p.m. who shared about topics like “Find Your Inner Fierce,” “Soundgirls 101,” “Heroina Latina” and “Music for Pictures.” The music portion began promptly at 7:30 p.m. with electro-pop duo, Trace taking the Bar Stage. Liphemra then played a kick-ass set over at the main Moon Stage that got everyone moving to front woman Liv Marsico and friends’ fierce electronic music in hip hop fashion. They performed some of the most interesting sounds I heard all night, including one of my favorites “Did U Even Cry.” Winter slowed things down with some dreamy indie rock and then the Wild Reeds livened up the crowd again with intelligently crafted folk-Americana music. Although this genre is typically not my favorite, I was blown away by these three front women who managed to make country sound intricate and interesting and who each donned a powerful set of pipes. Pearl Charles continued the Americana theme on the smaller stage, but fell flat compared to what I’d just heard from The Wild Reeds. However, no one could have prepared me for what was to come next. When “Rap-Cabaret” artist, Boyfriend, took the main stage. She transported us into a trailer park living room complete with tiger-striped chairs, live plants, and a martini and shaker. Three women came out dressed in wedding gowns and slips—the first of many costume changes—and rapped about relationships and feminism in a way that was raunchy and in-your-face. Perhaps the boldest thing I saw what the singer/rapper donning underwear and nipple tassels, singing while her assistants shaved her armpits right on stage. It was not to be missed! Things got intimate with Chilean singer Francisca Valenzuela as she belted powerful feminist ballads while hammering on her piano. The night ended with headliner, Deap Valley—a rockin’ female duo who performed furious hard rock late into the night.

Chelsea Wolfe

Chelsea Wolfe

Rituals of Mine

Ex-Sage

Caroline Smith

Kid Wave

Starcrawler

Soto Voce

Deap Valley

Francisca Valenzuela

Boyfriend

Pearl Charles

The Wild Reeds

Winter

Liphemra

Trace

The Bird and the Bee

The Regrettes

Summer Twins

vox

Luna Shadows

Kona

Shirley Manson

By the time Sunday rolled around, I was still powering through the weekend, determined to last to the very end of Chelsea Wolfe. Soto Voce opened the show on the main stage with some electro-pop. But I’ve never been more uncomfortable than I was when watching the next act, Starcrawler. Not knowing what I was in for, I mistakenly parked myself at the front of the stage. In the span of her 30 minute set, I was kicked in the back as she was carried kicking and screaming onto the stage in a hospital gown, pulled by my hair in her attempt to have the audience feel included, and eventually pushed as she took it upon herself to start her own mosh pit in the crowd. In fact, I was so concerned with getting away from crazy that I don’t event remember the music—which begs the question, when does performance art cross the line? If Starcrawler’s goal was to get in your face, their uncomfortable punk rock definitely achieved that. Let’s just say I was relieved when it was over. Kid Wave took it down a notch at the main stage, but perhaps a little too far down with some rather boring alt-rock. Themajority of the remaining acts however were quite stunning with the incredible vocals and soul-pop sounds of Caroline Smith. Ex-Sage was another uninspired hard-rock group, but Rituals of Mine and Chelsea Wolfe drove the festival right home. I rather enjoyed the attitude and powerful vocals from Rituals of Mine, a trio that performed electro and hip-hop styles. The main stage was packed for the final act of the weekend—Chelsea Wolfe, who washed us over with her doom metal and ethereal vocals. It was an incredibly powerful and badass end to the night.

All-in-all, Girlschool Weekend was not to be missed. It was filled with inspiring messages, people, and artists. With an all-new lineup this year, there was not only an opportunity to see incredibly powerful women speak and perform, but to also get familiar with genres you may not have been exposed to. Thank you for all you do for women and the community—see you again next year, Girlschool!

Here are some snaps from the weekend:

Indeication Recap: GIRLSCHOOL 2017. #Girlschool @girlschoolla This 3-day music festival invaded the Bootleg Theater in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, January 27-29, 2017.

[maryseward666]

METALLICA's LARS ULRICH Recalls Meeting JAMES HETFIELD For First Time: 'He Was Very Shy And Super Introverted'

RARE BLACK METAL COLLECTIBLES

The day before METALLICA was honored with the prestigious Polar Music Prize on June 14 in Stockholm, Sweden, the band's drummer, Lars Ulrich, was interviewed by music journalist Jan Gradvall. During the hour-long chat, which can be seen below, Ulrich spoke about METALLICA's beginnings back in the early 1980s, their musical influences and long and sucessful career. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On the first time he met METALLICA frontman James Hetfield and how the band was formed: Lars: "[My family] moved to Los Angeles, to Newport Beach, a suburb down in the south, and I was gonna play tennis on the local high school team there. There was an Australian tennis player named Roy Emerson who was close with my dad, and he had a son named Anthony Emerson, and he was the star tennis player at Corona Del Mar high school. And I was gonna come in and be the number two player at Corona Del Mar high school. In Denmark at that time, I was kind of ranked in the top 10 in the country and blah blah blah, and I was gonna come to Newport Beach and be with Anthony Emerson on this tennis team. Except the problem was that when I tried out for the high school team, I wasn't one of the seven best players in the school. And I wasn't even one of the seven best players on the street I lived on, I think. So, literally, in one day, the whole tennis dream just crashed — crashed and burned hard — and music was waiting in the wings to take over. There was a 7-Eleven [store], and 7-Eleven had a local classified ads newspaper called the Recycler, or it was available at all 7-Elevens. And you could buy and sell cars and lawnmowers and kitchen appliances or whatever. And in the very back, there was a small section about musicians looking for bands and bands looking for musicians. So I put in an ad saying, 'Drummer looking for other heavy metal fans,' or whatever, 'to start band. Influences: DIAMOND HEAD, ANGEL WITCH, TYGERS OF PAN TANG and VENOM' or something. And I would get all these calls from these guys saying, 'I'm into heavy metal. I like STYX and I like KANSAS and I like VAN HALEN' or whatever. And, 'Who's DIAMOND HEAD?' Then we would sort of have that conversation. And then I went and tried to play music with a bunch of these people and none of it worked out. And then one day, there was a call from a guy called Hugh Tanner, who had said if he could bring a friend of his along, and we met up and played music for an afternoon. And the guy that he brought along was James Hetfield. [James was] very shy, super introverted, could barely look you in the eye, barely have a conversation. But there was some connection with him as we were playing. And even though nothing happened that day, I ended up being kind of frustrated with the whole thing. And now it was June of 1981, so I went back and spent the summer in Europe and hung out, spent some time in England with DIAMOND HEAD and MOTÖRHEAD and so on. But when I came back to America in October of that year, I called up that James Hetfield guy again, 'cause there was just some vibe, a connection. And I said if he wanted to get together and see if there was a possibility of something, and we hooked up. And 37 years later, I'm sitting here. He was at that time… I came from a cultured European upbringing, was an only child, very close to my parents — my parents were my best friends at the time. And he was the exact opposite — the classic American rebellious, sort of 'Fuck my parents, fuck society, fuck The Man' — that whole thing… I think his father took off… not exactly sure when, but I know he was very disconnected from his father and he was raised by his mother who then got cancer when he was 14 or 15. And because of the particular Christianity that they believed in, they were not allowed to seek medical help. So, basically, I think over the course of a year and a half, he watched his mother pass away right in front of his eyes. So that, obviously, had a significant impact on him. I met him, I think, about a year after that — maybe he was 17 or 18. [He was] painfully shy and awkward. But we connected over music and we sat up in my room in Newport Beach and listened to, like I said, TYGERS OF PAN TANG and GIRLSCHOOL and SAXON and ANGEL WITCH, and all these things, and he loved all that stuff. He grew up more on American [artists like] AEROSMITH and Ted Nugent and that kind of stuff. But we found a common language and a common thing that we could both feel connected to and identify with. And we started playing songs together. Most of the songs we started with were covers of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal songs that were very off the radar, because we wanted to start playing concerts right away. So we figured if we learned a set… A lot of bands in the bars and the clubs at that time were playing KISS songs and JUDAS PRIEST songs, or whatever, so we figured we would play some covers, but not songs that people knew. And then we would take our time and start writing our own songs later." On the change in METALLICA's musical direction with the 1991 self-titled fifth album, commonly known as "the black album": Lars: "[METALLICA's co-manager] Cliff [Burnstein] and I went under the bleachers in Toronto. We were playing with AEROSMITH. It was the summer of 1990, and it was the very end of the 'Justice' cycle. It was James, me and [Cliff], and we went under the bleachers at the CNE [Stadium] in Toronto in the summer of 1990. And we had finished the 'Justice' cycle and we sat and told Cliff that we felt that we had pushed the progressive side of METALLICA… The last song on the '…And Justice For All' album was a song called 'Dyers Eve', which is five minutes of, basically, what we jokingly call 'math metal.' So we found, as we were going along on that tour, as the audiences became bigger and bigger, that some of the crazier, 10-minute progressive songs felt like they were connecting less and less with the audience. And we felt that we had, from a creative point of view, pushed… Where do you go after 'Dyers Eve'? It's, like, you have reached the end of that — there's nothing beyond that. So we decided that we were gonna try to take… We creatively wanted to take a turn. And so we figured that simplicity and trying to be a little more cohesive… we needed to do something else. And… we did. And then we made the 'black album' with [producer] Bob Rock and then all of that happened. We felt like we were on a creative journey that — and we've always felt like we've been on a creative journey that always needs to be reinvigorated, reinvented. And I think we, as people, have a fear of repetition, or fear of being stuck. And maybe even to the point where you could argue that we fight it too much. I think we may have made a couple of turns at some point that were almost too much, just because we don't wanna be fucking trapped in what people want from us, what the community expects from us. And we are so fiercely independent and autonomous, and nobody's gonna hold us back, and we're just gonna keep changing it up all the time. But this record really was a reflection on… I think if you look at the first four records — 'Kill 'Em All', 'Ride The Lightning', 'Master Of Puppets', '…And Justice [For All]' — there was a natural progressive growth and evolution that just came to an end point at the end of the '…And Justice For All' album. And the only place forward, other than repeating yourself or getting stuck in that moment, was to do something completely different, and that's what we did for the next couple of years." METALLICA was awarded the Polar Music Prize at a ceremony where Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo watched GHOST frontman Tobias Forge, along with members of Swedish metal act CANDLEMASS and the duo VARGAS & LAGOLA, honor the band with a performance of the METALLICA classic "Enter Sandman". Swedish singer Loney Dear performed "Wherever I May Roam" and "No Leaf Clover", while REFUSED frontman Dennis Lyxzen and ex-MOTÖRHEAD drummer Mikkey Dee covered the song "Whiplash". Reading the citation for METALLICA were DEEP PURPLE's Ian Paice and Roger Glover. Ulrich and Trujillo accepted the prize from His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. In his acceptance speech, Ulrich said: "Who would have thought, when METALLICA started this musical journey 37 years ago, that one day we would be standing in front of both musical royalty and actual royalty, accepting one of the most prestigious prizes that can be bestowed upon musicians."

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Girlschool’s Anna Bullbrook and Shirley Manson: ‘Women are roaring back in a massive way’

Shirley Manson and Anna Bullbrook at Girlschool 2017. (Photo: Facebook)

As the third annual Girlschool festival takes place in Los Angeles this weekend, its voices – which this year include Garbage’s Shirley Manson with the Girlschool Choir, Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein in conversation with poet Morgan Parker, Pussy Riot-affiliated rapper Desi Mo, and the Dum Dum Girls’ Kristin Kontrol — are needed now more than ever. Following a disappointing Grammys, at which few women won any actual awards and Recording Academy president Neil Portnow controversially placed the blame on female artists, telling women they need to “step up” — Girlschool provides a sense of community “for women that don’t get the opportunity to be heard on mainstream media outlets and platforms,” Manson tells Yahoo Entertainment. “You don’t hear these voices very much at all in our culture currently. That’s what I think’s so magical about Girlschool.”

The Girlschool artistic collective was founded by Anna Bullbrook of the Airborne Toxic Event (a classically trained violinist who’s also played with Kanye West, Beyoncé, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, and Vampire Weekend) to “celebrate, connect, and lift women-identified artists, leaders, and voices.” Speaking with Yahoo about of this year’s event in a candid roundtable with Manson (who was last year’s Girlschool keynote speaker), the conversation gets heavy at times, but Bullbrook can’t suppress her giddy excitement over this year’s Girlschool lineup. “It’s going to be unmissable, and if you miss it, you will probably have FOMO for the rest of your life,” she enthuses. “Everybody deserves a chance to be heard, but also everybody’s so good, you’re going to want to hear them.”

Read on for Bullbrook and Manson’s thoughts on gender equality and inclusivity in music, the #TimesUp movement, why the progress women made in the ‘90s frustratingly stalled, their hopes for the future, and the power of “positive discrimination.”

Yahoo Entertainment: Shirley, how did you come to be a part of Girlschool?

Shirley Manson: I just really admired what Anna was doing, and I felt it was really vital what she was doing at that particular time. As time has unfolded since we connected, I couldn’t be more right. The need for the kind of advocacy that Anna’s doing is more vital than ever. I was really inspired when I met her, and I’ve stalked her on social media ever since, and been blown away by how much she actually does. We’re all guilty of talking a lot, just saying, “I’m supporting and doing this and doing that,” but Anna has been able to do things for other people, and I really respect that.

Yahoo Entertainment: Anna, why did you decide to start Girlschool? Did your own experience as a musician in a male-dominated field make you want to take action?

Anna Bullbrook: Yes. I think especially in the wake of this [USC] study [about the lack of representation of women in music] that was just released this week, we’ve all seen the statistics, which very much confirm my experience — our experiences as the female members of the bands that we’ve been in, and coming from the rock space. It’s a very lonely position to be in. … It wasn’t until probably eight years that I started to really notice and miss the company of other women. I had this perspective shifting experience with Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls L.A. I was a speaker, and it was the first time I’ve ever been in a space that was 100 percent women-identified people coming together in an intentionally positive way around making music. I’d never had that experience. After that experience, I was so hungry for more of that. I couldn’t unsee what I had seen, and I couldn’t exist without it going forward.

I’m actually really excited that we actually have hard data now that we can point to and say, “This is a problem, look. We’re not just making it up. There really is this incredible disparity.” What would music sound like if it were more inclusive? What would happen if all the incredible women producers that I know were actually given a chance to make a record, or someone would take a chance on them with a budget? What would happen if songwriters were women too? What would music sound like? It’s very exciting to have truth and have facts that we can look at, that we can actually assess where we are, then keep working towards a beautiful, brighter future — look back at the numbers and see if you’ve measurably moved the needle.

Manson: Statistics are really depressing. We all know that that’s not because women aren’t great musicians. There’s something amiss here. I guess we’re all trying to struggle to figure out why this is the case, whether it’s that women don’t have the confidence necessarily to push themselves into the spotlight, or whether they’ve not been given the chance to stand in the spotlight. I think there are multiple reasons why women are not engaged in music in the same way as their male counterparts. That has to change, and I think what Anna is doing, it’s positively trying to change how women view themselves and to give them this confidence and joy — the joy that you get from playing music.

Yahoo Entertainment: The ’90s, an era when Garbage came to prominence, is a decade I look back on fondly. At that time, it seemed like the issues we’re discussing now we’re in the process of being erased. So many bands that I like were coed, or all women bands, or female-fronted. Lilith Fair, Alanis Morissette, Riot Grrl, Courtney Love, the Breeders, Liz Phair – the list goes on. Then I feel like everything regressed, or it stopped. Do you have any thoughts as to why that progress didn’t continue?

Manson: I’ve been saying this for years now. I think when Sept. 11 occurred, it not only was a horrendous tragedy, but it affected the culture and it affected American radio programming. All of a sudden everybody in the world felt really unsafe in ways that we had never ever felt before. As a result, humanity gets conservative. When humanity feels under attack, when it feels threatened, it gets conservative, and nobody wants a woman with opinions, or an aggressive woman, or a powerful woman, at times when white men are feeling under threat. It’s oversimplifying it to put it like that, but I do essentially believe that that is what was at play. Like you say, everything was on this amazing trajectory, and then all of a sudden it was like the car turned around and headed back down the road. It’s never changed direction since. It’s really rather frightening and really disheartening because when we emerged in the ’90s, it really felt like women were piercing through the glass ceiling. In some ways we definitely were, but unfortunately, that change has not continued.

You mentioned Lilith Fair. I didn’t want to participate in Lilith Fair. By the time we were invited to go on that tour, I didn’t want to do a fully female-oriented festival. It was against everything I believed in. But now I feel like it’s necessary for me to put my weight behind women’s interests. I feel like that because the times have changed. The climate’s different, and I think it’s a matter of urgency for women to galvanize.

Yahoo Entertainment: That is an interesting point, actually, because there is a mindset that sometime doing things that are solely all about being women, whether it’s Lilith Fair or the She Rocks Awards, or even Girlschool, it’s making women be “other,” putting them off in a little side category.

Bullbrook: Actually, Shirley and I were talking about this. As two women in bands that have had some levels of success, we don’t have that many peers. I would say just from my experience being out there in the professional landscape, life got very lonely. So just the experience of seeing so many women-identified people as artists, technical people, and speakers in one place, it’s so exciting. I think that is the intention behind a lot of girls’ groups: When there’s a lot of really amazing people together who feel some kind of kinship with each other, that feeling of community feels very enriching. And I think if you do it in a way that is inclusive and includes everybody on the gender spectrum — and that includes men — then you’re creating something really beautiful, exciting, and positive. It involves the whole community. I do agree that if you completely separate yourself, it’s not as effective as it could be.

Manson: I think when I was younger, I guess I didn’t believe in “positive discrimination,” and now as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized we will never break the mold and the old patriarchy unless we do recognize that women of all colors are not as privileged as men of all colors. There has to be some way that we break that. A lot of people point at positive discrimination and say, ‘This isn’t cool.” I was guilty of that myself when I was younger. But the political climate is such and the actual statistics are such that I really feel that positive discrimination is the only way we will actually change the course.

Bullbrook: I tend to think this about feminism in general, but I think it has to be inclusive and representative across the board: color, identity, religion, ability. I feel like it’s really incredibly important to make sure that if we want to move forward we do it together, and we do it from a very intentional and considered way. I feel like any effort which just is one group of people, one type of woman, so to speak, misses the point entirely.

Yahoo Entertainment: At Girlschool last year, there was a panel discussion about sexual harassment in the music business. This was well before harassment became the topic of national discussion that is now.

Bullbrook: I think these things go in cycles in the media. I am heartened to see so many people engaging with it, and I hope that in the process of building a big cultural moment actually results in people teaching our children how to be better people, people teaching their children about equality, people teaching their children about consent and what it means to be a good person, no matter what your gender is. I really hope that we see some change from this, but I think to be a woman in the world is to engage with the constant fear of sexual harassment and the fear of sexual assault. … I would love to see a world that feels like Girlschool, where when you’re there, you actually don’t have to worry about that for a little while.

Yahoo Entertainment: Sometimes I do worry that #MeToo and #TimesUp will be seen as some “hot new trend” — meaning, in the media will get tired of reporting about it, or people will be tired of reading about it, just because there’s been such a media saturation for the last six months or so. I almost fear people will fatigue of these stories and then not take them seriously anymore.

Manson: I feel a little concerned too, that people’s ears just start to shut down and get bored and move onto another topic. But I do agree with Anna. I feel like the conversation is being had and it is a really significant cultural moment, and it’s on everybody’s lips. I think that will affect a generation of men and women — or everyone on the spectrum, let’s say. I think it’s never going to change people who have serious sexual problems. There’s always going to be predators out there, and they will prey on anyone. No amount of discussion and no amount of analysis will ever change that; some people are sick in the head, and that’s just how it goes. But I do think it will give pause to the average [man of] power and privilege that thinks he can just take what he wants, when he wants, without consequence. I do think that’s one of the greatest things that we’ll take from this moment in time.

Above all things, we must encourage people to speak out, and continue to speak out. It’s about using your voice. If you don’t use your voice, you’re eradicated by history. That’s just how it’s always been. You must be a witness to your own experience. And at this time when we’re all so busy broadcasting, we really all need to stop and listen, and actually pay attention, and see, and hear, and try, and reeducate our children. A lot of it’s about education. It’s about teaching people what is right and what is wrong, what’s appropriate and what’s not.

Yahoo Entertainment: Do either of you have any stories about how you’ve been discriminated against, or just in general treated differently, poorly, because of your gender?

Bullbrook:  Well, I think the insidious thing about bias is sometimes it’s hard to see it. I think it’s hard to even know when it’s happening to you, because we’re all biased. The sad thing is, everybody is biased against women — including other women. We might just look at two people, two different candidates for something, and think one is just worse for some reason. We don’t know why, but one happens to be the woman-identified candidate. It blew my mind when I actually started understanding the idea of bias and looked around. I started to see it everywhere — in myself, in others, in experiences I’ve had. I look backwards with a whole new pair of glasses and can see all of these colors I’ve never seen before.

I’ve had those very obvious experiences where the label executive suggested I wear a see-through skirt in New York City for a photo shoot. This was the head of the label who holds the purse-strings for the marketing budget. Some members of my band were like, “Don’t do that. You’re going to be uncomfortable.” I was like, “Really? You want me to show my butt?” Some of that stuff happens, but I feel like more often than not, because I was with really good people, the way it plays out is much more subtle and hard to notice, unless you actually open your eyes to it. I know Shirley’s had some other experiences.

Manson: I feel like it happens to women every day, in really subtle ways. As Anna said so rightly, often you can be slow yourself to detect it, to have a clarity about what has happened. You’re not always aware of that when all the male record execs are commenting on your hairstyle. It’s only a few years later that I’m thinking, “What the f***? What’s my hair got to do with you? You wouldn’t be talking about a male artist in this way!” I was an object. I was too young, and too naïve, and too vain to really detect it at the time, but now looking back, I’m like, “That was just ridiculous.” More than that, I think in business I have just been completely ignored a lot of the time by male lawyers, and managers, and business managers. Everything’s directed towards my male counterparts. They would talk to me maybe about what shoes I wanted to wear. It continues to this day.

Yahoo Entertainment: How did you handle that, especially when you were first starting out?

Manson: I’m very aware that during the very first part of my career, I played submissive dog all the time. I wouldn’t come into a work situation and say, “This hi-hat doesn’t sound good to me.” I would fudge the margins and deliberately dumb myself down, use simple language and try not to be threatening. I would never take ownership over any directive. I knew that if I didn’t act like a submissive dog, I wouldn’t get what I wanted. Men don’t have to do that; women continue to have to do that often. You’ll see it in a lot of female execs. They’re very fun, and energetic. I feel that that’s methodology to get what they want, but men can be as grumpy and unpleasant as they wish and nobody has a word to say about it. If a woman acts that way, she’s a c***, literally. She’s a “bossy c***.”

Yahoo Entertainment: It’s interesting to talk about this stuff, because recent onslaught of media headlines is definitely more focused on the crazy, shocking, violent stories. But these stories you’re telling now are also important. I think it’s important to talk about how incidents that maybe don’t seem nearly as dramatic, or traumatic, also take their toll.

Bullbrook: I’m hoping that Girlschool can create a really warm, engaging, and high-quality story around this incredible talent and create enough of a conduit so that we can start catapulting more artists who are already here. The industry is full of talented women who are working in the music space in some capacity. Let’s start pushing them into opportunities out in the mainstream, and let’s start pushing them and giving them the experience they need to go get a paying job. Let’s create jobs for them, so then they have the experience at a high level where someone finds them undeniable. If you can create this positive and action-oriented space, it’s also just really fun to be a part of. I’m hopeful about where we can go with things in the future. This is really positive for all of us who are involved in it.

Yahoo Entertainment: I love the idea of community, because you touched on something interesting: women sometimes being biased against other women. I think that is such a shame.

Bullbrook: I feel like, yes, there’s bias, but it is a myth that women don’t support each other. I think when given the opportunity, we do. It’s magic, it’s incredible. I can’t feel anything other than hopeful, because of what I see every day in my personal experience and work. I see too many good things that happen when women come together to believe that we’re not supportive of each other.

Manson: Well, I have to disagree and agree. I’ve been on the receiving end of both situations. I’ve enjoyed phenomenal support from incredible women, and I’ve also seen the panicked, fearful, defensive approach by a lot of other female artists who never, ever seem interested in supporting or speaking out on behalf of another female artist. I think ultimately it speaks of the way our culture is, which is all based on fear of lack of opportunity. For women in general who are getting less opportunity than their white male counterparts, I think they feel if one woman flourishes, automatically all the other women in the room don’t. Of course, I don’t believe that’s the case at all, and until women really support the women they see flourishing, we’ll never change the lack of opportunities. Similarly, white women have to get the backs of their black sisters and women of color. We all have to start recognizing how can we break down the system that we are currently oppressed under. These are big words and it sounds dramatic — but I think it is quite dramatic, really.

I think, again, it goes back to education. We need to educate our children differently. We’re still teaching them that girls do housework and boys get to run out and get dirty in the yard. It’s just crazy that these stereotypes still exist. We have yet to really break that down. I just feel like boys are encouraged to take up room, and girls are encouraged to make themselves small. Boys are encouraged to be loud and boisterous; girls are supposed to be ladylike and quiet. I think all these things are what lead to these weird imbalances in our culture, and it has to change. This is not good for anyone. Yes, particularly in the arts, you’ll find pockets of incredibly supportive women collectives and movements, but out in the world at large I don’t see a lot of support from women for other women. I see a lot of bitchiness, criticism, judgments, and snickering behind girls’ backs. I don’t know, that’s just my perception of the world. I’ve worked with men a lot in my career, and men are much more forgiving to themselves and to each other. Women are really unforgiving of themselves and each other. These are sweeping statements, and it’s not by any means a rule of thumb, but that’s what I’ve witnessed in my life.

Yahoo Entertainment: How do you see what’s going on musically now — especially as it pertains to women-identified artists –reflecting what’s going on politically, culturally? And where is that going?

Bullbrook: I’m just so deep in this festival coming up, and I’m just excited about what we have around us. I’m enthralled with how much different talent there is. I’m excited to see what happens when we get all those different people together under one roof, bringing different audiences together. I feel what’s happening, especially with people ages 15 to 25 these days, around gender and unboxing these gender types and creating a bit more freedom within everything. I feel so hopeful. I know that history and statistics show that maybe I shouldn’t be hopeful, because it’s really hard to make a change, but I have to believe in a better future — because if I didn’t, what would I work towards?

Manson: I also feel really optimistic, and I feel that there’s a whole new wave of really provocative, smart, informed women making music that’s much more rebellious/provocative than the last 20, 15 years. I feel like there’s a real upswell from women who have something to say, who are not interested in putting on a leotard and singing pop music. Now, that is a huge shift, because certainly 10 years ago, that’s all you saw: girls wanting to be pretty. They were all wearing long nails painted glamorously, they were all very ladylike, and they were all singing pop songs either about having a great time in a club, falling in love, having their hearts broken, or being forever young. Things have definitely shifted.

I feel like we have had 20 years of forceful women being pushed back, now the women are roaring back in a massive way. And I do feel that that will then, again, push women’s rights and women’s fortunes forward. Let’s face it, I have a better life than my mum did. My mum didn’t get to choose what she did for a living. My mum basically would keep house, and get a f***ing allowance from my father. I grew up in a very conservative household, and my granny also didn’t have freedom. And neither did her mother before her. I do believe in the concept of evolution really strongly. When I talk to young women now, they’re way smarter than I ever was. So, I just have to believe that the next generation are going to continue that. Human nature is going to continue to evolve, and everything’s going to be OK in the end.

Girlschool takes place Feb. 2-4 at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles. Click here for tickets and the full lineup.