Girls Rock on Stage and at Camp

By Abagail Chartier

Stonehill College News Blog Journalist

BOSTON – Paradise Rock Club is packed to the brim with people for a sold-out show. The crowd ripples with anticipation, hundreds of bodies cramming themselves towards the stage. Suddenly, blue lights on the stage are no longer alone but joined with red. A roar goes through the crowd, as the opening band walks out. The blue fades and the quartet is drowning in red.

“Hello Boston!” female singer Alexia Roditis calls out, getting a chorus of welcome in reply, “We are Destroy Boys from Sacramento, California and we’re here to rock your world!”

The Berkley’s on Fire World Tour has three bands playing tonight: Destroy Boys, Beach Goons, and SWMRS. Out of these three, the only band with female members is Destroy Boys.

This is a common occurrence in the music industry. According to the 2018 study “Inclusion in the Recording Studio?” by Dr. Stacy L. Smith, et al. published the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, women are underrepresented in the music industry.

Researchers found that women make up:

·       21.7% of recording artists

·       12.3% of songwriters

·       2.1% of producers.

This study looks at women in all genres and shows off how skewed it is favoring men.

The rock industry is one of the toughest for women to break into, said James Bohn, Stonehill College music program director and assistant professor of music.

“I wouldn’t even call them common,” Bohn said of all-girl/female dominated rock bands. “There was a trend – where still most groups were all-male or predominantly male – but there were some very high profile, all-female bands, starting in the 70s, but certainly in the 80s… and I don’t know if that’s so common anymore.”

SWMRS lead singer Cole Becker said that the band picked Destroy Boys because they have talent, not because they are women.

Lead guitarist Max Becker said many music labels want to push forward female musicians regardless of talent. They provide a forced inclusion, pushed out to show off and be praised in society’s eyes for having women represented.

“Don’t let people hire you because they’re like ‘oh we need more girls here’. That’s not – that shouldn’t be the reason,” Max Becker said.

The Beckers said SWMRS did not want to participate in that; instead, they focused on what should matter for a musician. Their talent. The fact that they had women in the band was a welcomed bonus where having Destroy Boys could add more diversity for the tour lineup.

“I feel like a lot of our peers are afraid to speak up because they’re afraid of taking up space… but they already are taking up space, so why not do something with it?” Cole Becker asked, referring to privileged musicians not speaking on the need for diversity.

He and his bandmates have used their success to go on to lend their voices to various social causes and help others who don’t have that privilege and give them a platform. Their lineup for the tour is colorful: men and women, various people of color, and LGBT+ artists.

One way to have more organic representation is by giving aspiring female musicians a platform that will let women foster their creativity and talent, working on their craft.

SWMRS has their own way of helping to this cause – through the SWMRS Fund.

In the words of Cole Becker, the SWMRS Fund was a way “to put our money where our mouth is.”

One dollar from each ticket sold to their show goes to the SWMRS Fund in addition to donations from individual fans. The SWMRS Fund disperses this money to various social organizations handpicked by the band to help make a difference. One of these is Girls Rock Camp Alliance.

The Girls Rock Camp Alliance (GRCA) is a coalition of rock camps for girls and other marginalized genders all across the United States. The coalition supports the different international chapters and provides a network for the members. They provide space and financial support to new rock camps starting up. Most large cities have one – Boston included.

Girls Rock Campaign Boston (GRCB) is a non-profit organization that was spearheaded by Nora Allen-Wiles and Hilken Mancini, who to this day are the executive director and program director respectively. GRCB has been running for nine years.

Each summer it has one hundred and fifty youths split between two week-long sessions. During these sessions, they learn to play an instrument, write songs, and enjoy the art of music without stress put on them. They’re allowed to be carefree and creative. But this is not their only purpose.

“It is so important to have these programs because you’re creating a community out in the world that is more representative of the world,” Allen-Wiles said, repeating this notion several times for emphasis of its importance, “You are learning that you can start from nothing and build on that.”

While the music is important to the GRCB, the real aim is to support young women. GRCB gives them creative freedom and helps them build self-confidence through expressing themselves however they want. Music is, after all, a form of self-expression.

The GRCB funds its programs through tuition, fundraisers, and grants but also deeply relies on donations. Most of the donations come through small donors, according to Allen-Wiles, though there are some larger donors.

The donations go towards all the program costs, renting space, equipment, supplies, repairs, new instruments, and to support volunteers. Perhaps most importantly, the money is used to make sure there’s financial aid to cover the tuition. Financial aid makes it possible for GRCB to turn no girl away who wants to explore music.

Many girls who start at GRCB go on to keep playing music and songwriting. Some make new bands, and some of the bands from the camp stay together. Regardless of where they end up, girls rock camps make the music industry more accessible to girls. They make organic representation possible by giving girls the courage to keep writing, keep producing, and most importantly to keep rocking.

Cole Becker, when asked on his advice to girls interested in music said, “Just have fun, and write songs.”

For more information and to donate to the SWMRS Fund, click here and for the Girls Rock Campaign Boston, click here