Some of punk’s most influential women are forming a supergroup for one very special night in London.
The Raincoats’ Gina Birch, The Slits’ Hollie Cook and X-Ray Spex’s Lora Logic and Paul Dean will perform together at Electric Brixton on 16 October. The one-off set forms part of ‘God Save the Queens’, a festival celebrating 50 years of feminist punk.
Organised by the Up Yours! collective, the festival arrives ahead of a new exhibition at Camden’s Museum of Youth Culture tracing the movement’s history and continuing influence.
The bill also features punk historian Vivien Goldman, Akiko Matsuura, Rhoda Dakar, HotWax and Celeste Bell, the daughter of X-Ray Spex frontwoman Poly Styrene. Many of the artists appearing at the festival have contributed previously unseen artwork, archival material and other personal artefacts to the exhibition.
On her curation, Bell said: “Curating my mother’s archive proved how important it is to protect female counter-cultural history. Through Up Yours! Collective, we’re taking that legacy out of the archives and putting it where it belongs: centre stage. Bringing this vision to life through both the exhibition and joining the iconic she-punks on stage is an incredible full-circle moment.”
Lora Logic echoes that “full-circle” sentiment.
‘Contributing previously unseen artwork to the exhibition while also stepping onto the stage to play these iconic songs again feels like completing a full circle and is incredibly special,’ she said. ‘For me, the creative expression of the movement was always multi-dimensional; it was visual art, clothes and noise all at once.’
And for Goldman, it’s about continuing the work.
“When I wrote Revenge of the She-Punks, it was about mapping out the global lineage of women who used music to dismantle stereotypes and claim their own space,” Goldman said in a statement. “This festival, and the incredible night we are putting together at Electric Brixton, is that book coming to life on stage. It’s a vital, living continuation of that rebel culture, proving that the female narrative in punk is not an afterthought; it is a driving, evolving force.”
‘God Save the Queens’ takes place at Electric Brixton on 16 October. Get your tickets.
Watch: Gina Birch in conversation with Sharon Van Etten
