Are any of you rad ladies looking for some new music that will make you feel good? Then Girlpool’s got what you’re looking for. Responsible for empowering young women in the US and beyond, the L.A.-based punk duo, BFFs Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad, are starting to make waves in the lo-fi music world.
The ladies just finished playing a bunch of packed shows in Brooklyn for CMJ, including shows at Silent Barn and Baby’s All Right. They’ve also been performing at New York colleges including Bard College, and my very own SUNY Purchase. Next month they’re scheduled to tour with fellow Cali girl Jenny Lewis for a little while before embarking overseas on a UK tour.
Girlpool performing at SUNY Purchase this past Tuesday.
Girlpool’s live performances are powerful and the girls seem super accessible and sweet. Their support for and bond with one another is clear in their interactions with each other between songs. The girls’ DIY aesthetic and empowering lyrics feel like a revival of riot grrrl sentiment. Although not quite Kathleen Hanna, Girlpool is on the softer side of punk, perhaps even a little folksy. But their message of loving yourself and expressing yourself goes hand-in-hand with feminism.
“Just look inward,” said Tividad in an interview with Rookie Mag. “Be real and be nonjudgmental and be as genuine as possible.”
Both girls were quite young when they first discovered their passion for music and began playing guitar.
“I think I was eight years old when I got a guitar,” Tucker said in an interview with Rookie. “And I started taking lessons immediately.”
However, Tucker and Tividad don’t want to be boxed in as a feminist band, and rather a “free expression band.”
Whatever way you choose to classify them, there’s no doubt that their music is empowering to all of their fans, especially ladies. In their rocking and super positive song “Jane,” the girls preach owning who you are and speaking up: “Girls and boys if you’re listening/ don’t ever feel imprisoned/ feeling like your mouth is glued tight shut/ you were born for a reason/share all of your feelings/ if you are a Jane put your fists up, too.”
Tucker describes their latest (and very relatable) song, “Plants and Worms” as a song about “how scary life can be, and just feeling afraid to step out of your comfort zone, and then realizing that’s how we grow.” (Rookie). Check it out the video right here, and be sure to give their Bandcamp a listen.
So all you Janes out there who want to feel validated, sulk about your ex, or you just need a little more girl power in your life, be sure to give Girlpool a listen. The girls have their first show with Jenny Lewis at NYC’s Terminal 5 November 5.
Photos via Impose Magazine and Kenneth Miller.
