Lucy Bown, bassist for London-via-York riot-grrl band BitchCraft comments on their inspirations, relationship and much more!
Bitchcraft
Talk to me about some of the best bits about recording ‘Trial By Fire’ – two or three of your favourite experiences?
We feel just the very nature of making Trial by Fire, it being our debut album, was a crazy, energising, exhausting, beautiful whirlwind of a project for which we’re so so grateful! Hearing the songs we’d been performing on stage day in day out translated into tangible tracks was probably the craziest part of the whole experience. Even before that though, for a long time, our music and ideas sort of bounced between the 4 of us, nurtured by a quiet yet super strong sense of friendship, always changing and transforming. So translating ideas in our heads into permanent media that could be accessed by anyone anywhere was super mind boggling in the best way. And that continues to be surprising and amazing for us in many ways, as our tracks get played on small radio stations across the world, or when people sing our lyrics back to us at gigs, the opportunity to make the album as a small band has been something we can’t understate our gratefulness for.
What have you learned about yourselves as artists, and as people since your beginnings together, to where you are now?
Though it sounds super cliché, we can’t honestly say there is anything more important to BitchCraft than the friendship we find in one another. Being a small band means most of the time, you’re completely on your own. Whether you need to get everyone’s kit to a venue you’ve never played in a city you’ve never been to, or you need to book practices, put up posters, find in-industry contacts, do social media, meet a tech-spec, decide lyrics, melodies, chords, outfits…. And beyond that, it means going on stage infront of a big crowd of people, playing songs no one’s heard before, being resilient in the face of scrutiny, dealing with the fact that some people will simply treat you differently because you are an all female group. None of that is possible without an incredibly strong sense of devotion to each other as equal parts of a project to which we are all incredibly devoted. This friendship has enabled us to push through some really tough moments into the super exciting, incredible musical and social experiences that have kept us keeping on for years and years as a group.
Maybe we should change our name to Mutual-RespectCraft?
I loved ‘Summon The Witch’ – talk to me about what inspired that track both lyrically, and musically?
Summon The Witch is very heavily inspired by folklore and storytelling. It begins by setting the scene with reference to an ancient tale transcending time of a wish-granting witch. From there, we see the foolish male protagonist seeking his fortune despite warnings, blinded by ambition and arrogance, repeating the phrase that will supposedly summon the witch. With thematics of beauty, beckoning, betrayal, burial, and beheading, we wanted to guide the listener through a foggy, mystical soundscape, and really give people the chance to immerse themselves into this imaginary world of horror and history. The instrumental parts therefore followed very naturally from there.
Much alike the story, we hear ominous, minor, lulling melodies, slowly becoming more agitated with off beat patterns and punctuating, descending motifs until all instruments erupt into distortion where the protagonist becomes immediately endangered. We then return momentarily back to safety, in order to give the ending a real sense of punch. From there, we hear an entirely new section, then the vocals getting increasing relentless and high pitched, wailing out a minor arpeggio as the man meets his gruesome end.
It feels very reminiscent of Siouxsie and the Banshees ‘Spellbound’ – we loved how addictive and immersive that sound was, and wanted to put our own spin on those kind of mystical ideas.
‘Willow Tree’ is another banger – talk me through that one?
Willow Tree is one of the only love songs in Trial by Fire – I think it might actually be one of the only songs in the album that makes strong use of major chords? So definitely a noticeable break from the otherwise pretty damning storyline that runs through the album.
In terms of the chorus, it being a story of love and loss between 2 women, the call and response of the female voices felt very natural and thematically resonant. The close harmony here was also a super fun one to work out, the voices constantly missing each other, until they join in crunchy, descending unison for a moment or two. With the thematics of a couple enjoying walks through a graveyard, seeing leaves fall from a swinging, windswept willow tree, and the burning lights of the city, we wanted to make this one equally immersive, and we absolutely loved how Amélie’s vocals delivered that sound.
You formed in York, did or does that scene inspire you at all?
For sure! The music scene at York is super well nurtured, and it’s been really key to supporting us as a group in our early days. As it’s a smaller city, it gives up and coming artists the space and accessibility to try new things, perform in venues in the city centre, and work with other bands on the scene. We find there’s a real strong sense of community there, and we’re definitely going to miss our home in the north as we move down south together for the first time. Though we are all super excited for all the new opportunities available in London, we will always be grateful for the city that gave us the space to grow and the support to believe in ourselves.
At this point, do you have any goals as artists?
We’ve spoken a lot about playing festivals. I personally know I’ve found a lot of my favourite new artists at festivals, and it’s just the perfect set up for finding new fans and like minded people to enjoy our work. One in particular we’ve had our eye on is Loud Women fest in London – the idea of a female fronted festival like this would just be an absolute dream, and something we’re super keen on. Beyond that, album two is already in the works, and we are absolutely buzzing to make that and share it with everyone!
What have been some personal highlights of touring, and playing shows?
Honestly, learning how to perform is something that’s super super rewarding. When we first started, we were, like many, prone to shoe gazing, focussing on getting the notes under our fingers and producing a good sound, too scared to move out of line or do anything wrong or provocative. But now, as the nerves begin to wear off show by show, we have begun to learn that actually it’s not so scary after all.
We have this ‘bit’ we sometimes do in Infected where I go into the crowd for my bass solo, which people seem to have fun with. Now it’s second nature, but I remember the first time I ever tried it, stepping only about half a metre out of my literal comfort zone, I honestly thought I was going to throw up, and nearly forgot the solo entirely. But then you watch back the videos and realise not one person in that room can see any of that.
I see this transformation massively in the other girls too. Moving with what has been described in a review as ‘hairography’, screaming into the front row, performing numerous guitar solos through bleeding fingers and malfunctioning monitors, it’s no wonder why most of the gig photos feature me in the corner smiling and watching my girls perform.
So through live performances, we’ve learned to have a good time, dance, have fun with each other, be confident about our music, and really understand the beauty of performance as an expression and an escape.
What motivates you all outside of music – are there specific people, places, or films for example?
The riotgrrrl movement has been a massive inspiration for us. Forming in the 90s in Washington, the riotgrrrl movement harnesses the rebelliousness, defiance, sexuality, and musicality of rock music, but appropriates it into a female space. Rock music at its onset was heavily steeped in the idea of being ‘cool’, and therefore, in accordance with normative ideals, it became incredibly male dominated.
Female artists therefore reacted with art that was subsequently incredibly self made and defiant, responding to this injustice in a self-assured whirlwind of creativity and musicality. Riotgrrrl questions what being a girl really means, responding to conventional rock, and by extension gendered ideals, with a sound equally insistent and jarring as the binaries relentlessly impressed upon them. It says girls can be whatever they want – not just positive and able, but also loud, angry, confident, sexual, jarring – you see it all in riotgrrrl.
This crafting of an entirely new genre in the face of massive scrutiny is something that is undeniably brave, and honestly, we don’t think there’s anything more authentically rock and roll. We therefore dedicate a massive part of our inspiration to groups like Hole, Babes In Toyland, Jack Off Jill, Veruca Salt, L7 and Bikini Kill.
Is there anything else you’d like to add that I might not have covered today?
We just want to say a massive thank you to you Dom, and all your team at Soundsphere for giving us your time and this visibility. We’re a big fan of your work, and hope to do another collaboration at some point! 🙂