🔗 Share this article

Upon being questioned about the most punk thing she's ever pulled off, Cathy Loughead doesn't hesitate: “I took the stage with my neck fractured in two spots. Unable to bounce, so I bedazzled the brace instead. That show was incredible.”

Loughead belongs to a rising wave of women redefining punk music. While a upcoming television drama highlighting female punk premieres this Sunday, it reflects a phenomenon already thriving well beyond the screen.

Igniting the Flame in Leicester

This energy is most palpable in Leicester, where a local endeavor – presently named the Riotous Collective – lit the fuse. Cathy participated from the start.

“When we started, there weren't any all-women garage punk bands here. Within a year, there seven emerged. Today there are twenty – and growing,” she explained. “There are Riotous groups across the UK and worldwide, from Finland to Australia, producing music, performing live, featured in festival lineups.”

This explosion isn't limited to Leicester. Throughout Britain, women are repossessing punk – and altering the landscape of live music in the process.

Rejuvenating Performance Spaces

“Numerous music spots around the United Kingdom doing well due to women punk bands,” she added. “So are rehearsal studios, music instruction and mentoring, production spaces. This is because women are occupying these positions now.”

Additionally, they are altering who shows up. “Women-led bands are playing every week. They're bringing in more diverse audiences – ones that see these spaces as safe, as belonging to them,” she remarked.

A Movement Born of Protest

Carol Reid, programme director at Youth Music, said the rise is no surprise. “Ladies have been given a ideal of fairness. But gender-based violence is at alarming rates, the far right are exploiting females to promote bigotry, and we're manipulated over topics such as menopause. Females are pushing back – via music.”

Toni Coe-Brooker, from the Music Venue Trust, observes the trend transforming local music scenes. “We're seeing more diverse punk scenes and they're contributing to community music networks, with independent spaces programming varied acts and creating more secure, more welcoming spaces.”

Entering the Mainstream

In the coming weeks, Leicester will present the inaugural Riot Fest, a weekend festival including 25 female-only groups from the UK and Europe. In September, Decolonise Fest in London showcased punks of colour.

This movement is entering popular culture. The Nova Twins are on their first headline UK tour. Another rising group's initial release, their album title, reached number sixteen in the UK charts lately.

A Welsh band were nominated for the 2025 Welsh Music Prize. Problem Patterns won the Northern Ireland Music Prize in recently. Hull-based newcomers Wench played the BBC Introducing stage at Reading Festival.

This is a wave born partly in protest. Across a field still plagued by gender discrimination – where women-led groups remain underrepresented and live venues are shutting down rapidly – female punk artists are creating something radical: space.

Timeless Punk

At 79, a band member is evidence that punk has no age limit. Based in Oxford washboard player in a punk group began performing only twelve months back.

“Now I'm old, there are no limits and I can follow my passions,” she declared. Her latest composition features the refrain: “So scream, ‘Fuck it’/ Now is my chance!/ This platform is for me!/ At seventy-nine / And in my top form.”

“I appreciate this influx of elder punk ladies,” she said. “I wasn't allowed to protest when I was younger, so I'm rebelling currently. It's great.”

Kala Subbuswamy from the band also noted she couldn't to rebel as a teenager. “It's been really major to be able to let it all out at this late stage.”

Chrissie Riedhofer, who has performed worldwide with multiple groups, also considers it a release. “It involves expelling anger: feeling unseen as a parent, as an older woman.”

The Liberation of Performance

Comparable emotions inspired Dina Gajjar to establish a group. “Performing live is a release you never realized you required. Women are trained to be obedient. Punk defies this. It's noisy, it's flawed. This implies, when bad things happen, I consider: ‘I should create music from that!’”

But Abi Masih, a percussionist, remarked the punk lady is any woman: “We are typical, career-oriented, talented females who love breaking molds,” she explained.

Maura Bite, of the Folkestone band the band, shared the sentiment. “Ladies pioneered punk. We were forced to disrupt to gain attention. This persists today! That rebellious spirit is in us – it appears primal, instinctive. We're a bloody marvel!” she exclaimed.

Breaking Molds

Not every band conform to expectations. Two musicians, involved in a band, aim to surprise audiences.

“We don't shout about the menopause or use profanity often,” noted Julie. The other interjected: “Actually, we include a small rebellious part in each track.” Ames laughed: “Correct. However, we prefer variety. The latest piece was about how uncomfortable bras are.”