Lambrini Girls on the challenges women and queer people face: “Exile to the sidelines”
“The reason why we have a problem with abusers in our scene is that people don’t call out their mates,” Lambrini Girls’ Phoebe Lunny states at the start of the music video for ‘Boys In The Band’. “If you don’t call your mates, it perpetuates their behaviour because they have no fucking consequence.” Lunny is confronting a long-standing problem within the music industry, where perpetrators often evade consequences for their actions — a pattern that is unlikely to change unless we raise our voices.
Based in Brighton, Lunny and fellow bandmate Lilly Macieira know a thing or two about women’s challenges in the music industry. Like many other scenes, music is a microcosm which often overlooks predatory behaviour in all its forms. Although many musicians sit on the right side of history, the likelihood that they’ll opt for straight-up disruption over quiet civilisation is low. When it comes to Lambrini Girls, however, you can expect an unmatched level of energy.
All of this – whether it’s their music, the social media wars, or explosive live performances – is part of their mission statement to change the world. “Music and any other form of media are extremely important tools when it comes to raising awareness,” Macieira tells Far Out. “The nature of music is to be listened to and to be shared. Therefore, it gives musicians a direct line of communication to the listener, which can make for a very powerful platform. It’s important for anyone with such a platform to make informed choices on how to use it.”
“I think it’s all about getting yourself into spaces that aren’t designed for you,” Lunny adds. “The more you’re able to infiltrate the mainstream, the more people you’ll be in front of that aren’t aware of these issues or simply don’t give a fuck about them. It’s about doing more than preaching to the already converted. Altering behaviour isn’t an overnight job, it comes from normalising these sorts of dialogues and educating your peers around you.”
The beauty of Lambrini Girls is that they carry the strength and audacity of the trailblazing women who came before. In the punk movement, many musicians and music lovers rallied for change, with figures like Joan Jett, Patti Smith, Linda Rondstadt, Exene Cervenka, and many more seeking to challenge conventional ideals of feminine beauty while setting a new trail for women musicians in the industry.
As the punk movement stirred awake, so did the many oppressed women who finally had an outlet for their rage. This was also defined by the once-progressive term ‘feminist punk’, but now, it’s more likely to signify outdated discourse than forward-thinking. “‘Feminist punk’ isn’t necessarily a category that should exist,” Macieira explains. “Really, it’s just about women or anyone who doesn’t identify as a straight cis male wanting to play music in a world that isn’t designed for them.”
“That in itself is a pushback against the oppression,” they continue, “or exile to the sidelines, that women and queer people experience. Still, there is great importance and necessity for bands that deal with this topic more explicitly through lyrics and attitude. It’s about using your musical platform as an agent of change.”
Choosing to fight the good fight is a choice, one that many with platforms don’t dare to do. For Lambrini Girls, it’s simply human nature to challenge what you know isn’t right. “We should all be challenging the status quo,” Lunny says, “We find the courage in compassion for ourselves and our peers who are overlooked, not taken seriously, mocked and invalidated,” Macieira adds. “We have lived it, and we see it around us all the time – it’s difficult not to want to do something about it.”
Being an integral part of the punk landscape, Lambrini Girls experience first-hand how the movement is evolving. During the first iteration, women were getting used to finding their voices. Now, they’re using it to continue the fight against misogyny, transphobia, and bigotry. However, the subculture is not without its faults: “A movement that started largely focused on cis women in music could still be quite exclusionary towards queer people,” Macieira says. “I think there is slightly more of an inclusive dialogue, although there is a long way to go. These conversations also need to be more inclusive in terms of ethnicity, especially in alternative music circles.”
Lunny adds: “A lot of punk bands back [in the 1970s]; Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks,[and so on], are responsible for the cultural, anti-establishment shift we know as punk. But I think for those bands just to solely exist as themselves, the music, the outrage, the style, was enough to spark a connection between the disillusionment of the public and the state.”
Continuing: “I think iterations of punk today are spurred from true activism. Only if you literally put your money where your mouth is. Don’t sing about social justice just to end up supporting your favourite artist on a big stage one day. When you get to that level, use that platform to push your message even further. Never stop. It’s no means to your own personal success.”
Although dated, punk acts who stirred the pot back then still hold value. Riot Grrrl, for instance, significantly contributed to paving the way, as Macieira explains. However, gender-balanced festival lineups remain a rarity, with ongoing instances of exploitation against women in the music industry and consistent oversight of women and queer individuals. “This is just an opportunity to build on these conversations that have existed for decades,” Macieira continues, “and they need to be referenced in order to grow more inclusive, including the transgender community.”
‘Boys In The Band’ was an essential moment for Lambrini Girls, showcasing their continuous battle for equality and justice in the industry. It also proved that they can fight the fight while crafting genuinely good music, another capability that not many are able to pull off. “I feel most attached to ‘The Boys In The Band’,” Lunny concludes, “because as much as it is about calling out this inherent issue, it was also something I wrote at the time for loved ones that I know had suffered such horrible trauma from men in bands.”
“This reminds me of how much I want them to be able to be okay and be happy,” she added. “So I feel very protective of it.”
