A recent study by the Arts and Humanities Research Council found that 95% of NME cover stars over the last 20 years were men. One former editor went so far to claim there were no women of note.

After experiencing a similar dominance of male musicians at an All Tomorrow’s Parties festival, Slum of Legs formed in 2013 partly to redress this imbalance.

The band comprises of singer Tamsin Chapman, guitarist Kate Franklin, violinist Maria Marzaioli, bassist Alex Othen,  keyboard player,  Emily Kawasaki and drummer Michelle Steele.

Their single Begin to Dissolve ended up in the Quiteus’ prestigious tracks of the year round up. More recently, they were handpicked by riot grrrl legend Kathleen Hanna to open for her sold out show at the Concorde 2. 

BNDIY sat down with the band to discuss furniture, politics and why the Medieval Babes might have more to say than Royal Blood.

 

First of all, what’s the story behind the your band’s name?

 

Tamsin: “It’s a quote form the architect Ero Sarninen about the famous table he invented which is an iconic mid-century classic. It’s a big white round table and has got a pedestal in the centre.

 

Emily: “I can give you the exact quote: ‘I wanted to clear away the slum of legs which makes for a confusing and unrestul world.’”

 

Tamsin: “I always wanted to use it because I always liked the phrase.  I’ve actually got that table which my grandma had and my mum has. I used to sit under it when I was little and slide around so I had a personal thing about it but also its something to do with that phrase and modernism. “

Historically, women have played a significant role in Brighton’s DIY scene.  Particularly Vi Subversa and Poison Girls.  Do you see yourselves as successors to them?

 

Tamsin: “We’re not successors to anybody but I’ve got an original Poison Girls t-shirt. That’s how I met Tobi Blackman who puts our records out.  I was at a show he was putting on and he said ‘cool t shirt’ so in fact they’re the reason why I first spoke to him. The other day that I was waiting for a bus and talking to a friend and her friend from Hagar the Womb. She introduced to her and said; ‘the other day I was at Vi Subversa’s  80th birthday party , and it was awesome. I love Poison Girls, but no,  we’re not successors to them.  Those comparisons are like saying to a male band, are you successors to the Sex Pistols because they’re a male band.“
 

You end your sets with a song called Benetint and Malevolence.  The chorus has this climax with the line ‘when you’re sad you’re invisible.’ Can you tell me a bit more about what you mean by that?

 

Tamsin: “When you’re in that position where you’re feeling shit and nobody’s noticing and you want someone to acknowledge that in some way but you don’t know how. I guess a lot of people feel that way and it’s a case of 'I’m not alone.'  However, I then went on to feel bad about that lyric because in a way sometimes being invisible is a luxury and there are lots of people who are having things going on in their lives and would love to be invisible. Say, you’re black in a white neighbourhood or your trans, you want to be invisible. So in a lot of my lyrics I end up having one song about something and then end up contradicting myself on something else. I change all the time. “

Alex: “You can take it as: ‘oh I feel invisible as well’ just within myself or you could take it as a wider social politics. You can write about your feelings completely internally or emotionally and it can be political.  It doesn’t have to be ‘f*** the police’.  If you’re a political person and you’re engaged in those issues it’s going to come across in whatever you write.” 

 

Tamsin: “Someone described us as having compassion which I hadn’t thought of in that way but I was pleased about. I want to have lyrics for people so they’re not alone. I want people to have our songs for them to listen to them in their bedrooms and help them.  I want to help change people’s lives.  I know it sounds ridiculous, but that’s what I want to do.”

 

You are often seen as a feminist band and you describe you latest single Doll Like as a ‘call to action’.  How important are political stances to your music?

 

Tamsin: “They’re incredibly important. The thing is about our lyrics is that they aren’t straightforward: ‘we hate the Tories, we hate this, we hate that.’ They’re not obviously political but they are and it’s really important to have that.  We’re living in times that are sub-Dickensian. People are dying left, right and centre and its allowed to happen.  Although we’ve got positive things like trans rights being more in the forefront we’ve got more shit happening. You have to talk about these things. You have to confront them. You have to be angry and political.  If you’re not, then you’re dead in this life. And part of the problem. Sometimes its not an anger, it’s a suffocating feeling of: ‘I don’t know what to do’, ‘I don’t know what to say.’ But there’s also lyrics about relationships. They’re not feminism this, that and the other.  A lot of the lyrics I write are about feeling lonely and wanting to go out with someone. That’s political when you’re someone who isn’t conventionally pretty or conventionally slim, conventionally nice, conventionally listening and laughing to people’s jokes.”

 

Emily: “Its really quite sad that being a band of six women feels like a political act and we get asked about it quite a lot. Its damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

 

Tamsin: “Also we’re bound to be much better than the majority of bands because we’re women and there’s six of us. Women nearly always make more interesting music than men. Most music made by women is interesting whereas the majority of music made by men is boring. “

 

Emily: “I disagree. “

Tamsin: “Loads more men make boring music than women make boring music.”

Emily: “The majority of all music is boring.”

Tamsin: “And most of it is made by men. So if there is a band of six women there’s bound to be six amounts of interestingness and awesomeness! [sic] “

Emily: “I am definitely a massive fan of the Medieval Babes.”

 

[Everyone laughs.]

 

Maria: “My friend is in them. She’s an incredible violinist and makes really interesting music in her own right from implements in her kitchen.”

Tamsin: “I’d rather listen to the Medieval Babes than the Arctic Monkeys or Royal Blood.

 

Is your political outlook shared across DIY bands in Brighton?
 

Emily: “I think there is a good DIY scene that is intersectional in its politics.  Not just in Brighton but around the country that are doing stuff that is really good musically and really loud politically. We’re not alone here shouting. “

Tamsin: “I think there’s actually bands who are most overtly political in their lyrics and in actual fact our stuff is more subtle.”

 

Do you think more bands are going to write songs about bigger issues than what they are singing about at the moment?

 

Tamsin: “I don’t think so but that’s always been that way.  I don’t think in the main bands writing about politics changes big things but if you can change one person’s life that’s good enough for me.”

 

Emily: “I’ve read articles saying: ‘where are the political bands?’ There aren’t any political bands anymore and they’re almost always written by old white men.  The reason why you don’t know where the political bands are is because you’re an old white man and aren’t looking hard enough.”
 

Maria: “Any creative endeavor is a force for change and it comes form a place of activity and agency.  Its not a passive place it something you have to do.  You have to get out there.  Music is a force for change that’s what it should be.  We’ve all been influenced by things we’ve listened to or our experiences which are particular times, songs and places and acts. So I don’t think there’s anything weird or too big about wanting to change people’s lives. “
 

Emily: “Surely the main aim of a band is to just make really good weird noises?

Michelle: “I think the main aim of any band is to just get as much free beer as possible.“

All those don’t have  to be mutually exclusive…

 

Kate: “That’s the luxury of the white male in bands. They can treat is as a throwaway endeavor but its ultimately meaningless because that’s their domain. We take it seriously because we’re all starting from a place of negative  equity [sic] so it’s a no brainer that we would have that attitude. Its something we’ve never discussed.  But we all think this.” 

Scroll down to see hi-res photos of the band playing at the Hope & Ruin.

RALLYING CRIES: The politics of Brighton's DIY music scene. 

SAILING THROUGH: A Q&A with female folk duo,  Lutine

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