“This song is a response to the dismissals and mockery BABE PUNCH have faced from industry professionals as a young, predominantly female band in the Alt—rock genre.” – says the band’s Molly Godber. Glitter is a song dedicated to BABE PUNCH’s complete self-belief and power, and today we’re stoked to give you its first listen, along with their special playlist of other local bands worth looking into and special list of 10 Songs That Mean Something to BABE PUNCH. Check out the full story below.
BABE PUNCH are a young alternative rock four-piece from Nottingham/ Derby consisting of Molly Godber (vocalist), Carys Jones (guitarist), Abbie Roberts (bassist) and Adam Fletcher (drummer). “Youthful, eccentric, electric” (Louder Than War) and known for their “Raucous live show” (Clash Mag), they are especially active in the DIY and Punk scenes throughout the country. They’ve supported the likes of The Cribs, Hinds and Ezra Furman.
“Abbie, Carys and Molly met in school and started the band with an all female membership aged 14/15.” – comments the band. “The line-up shifted and Adam joined when our first drummer left a couple of years later. We took our early inspiration from the Riot Grrl movement but have a huge variety of personal influences which have come together to create the sound we have today.”
“There really is no better way to describe babe punch than madly energetic” – Kycker
“Making music which has all the vibrancy and bravado of their young years matched with a mature understanding of the systems they rally against.” – Louder Than War
‘𝐺𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟’ 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑, 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔, 𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡.
“Growing up in the music industry and working with producers, potential managers, sound engineers and other bands exposed us to misogyny we didn’t know existed yet – we were constantly underestimated, dismissed and mocked by men that were often twice our age.” – reveal BABY PUNCH.
“The lyrics in the pre-chorus are a response to one professional we worked with who announced to a colleague he wasn’t “invested in us anyway”, as though we weren’t there. Even at a young age, we put no stock in anyone else’s opinions and continued exactly as we were, despite many people trying to mould and browbeat us into being something else – that is what the lyrics to ‘Glitter’ are about. We hope that the message of this song gives young, non-male artists the confidence to stand up for themselves and go after the things they want.”
‘Glitter‘ will be out across all streaming platforms on 4th February 2021. The amazing artwork was created by Madison Fiorenza – check her out for more lovely art and music.
Nottingham’s music scene has played a huge role in shaping BABE PUNCH as a band. We asked the band to share their thoughts on their local community, which happens to so diverse that “there is space for everyone”.
Comment BABE PUNCH: “At the heart of the DIY scene are hidden independent venues that feel like secret homes to us, some of which have sadly closed their doors due to lack of funding. However, JT Soar and The Chameleon still provide platforms for artists and bands across all genres. The Bodega on Pelham Street is another thriving hub for artists to drink, dance and play gigs, hosting both touring and local bands. We also have Phlexx Records, an independent label that champion small bands and many local artists. It’s so important that local scenes like ours are able to survive through these times so that they continue to thrive when we can get back to playing and attending gigs, so please look into how you can support your local venues and artists!
Local Favourites Spotify Playlist
Womxn We Love Spofity Playlist:
10 Songs That Mean Something to Us:
The Cribs – Pink Snow
We’ve all loved the Cribs for years, so when they chose us to play Y Not Festival through the festival’s competition all the way back in 2016, we were so excited. The next year we supported them in Manchester and Leeds. They were two of our favourite gigs we’ve played and we have such good memories, like when they played this song and foam ‘snow’ came down on everyone in the crowd.
The Wannadies – You & Me Song
This is the first song we ever played as a band, in our old drummer and guitarist’s family’s garage. It’s such a random one, but we just thought of it as one we all knew well and it’s a really happy song. Molly, Carys, and our drummer were 15, Abbie was 14, and our other guitarist was only 12!
Hole – Violet
This was a staple on our setlists for a long time, and we sometimes play it in practice still. We all love Hole and they’re a huge inspiration for the band as a whole.
Pixies – Where Is My Mind?
This is one of the covers we played at our first ever gig. Carys was so nervous that she thought she was going to be sick before we went on stage and then couldn’t sing the high ‘ooh’ backing vocals because her voice was so shaky!
The Stooges – I Wanna Be Your Dog
We used to cover this, but we could never remember where the end was so, when it got towards the end of the song, we’d all be looking at each other trying to figure it out and ended up playing it about 100 times. It was horrendous!
The Cure – Just Like Heaven
This song is just so lovely and another cover we used to play a lot. It was a crowd favourite and it was our first experience of hearing people sing along with us on stage – Molly got to play the tambourine for the first time too which she loved.
The White Stripes – Fell In Love With a Girl
This was another very early cover. We used to play it a lot at The Maze in Notts which has sadly closed now but was so great for helping new bands get out there. One of the first songs we wrote, ‘Fixation’, had a similar chord progression to this but we somehow didn’t realise and used to play them back-to-back which we cringe at the thought of now!
ABBA – Dancing Queen
This is always our happy song on nights out and we have lovely memories dancing to it at the Bodega and Rescue Rooms in Notts. We remember hearing it come on in a bar at Y Not Festival 2019 when we were all drunk late at night. We ran straight in and climbed on the haystacks and danced and screamed along to it.
The Last Shadow Puppets – Miracle Aligner
Abbie was absolutely obsessed with this song for so long, so it was on at every single party and for every car journey on the way to gigs. It was on Abbie’s birthday party playlists at least 5 times to make it come on more.
Lush – Ladykillers
This is a cover we probably played twice and never touched again. It took Molly ages to learn the lyrics because there’s so many, and she had to sing them so fast that she couldn’t breathe. We used to play everything faster than it was meant to be for some reason, and Molly remembers one time that it was so absurdly fast that she could’ve died.
