Petrol Girls - Baby, I Had an Abortion

  

( photo by Martyna Wisniewska (gingerdope) )

  I wasn't going to bother posting this song. Not because I don't like it, I do, it's great. But because I'm sure it'll be popping up on plenty of other sites so I was going to hang fire and post a different song from the upcoming album. But the reaction to it in the chatroom on this week's Just Some Punk Songs show was so overwhelmingly positive I'm gonna have to stick it on the blog. 

  You'll no doubt be familiar with Petrol Girls (https://www.facebook.com/Petrolgirls). Originally from south east London, now based in Graz, Austria. Their 3rd album is due out in summer but they've released a track from it. It "highlights the simple truth that everyone should have easy access to abortion" and is based on vocalist Ren Aldridge's experience of encountering pro-life demonstrators as she had an abortion. 

  It's an emotive subject and a powerful song, it's lyrically raw and musically superb. The band are looking to raise funds for Abortions Without Borders. It's available here :   https://petrolgirls.bandcamp.com/track/baby-i-had-an-abortion

  It's called Baby, I Had An Abortion...

I'm a god damn should be mother
Got a womb so that's my purpose
I'm a god damn incubator
But baby I'll see you later

Who's life are you pro?
Who's do you want to control?
Heaven forbid my rights
Heaven forgive what I decide
SHAME SHAME SHAME
Point your finger and cry
SHAME SHAME SHAME
Oh I feel it deep inside

BABY I HAD AN ABORTION

Oh its a god damn moral panic
Save the sperm because its sacred
Blessed is the foetus
But god damn the children in existence

Who's life are you pro?
Who's do you want to control
You want to come inside
Tell me how i'm traumatised

Shame shame shame
Point your finger and cry oh its a
Shame shame shame
That I'm not sorry I'M NOT SORRY

BABY I HAD AN ABORTION
BABY I HAAAAAAD
An abortion

 

Solidarity Not Silence - This Is Sisterhood

  

  "So how many will have to speak

  For what we say to be believed..."

https://www.facebook.com/solidaritynotsilence

  Now this is something a little bit special. 

  You've possibly heard about the court case involving a group of women who are being sued for speaking out against a man in the music industry over his treatment of women. They (Nadia Javed (The Tuts), Ren Aldridge (Petrol Girls) and 'Anon') are having to personally fund (at the risk of bankrupting themselves) their legal defences and as the name of the collective suggests, they're joining together in solidarity rather than being silenced. 

  There's a crowdfunding page set up if you'd like to support them or just to learn more :  https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/solidaritynotsilence/ 

  Another way to help is by checking out a new song that's just been released. It features Nadia Javed on lead vocals and guitar, Harriet Doveton on bass and backing vocals, Jodi M Burn on drums, Katie Gatt on lead guitar, Ren Aldridge on spoken word and Choir Noir & friends on choir vocals. The opening speech is by Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre). You can find it here :  https://solidaritynotsilence.bandcamp.com/track/this-is-sisterhood

  This is what they have to say about the song : This song release is not only to raise funds and awareness for our case and survivors but it’s for the wider issues at hand. It's for anyone who wasn’t believed, who spoke up and got shut down, for the fuckery caused by the CPS, for that person who is too scared to speak up, who has to live with the haunting trauma. We hope that this song is somewhere you can feel safe, believed and less alone. We hope the message reaches you and the people who need to hear it and helps them as much as it’s helped us. We’ve been fighting this for over 4 years and it’s taught us resilience but also how hard it is to get JUSTICE. We have so much admiration for survivors.

  My opinion is that not only is it a for very worthy cause, it's a powerful and very classy song that in a way makes me think of a gritty, punked up companion piece to This Is Me (from The Greatest Showman). It's a track that builds to a big choral finale and it's a message that should be shared far and wide so feel free to get sharing. 

  It's called This Is Sisterhood... 

Petrol Girls - Big Mouth

(photo by Martyna Wisniewska)

  Is it just me or is the UK punk scene fucking great at the moment. Obviously on the downside there's pretty much no acknowledgement of it's existence from any major media outlets and many of the bands are struggling to attract people to turn out to their gigs but as far as the music being released is concerned it's a wonderful time to be a punk. To highlight some of that music, I put together a UK special show last week (https://www.mixcloud.com/mick-fletcher/just-some-punk-songs-uk-special/) and Petrol Girls weren't even in it! Mainly because I'd played them the week before but also because there's so many bands out there I could only scratch the surface.

  Anyway, Petrol Girls, no strangers to this blog... named after a group of molotov cocktail throwing French revolutionaries (Petroleuses) are now based in Austria (another reason for not featuring them on the show). They line up with Ren Aldridge (vocals), Joe York (guitar/vocals), Liepa Kuraite (bass/vocals) and Zock (drums). They play angry feminist post-hardcore songs and new album, Cut & Stitch, is their most experimental record yet. It's available from Hassel Records and on Bandcamp  https://petrolgirls.bandcamp.com/album/cut-stitch

  To help promote the album there's a lengthy UK and European tour and you can find details here :   https://www.facebook.com/Petrolgirls/

  This song is a fine example of what they're about, it's a feminist anthem which samples Poly Styrene and tackles the subject of many marginalised groups only being tolerated when they're quiet. It's called Big Mouth...

Voices of the marginalised 
Tolerated if we remain quiet 
Bodies of the marginalised 
Tolerated under their control 
Voices of the marginalised 
Tolerated if we remain quiet 
Bodies of the marginalised 
Tolerated 
Tolerated! 

I’m raising my voice louder 
It carries me beyond their walls 
Our silence will not save us 
They can’t contain they can’t control 
They can’t control 

Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard 
But I think UP YOURS 1,2,3,4 

Keep your voice down 
Know your place 
Bite your tongue 
You best behave 
Keep your head down 
Stay in line 
Keep your mouth shut

Petrol Girls - Touch Me Again

Photo by Isha Shah Photography


  I've been waiting for this video to turn up online ever since the Just Some Punk Songs show chatroom were blown away by the song a few weeks ago. Needless to say it was well worth the wait.

  Petrol Girls featured on here last year with a song from their Some Thing ep (http://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/petrol-girls-slug.html). Towards the end of last year they returned with the album Talk Of Violence and it's from that record that today's song is taken. You can check it out here :  https://petrolgirls.bandcamp.com/

  Tagging themselves Raging Feminist Post-Hardcore, the song you'll find below is one of the most powerful that I've featured on here ("they sound like a female fronted At The Drive In" was one of the chatroom comments). Their current tour with Strike Anywhere is gonna blow a few venue roofs off! This is Touch Me Again.....

Touch Me Again 
My domain my temple and my territory my pleasure 
Cut cut cut it out 
My desire my right to choose or to refuse this encounter 
Cut cut cut it out 
My agency that non consensual contact tries to take from me 
Cut cut cut it out 
My fucking mind you undermine my sense of self you pressurize 
Cut cut cut it out 
Its my body and my choice 
It's my body 
My fucking choice 
My power my psyche and my energy my decision 
Cut cut cut it out 
My passion could never be ignited by such aggression 
Cut cut cut it out 
My liberty my body as the base of my autonomy 
Cut cut cut it out 
I need to see us make progress towards accountability 
Cut cut cut it out 
Its my body and my choice 
Its my body 
My fucking choice 
My lips my thighs my wrists my mind 
My lips my thighs my wrists my spine 
My hips my neck my tongue my mind 
Touch me again and I'll fucking kill you 
Touch me again and I'll fucking kill you 
Touch me again and I'll fucking kill you 
Touch me again and I will fucking kill you

Petrol Girls - Slug

  photo by Stevil Minta


  Petrol Girls are a "Raging Feminist Post-hardcore" 4 piece from South East London. They formed in 2013 and feature Ren Aldridge (vocals), Joe York (guitar/vocals), Liepa Kuraite (bass/vocals) and Manfred Herzog (drums).

  Their first release was a s/t 3 track ep which came out a couple of years ago and they've just followed it up with the Some Things ep (this features 3 new songs plus the 3 tracks from the debut). You can check them out here : https://petrolgirls.bandcamp.com/.

  Taking their name from Les Petroleuses (women from the Paris Commune who allegedly burned down much of the city in May 1871 in protest at the government, allegations that were found to have no basis, Les Petroleuses were just a convenient scapegoat) they're a band who are an outlet for vocalist Ren's "visceral and political rage."

  This is the video for the lead track on the new ep, the son's called Slug and it deals with depression and the borders prohibiting the free movement of human beings....

Back into the sludge
There's less of me now
Less human somehow
Void of empathy
Void of energy
There's less of me now
Less human somehow

The air is stale and thick with sleep
Black mould rises all across the sweating walls
The borders close, defences rise 
Hear no warmth in how some humans are described

These are the walls these are the words
I can see them forming blocks around my days

Go through the motion
With no emotion

Where are you now
Lost in this fear
Run to nowhere
Nothing is clear

These are the walls these are the words
I can see them forming blocks around my days
I won't fear life while I'm alive
Even as the colours melt into the grey 

I've gotta go
I've got to get up and go