When she talks, I hear the revolution… Isabella and Queenie, vocalist and drummer in Swansea’s all-grrrl bilingual punk quartet Sold For Parts, give Emma Way the rundown on their debut single Eye Trap, their live show and why girls can do it better.
When in the process did you decide Sold For Parts was going to be an all-girl punk band?
Isabella: From the start. I do music theatre, so I’m in drama school right now, and it’s not really my usual genre, but it’s more about the message for me than the vocal side. The girls normally scream and I sing, that’s how we work the punkness around it. I shouted too much once and I went to hospital with a sore throat.
What can we expect from a Sold For Parts show?
Isabella: It’s a big thing for us to do covers – some bands don’t want to, because they think they need to be all original or perfect, but we like to make sure the audience enjoys it. We often get the audience’s opinions on what we cover. We did Deceptacon by Le Tigre… and Hot To Go by Chappell Roan, and made it punk. And we did the dance too.
Would you say you’re political people?
Queenie: We haven’t done many political songs. Some of us definitely want to do a lot more in that theme, but I don’t think we know enough yet. We want to learn more before we write a political song.
Isabella: I think our main message is that girls can do it! Girls are good enough. When we’re onstage we’re so powerful, we’re the most powerful in that room and we want to show other girls they can be that too, and they don’t always have to be powered by men.
Why is it important for you to advertise your shows as safe spaces for women?
Isabella: We’ve always tried to do that. We’ve always tried to make sure it’s a nice place for girls. We do all-girl moshpits because sometimes it can be a bit rough.
Queenie: Before I was in Sold For Parts, I’d go to gigs and look at the moshpit and get massive FOMO. I want to be in them, but at the same time, it’s almost like fighting, almost on the verge of being fun and violent. I get a bit scared of going in them, but at a Sold For Parts gig, it’s always nice and friendly.
Isabella: I was sick of seeing boys leading the music industry. Whenever I went to a gig, I’d be like, why is this all boys when girls could do better? So that’s another thing I wanted to promote to girls: it’s a male dominated industry, but we can do it all as girls, we don’t need them to be successful.
Who are some bands that inspire you?
Isabella: Me and my dad love Amyl And The Sniffers. I saw them live and it’s a whole backline of boys and her [Amy Taylor] singing, but it felt like it was just a girl on that stage. It was all female energy. I just thought they were so cool and powerful and was like, “I want to do that!” Another inspiration for me is Alanis Morissette, lyrics-wise; I write my lyrics in quite a theatrical way and I get inspiration from her for writing.
I like that you’re coming from a musical theatre background here.
Isabella: When I’m onstage I pretend I’m a character or my alter ego. I have some dream roles, and I kind of channel them.
Can you tell me a bit about any upcoming music?
Isabella: We have a project we’ve been working on with R*E*P*E*A*T Records – a release of a song that’s softer and slower than our usual stuff, on vinyl because it’ll never be released as an album or EP track. It’s coming out, I think, in the summer; we’ve been in the studio, but we’ve had to delay the second single a bit because we want it to be perfect. The second release is the hardest – that’s what every band says about their second release. Because our first single Eye Trap blew up so much – we were so surprised by that! – now we have to top it.
Why were you so sure Eye Trap would make such a great debut single?
Isabella: We weren’t! We wrote the song a week before we recorded it. It wasn’t really planned at all. Everything just went perfectly.
Sold For Parts play Block Party, Park Street, Swansea, Sun 24 May.
Tickets: £15/£10 under-15s/FREE under-12s. Info: here
words EMMA WAY
