As promised, here are seven more awesome bands that aren’t-all-dudes for you to listen to this Women’s History Month – and hopefully catch live post-pandemic. Check out the first post if you haven’t already, as well as last week’s post.
Sincere Engineer
Sincere Engineer is one of the last bands I discovered live pre-covid. I got stuck in major traffic on my way to the PDaddy/Oso Oso/Just Friends show, but luckily made it just in time for their set! All their songs were super great, but “Shattering” is the one that really stuck with me. Deanna Belos leads the band, writing the lyrics, singing, and playing guitar. The band announced their signing to Hopeless Records last October and released their third single on the label “Out of Reach” just last Friday.
Visit Sincere Engineers’ website for merch and social links or listen on Spotify or Apple Music.
Black Honey
I recently discovered this awesome band thanks to a Facebook comment by Jim Anger on last week’s article. Thank you Jim!
Black Honey is an indie/alternative rock band fronted by vocalist and guitarist Izzy Baxter Phillips. The English quartet dropped their newest album Written & Directed a week and a half ago, and quickly hit #1 on the UK iTunes Album chart. This new release is the band’s second album, but they’ve already got some impressive shows under their belt. They’ve toured with bands such as At The Drive-In and Royal Blood, and played the iconic Reading & Leeds Festivals not once but twice! I’m really looking forward to listening this band some more, and hopefully catching them live if they’re ever stateside (or I’m ever abroad again).
Find all things Black Honey on the band’s website.
Nervous Dater
Vocalist/guitarist Rachel Lightner fronts Brooklyn-based band Nervous Dater. I first caught this band at The Mr. Roboto Project in Pittsburgh back in 2018. A friend invited me to the show so I thought I’d check it out, and I was familiar with the local opener (shoutout Alex Martin). All the bands were stellar, and I loved Nervous Dater’s set so much that I grabbed a CD of their only album at the time, Don’t Be A Stranger. I’ve listened to the heck out of that album these past few years. It’s that good. The band also recently put out a new album Call in the Mess that we mentioned in last month’s Songs We Can’t Wait to Hear Live. Highly recommend giving this band a listen and checking them out live asap.
Visit Nervous Dater’s website for social links and merch, and find their new album wherever you get your tunes.
Speedy Ortiz
Speedy Ortiz is an indie rock from Massachusetts fronted by vocalist/guitarist Sadie Dupuis. They also have the designation of being the first band I ever photographed ~professionally~. (At Riot Fest in 2018; I will not be sharing the photos here due to they are not that great (and I’m contractually not allowed.)) I’ll be honest and say that I don’t listen to this band super often, but the college radio crowd loves them and I can see why. They were also super fun live, so even if I don’t listen to them much, I’d definitely go catch another show sometime. You should too!
Find all things Speedy Ortiz on their website.
Beach Bunny
A third band I discovered at Riot Fest and absolutely loved is Chicago’s own Beach Bunny. The band has put out one album and a ton of EPs, including the Blame Game EP earlier this year. Beach Bunny started as Lili Trifilio’s solo project, but now has 3 other members. If there’s one band that I’ve totally been meaning to add to my regular music rotation, it’s Beach Bunny. I adore their latest release, but really need to check out the rest of their tunes. I also just discovered that their website has a little Blame Game video game with 8-bit versions of their newest music, so I will absolutely be going back to play that as soon as I finish this article.
Visit Beach Bunny’s website for alllll the links, and play the Blame Game!
Control Top
Another band that’s hard to Google without getting clothing ads is Control Top. SPIN recently listed them as the #2 best rock band right now (above artists such as Paramore, The Voidz, and Pearl Jam), describing them as what it might sound like “if Siouxsie Sioux decided to join the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to make frayed-edge dance-punk.” High praises, but definitely deserved. The band absolutely killed it on their 2019 tour with Against Me’s Laura Jane Grace (another artist I’d list here, if I didn’t expect everyone to already know them), and left me wanting more. Unfortunately my review from that show never made it to press (and I have the memory of a goldfish) so I can’t wax poetic in detail about their set, but I do remember how awesome it was and how energetic frontwoman Ali was! Even if there was somewhere else to look in that (very dark) club, it still would’ve been impossible to look away during their set.
Get social links and grab a copy of Control Top’s music on Bandcamp.
Gold Frankincense & Myrrh
One of my coworkers introduced me to this band just a few days ago, but I’ve been loving what I’ve heard so far! Sisters CJ, Maggie, and Lulu make up Gold Frankincense & Myrrh. They describe their genre as “beautycore,” with the melodic content of Paramore, and the character themes of Slipknot. Most of their songs are on the heavier side, with a few occasional pop punk bangers thrown in. Even more impressive is that the band are all about my age or younger, with their drummer being just 12 years old during their first tour in 2017! This band is definitely one to watch as they continue to put out awesome releases and hopefully tour again soon post-covid.
Check out Gold Frankincense & Myrrh’s website for socials, merch, and listening links.
Playlist
Obviously, this list is nowhere near exhaustive, and there’s a ton more awesome bands that we just don’t have the space to mention! I think it’s super important to spotlight artists who aren’t straight white dudes whenever possible, especially in rock music where it is super white guy-dominated. If you’re looking to diversify your playlists beyond all-man bands, check out the playlist below! And of course, if you have any suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comments!