This has been a pretty good year for music, and I’ve seen some amazing live gigs – Sleater-Kinney at The Roundhouse, The Mountain Goats at Shepherd’s Bush Empire and Chvrches at Alexandra Palace, to name a few. It’s also been really great to start gigging again this year after a bit of a hiatus, especially playing at Feminist Solidarity Fest in Hackney in September and at the Grrrl Zine Fair in Peckham just last week. My new EP is nearly ready for release – all that’s left to do is the artwork, and I should have the video for ‘Stay Away From Me’ up online in January. Lots of new tracks on the go as well for my second album, which I expect will be released in 2017 (knowing how long it always takes from actually recording things to releasing them).

As per tradition (one which I have failed to observe consistently every year), here are a few of my favourite new tracks of 2015. In fact, one or two of these aren’t my favourite track from their respective album, but my favourites weren’t available to watch/stream/embed online, so this is what we’ve got.

Last weekend I was back in Bristol (nearly seven years since I moved away!) filming a video for ‘Stay Away From Me’, the first track off my new EP, which will be released early in 2016.

The video was directed by Laura Kidd, aka gloom-pop genius She Makes War. It features loads of iconic Bristol sights, as well as me wandering the streets singing. Obviously, having committed the crime of being (a) female and (b) in public, we got quite a bit of harassment by some not-so-feminist menfolk, but also some nice comments from the lovely (and, in some cases, drunk) people of Bristol. Great fun!

I’m looking forward to sharing the video with you when it’s ready. I also did a photo shoot a few weeks ago with my excellent friend Steve, in which we built an actual real life pillow fort in my living room. Here is a little sneak preview – I will post more soon!

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be playing a live set at Feminist Solidarity Fest in Hackney Downs this Sunday, 6th September. It’s a festival of speakers, workshops and music for people supportive of gender equality, and is basically a massive picnic so bring your own food drink and blankets.

The festival starts at 12pm and runs until 7:20pm. I’ll be playing at around 6:10pm, and I’ll be debuting four new songs from my new EP as well as some more familiar songs from Connections/Departures. It’s the first time I’ve played live for a couple of years, so I’m a little nervous but also excited to playing at such a great event. Oh, and it will be the first live outing for my new keytar!

This is the full programme for the festival (click on the image to see the whole thing):

Okay, so I got impatient waiting for the new EP to be ready to release and posted one of the track online early. I always feel like there are music industry rules about how much music you can share before you release it and how early you can share it, but I don’t really know what they are, so I’ve decided, fuck the rules.

I hereby present to you I Built a Fort, which, as I mentioned in my post about the new EP, is a song about dealing with the outright suckiness of the adult world in the most childish way possible. Enjoy!

I have a new idea for promoting the music of feminist bands and artists across the UK and would love to hear your ideas about whether and how this could work.

In the last few years there seems to have been an increase / resurgence (?) in feminist-inspired music being made in the UK and elsewhere, and I’ve been thinking a lot about ways that independent bands and artists can build solidarity with each other and help each other out. Of course, there are already loads of great club nights, blogs, websites and social media accounts which are helping to get exposure for feminist musicians and build a sense of community, but we can always do more…

I often go to feminist conferences, festivals and events and think to myself that it would be great if independent bands and artists could use these events to share their music with like-minded people. Lately I’ve been thinking about starting up a little collective which would run stalls at feminist events which sell music by independent feminist artists of all genres. It would have an MP3 player and headphones where people could listen to things before they buy them, and of course be run by music fans who are familiar with all the music they’re selling and can recommend punters something they might like based on their tastes.

This wouldn’t be a profit-making enterprise – for me it’s more an opportunity to meet great people and share great music. There are some details to work out: for example, I would want all profits to go to the artists, but in some cases we would need to cover the costs of holding a stall, and so would need to work out a fair way to do this without becoming just another middle man who eats into artists’ revenues.

This is where you come in: I want to hear your views on whether you think this would be worthwhile and workable.

So, feminist artists/bands: is selling CDs/vinyl still important for you in the digital age? Would you send your music to be sold by fellow feminists at events around the country? Would you like to be part of a small collective running this? Or are there better ways of achieving the same goals?

Feminist music fans, would such stalls be a good way for you to discover new music? Do you still buy music on CD/vinyl? Would you be interested in helping out on the stall every now and then?

Conference/festival/event organisers, would you be interested in having such a stall at your event?

Any feedback would be really appreciated, and I’ll post again in a few weeks to let you know what the response has been like. Please send me an email or contact me on Twitter or Facebook. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Hannah

x

 

Hey everyone! Things have been a little quiet on this site for a while but there has been loads going on behind the scenes.

In June I spent a week in the New Forest working on four new songs for release on a new EP in the not too distant future. I mixed them recently with Oli Horton at Dreamtrak Studio, and am getting them ready to release ASAP, with artwork and videos all on their way.

The new tracks are all about navigating different aspects of every day life through a feminist lens. They are:

Stay Away From Me – a track about finally learning to stand up for yourself and get someone out of your life who is no good for you.

Good Guys – a song about dating men while feminist. Trying to reject societal rules about relationships without writing off love and romance completely.

Such a Girl – reflections on femmephobia and how patriarchal gender expectations which denigrate women for being ’emotional’ and require men to suppress their feelings really suck for everyone.

I Built a Fort – a song about responding to the stresses of living in a sexist, racist, homophobic and downright scary world by building a pillow fort and refusing to come out of it.

I hope to share these new songs with you very soon! In the meantime, you can listen to a cover I recorded of 100,000 Fireflies by The Magnetic Fields:

 

As I mentioned in my last update, this year I’ve mostly been working on recording tracks for my next album. I have six or seven on the go at the moment, in various different styles. I’ve also just finally finished decorating my new home studio, which will make it easier for me to get on with writing and recording the new tracks at home.

These are all still works in progress, but I wanted to offer you a preview of what’s to come. So I’ve posted one of the new songs, Never Lost, on my Soundcloud for you to hear. I hope to post more early in the New Year.

Happy Christmas!

Things have been a little quiet on the Gaptooth front for the last few months, as you may have noticed. That’s because I’ve been busy moving house and travelling with my day job. Frustratingly, because of the house move most of my musical equipment is in storage at the moment, but fear not! I’ve recently been back at Dreamtrak Studio in Hackney recording two new songs called ‘Never Lost’ and ‘Stay Away From Me’. They’re not ready for your curious ears yet, but as soon as they are I will post them up here! Album number 2 has officially begun…

It’s fair to say I haven’t bought a huge amount of new music this year and there’s been little of it that’s really grabbed my attention. In fact, for the last few months I’ve mostly been just listening to the Chvrches album on repeat. That said, there have been some clear highlights. I’ve picked five top songs of 2013:

In the time it took to make my debut album, I lived in seven different houses in four towns/cities and travelled to 14 countries on five continents. I earned two university degrees and had eight different jobs. Friends, relationships and family members came and went. I had six feline companions (no, not all at once). Much of it feels like another world now, but the making of Connections/Departures is the one thing that holds it all together.

Today, I’m proud to say the album is finally out. Connections/Departures is available for download from iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Bandcamp and loads of other download services. There are also CD copies available exclusively from Bandcamp for (£7 plus postage). I’m posting reviews of the album up on the press page as they come in – expect a few more over the next few days. There’s no big launch party as I don’t have the budget for it but I plan to organise some gigs over the next few months.

I’m grateful to everyone who has helped out, whether through helping to record the album, making videos, driving me to gigs, coming to see me play live, taking photos, writing reviews, sharing contacts, offering advice, providing moral support, buying the singles, posting on social media or in any other way. Your support means a lot.

For a limited time only you can stream the full album on Soundcloud – after that you’ll just have to buy it!

The best part about finally getting this album out – apart from the fact that you all get to hear it – is that I can now devote more time to making the next one. A have a few songs on the go already – let’s hope this one doesn’t take quite as long to record…