A Conversation With: GIRLBAND!

Unapologetically themselves, what you see is what you get with GIRLBAND! They’re dynamically inclusive in their soundscapes and radically plosive in their ethos of redefining rock ‘n’ roll. 

We caught up with singer and guitarist Georgie How, bassist Kay Dawson, and drummer Jada Mullings following on from an exciting year… 

I feel like I need to shout the name when I see it– 

All: –GIRLBAND! 

Exactly! It’s sharp, and snappy, and effectively simple. Was that a conscious choice when naming the band? 

Georgie: It was tongue-in-cheek I thought to be called GIRLBAND! Most people think of girl bands and they think of Spice Girls – and I love the Spice Girls! – but we’re a rock band. It’s a bit ironic in a way, because we’re a girl band who play rock. 

Kay: We’re making a statement. We’re in your face and you can’t really hide from it, like the exclamation mark. 

Well, you’re definitely going to dominant the google search results for any other girl bands to come. 

Jada: Actually, if you type in ‘girl band’ now it comes up with so many Japanese bands, and they’re all called Girlband. 

Georgie: All of them?! And I thought Girls Aloud was our only competition. 

Speaking of, is there any female artists who inspire you individually? 

Jada: Nina Simone for me. The Pocket Queen and Sheila E are fantastic at their craft. 

Georgia: I like all the strong women from the seventies and eighties. You’ve got Patti Smith, Joan Jett, Stevie Nicks, The Breeders – Cannonball is one of my favourite ever tunes. Aretha Franklin… God, I could go. 

Kay: Esperenza Spalding is a huge is a huge influence in my technique, and Nik West is such a force to be reckoned with. 

They all have a lasting legacy which I’m sure you guys will have of your own. What would you say makes you stand out – why are you ‘Not Like The Rest’? 

Georgie: I think definitely that we are three women playing rock and roll, and our songs have such a diverse meaning to them. They’re songs for everyone, whether you’re queer, straight, old, young, female, male… they’re just stories that are about life. 

That song, for example, is about my own coming out story. They’re personal, but I know for us as a band, they all mean something different. 

Jada: They can help people bring out their own story from what they understand when hearing our songs. 

Kay: As a band, all three of us are different and we come from different backgrounds. We carry our own strengths on our shoulders, which makes us who we are today. Individually, we make GIRLBAND! what it is. 

What is one word you would use to describe each other? 

Jada: …Little s**ts? 

Georgie: Funny, I think is what you meant to say. They’re always making me laugh. 

Kay: Loud. Fun. Confident. 

Jada: We’re like a little wolfpack when we’re together. That’s how it should be, more than just the band. 

I’m glad to hear the two go hand in hand together! Was the band always the end goal or did it come about organically? 

Georgie: I was always wanting to start an all-female band, and I had these songs already, but I knew they would suit a band rather than a solo project. I knew Katie as a bass player and guitarist from some gigs I’d been to. She was amazing, and I got to know her through friends too. 

Just after lockdown, she invited me to a gig. She was meant to be playing with Jada, but she had COVID. I decided to go anyways and saw Jada playing for the first time and thought, Wow! She is the best drummer I have ever seen.  

Jada: Uh, yeah? She is. Duh! 

Georgie: I just thought, I wanna work with them two! And I had them in the back of mind forever and I sent them each a message. The mad thing is– 

Kay: –It’s the weirdest, spookiest thing! Jada and I were playing in a band that had kinda fizzled out. We hadn’t seen each other for a few months, and we were dying to play some music together and– 

Jada: –And it was that exact moment in time that Georgie texted us. Seperate messages, but we were both together! Katie was breaking down who Georgie was to me because I had no clue. 

Kay: It felt like it was very much meant to be. We met up and there was just this burst of life in the room, and it very much felt like it was meant to be. 

Heartbreak Town was released July 30 and features two live recordings.

That spark of energy has obviously translated through to the fans. You’ve got a real dedicated fanbase who have been here long before your EP dropped just this month. 

Georgie: Yeah! It’s incredible. All our first gigs were just proper house party shows we’d put on ourselves in living rooms or loft spaces like J T Soars. It was very DIY, but that’s such a big part of what we do and why we do it. We love having a good time together. 

Jada: And they’ve always been sold out from the beginning, might I add! 

Georgie: The local community is remarkable in rallying together for the music scene. Our headline show at Rescue Rooms this year was a huge moment for us and the response blew us away. 

In your first single, Not Like The Rest, there is a lyric on tattoos. I’m intrigued if you were to get a tattoo for the band, what would you get? 

Kay: That’s hilarious because we got a matching tattoo… and I covered mine up. 

Georgie: And she didn’t even tell us she was getting it covered up! She just came through one day of with this new tattoo! 

Jada: Wait, where?! Oh my god, I didn’t even know! Wow! 

Georgie: So we did have matching tattoos. Keyword. Did. 

Kay: It’s still there! You can still see it in there– 

Georgie: –Can you guess what was there?! 

Jada: Yeeeeaaaah… No. 

Kay: We all had it done on tour and I don’t know! I was too tired to be making decisions and I wanted it smaller but it came out too big, so I got it covered with a slightly… bigger one! 

Jada: If I was to get a band inspired tattoo, I would get a cactus because that was one of the first concept designs we had when we were putting a logo together. 

Georgie: Oh, that’s a good one! I was just thinking of the name stamped across my forehead or some s**t like that. 

Thinking back on those earlier days to now – and you’re still a pre-debut album band! – have you guys had a ‘made it’ moment? 

Kay: It’s hard to define what is made it, it feels so far off… 

Jada: Just getting out of the country was enough for me! Aha, I’m happy now. We’ve had two weeks in Europe which is just insane! 

Georgie: All the summer festivals we’ve been doing; playing to a tent of 2,000 people is a little bit like, f**k! People are talking about us?! 

Kay: The perspective that we were doing this only a year ago to maybe, 5 people? A few more if it was raining out? It’s crazy. A good crazy. 

Keep up to date with the band here: @girlbandhq 

Interviewer: Talia Robinson 

Featured images: GIRLBAND!