22-year-old singing star Becca Macintyre from the band the Marmozets has said she is ‘top of the bill’ once you remove the all-male groups. She emerged as a “headliner” when versions of festival posters were edited to leave just bands with at least one female musician. “It’s opened up people’s eyes,” she she said, about the Photo-shopped line-ups shared on social media.
“I have no role models apart from my mum and best mates,” Becca adds. The real Leeds and Reading line-up (L) and how it looks when the all-male groups aren’t there
There’s a similar lack of women at other predominantly rock festivals. So is it a problem? Becca says she’s not too worried about being one of the only women at most of the big events she plays. But she reckons the music industry is partly to blame for putting out female stereotypes in videos. “We’ve all been brainwashed! When all these videos started getting a lot more sexual… it’s all we see.”
You can be badass and get up there and scream on stage and do what you want to doBecca Macintyre, Marmozets
But she is optimistic things are changing. “I feel like a storm is brewing, it only takes a couple [of big female rock artists] like it did for Blondie [the 1970s rock legends, led by Debbie Harry]. It’s about waking up girls and [saying] you can do this as well.” She describes her own band as a “furious five-piece band that just want to have fun”.
So what is her message to teenage girls considering a career in music? “You can be badass and get up there and scream on stage and do what you want to do! “What kind of idols do my little sisters have? My little sister is 11 and a fan of what I do. “My mum and best mates… they’re my role models, they’re the ones that keep me going and fighting for what I believe in.”
The real headline acts at Leeds and Reading are Metallica, Mumford and Sons and The Libertines. So which of the “man bands” will Becca be choosing to watch this summer? “Err, out of all of them, to be honest… The Libertines.”