The role of women in music has been at the forefront of industry discussions over the past 12 months and really, it’s about time. With Australia finally taking notice of its shameful domestic violence problem, calls for better representation of women in music are growing louder.
The movement is everywhere you look. Back in July, Victoria assembled a specialised task force to tackle harassment of female punters at gigs. Last month, Pitchfork editor Jessica Hopper’s call for women to share their music industry horror stories went viral.
Now, The Smith Street Band’s Will Wagner has shared his vision for a more female-friendly music scene. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Wagner said that he would like to see less intimidation and people on the attack and instead see more support.
“They’re super-polite and totally sweet, which is a nice change from drunk adults coming up and putting me in a headlock for a selfie,” frontman Will Wagner told Fairfax after The Smith Street Band completed an under-18s show at Melbourne’s Corner Hotel.
“At all-ages shows I always say a thing about how if every girl in the room picked up a guitar music would be a lot better, and for the second time yesterday a girl came up after the show and said she’d started a band as a result of seeing us.”
As the Sydney Morning Herald notes, Wagner, who’s become something of a folk hero for fans of the popular punk rock outfit, is a keen observer of issues, whether they be his own or society’s, but he makes sure to approach each in a way that is constructive.
“There’s a big issue with not enough girls playing shows, not enough of the LGBT community playing shows, and a lot of people take that as a cause to attack everything,” Wagner told the outlet, before remarking on his solution.
“But I find that it’s best to say positive things instead of trying to intimidate everyone. Music is all-inclusive, you just have to do what you want.” Armed with such a philosophy, it’s little wonder the band named one song ‘I Love Life’, which inspired a subsequent music festival.
