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cover deap vally
his isn’t about gender. Except it is.
people are going to say.”
Women in bands are not ‘a thing’.
“It’s the assumption that’s the most frustrating,”
Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards are not
continues Lindsey, “that because we’re dressed this way,
‘women in music’. Deap Vally is not a
we’re trying to appeal to male fantasy.”
‘girl band’. Women have proven again and again that we can shred (Exhibit A:
“There’s also a double-standard,” Julie interjects. “Some
Marnie Stern), or growl and roar our guts out like any
skinny little waif can wear tiny shorts and look like she’s
man can (B: Eva Spence). In any case, a band is about
just chilled and relaxed, and I wear tiny shorts and look
the noises coming through the speakers, not whether the
like I’m a hooker? That’s just the body I was given. Why
person making them has a penis or not.
don’t I have the right to wear tiny shorts?”
“The thing about Deap Vally,” drummer Julie, sat on
“We’re having fun,” Lindsey offers. “The whole idea
a sofa in a chilly west London studio, explains, “is
of rock ‘n’ roll is to have fun, and be over the top, and
inherently we’re feminists. We can’t help it, because we
be flamboyant. It’s like a heightened reality. We play
live in a woman’s world with a woman’s point of view.
hedonistic music, the whole vibe of Deap Vally is
There’s no man involved.” Yet Deap Vally are still forced
hedonism. It’s not buttoned-up music.”
to battle suspicion that there’s a man plotting their every move. “We haven’t had it a lot, [but] one time, in a review it said ‘I sincerely hope that these girls are doing it themselves, and that there isn’t some mastermind behind them’. It’s disgusting. Let’s get the fuck past that.” Guitarist Lindsey, unsurprisingly, pulls no punches either. “It comes down to the stereotype that goes along with women dressing skanky. People see women in short shorts and platforms and a lot of make up and the immediate assumption everyone wants to come to is that you’re just a dumb whore.” Today, Lindsey is sporting tiny velour hotpants with
“It’s raw, it’s not perfect. That’s not the point.”
tights and a leather jacket. Julie has trousers on. Both are displaying their midriff. In Deap Vally’s world, that’s a lot of clothing. But it’s not an invitation. And like everything else, it’s a deliberate statement. “We never thought it would be as controversial as it is,” admits Julie, “that seems really silly to us. But we’ve faced a lifetime of butts and thighs, and at some point you want to just, like, take it back.
I
n the stereotypical canon of rock music, woman is typically painted as prey, fantasy, damsel or victim. Deap Vally’s woman is not. To suggest they’re flipping things completely on their head would be an overstatement, but society
still seems so predisposed to the masculinity of rock ‘n’
“We want to be strong and we want to be fearless, and dressing that way is part of it. We’re not afraid of what 32 thisisfakediy.co.uk
roll that it’s impossible to finish listening to ‘Sistrionix’ without sporting a massive grin. “You’ve got the hands