BABE PUNCH

BABE PUNCH

the Nottingham punk outfit taking back the power with dreams of conquering the whole world in the process.

There’s laughter and chatter coming from the room we’ve rented out at Dance Studios Nottingham for the day. Glitter, flower petals, and chalksketched posters sporting empowered feminist messages litter the floor. We’re filming a video for Babe Punch’s song “Stanford,” and fans and friends have come out in droves to support the project.

Written “many, many moons ago” and recorded in 2017, “Stanford” was forged in outrage against rape culture as a whole, inspired at the time by Brock Allen Turner and the Stanford rape case as it developed in California in 2015 and concurrent years. “We were getting to that age where a lot of stuff like that was going on, and we were hearing a lot about it,” vocalist and lyricist Molly Godber tells me later on that day. We’re sitting at a bar down the road from the dance studios, gear piled up on a table behind us, in a sort of euphoric daze after the five-hour shoot. “Even in our hometown,

everywhere, not just in America, it just seemed to be everywhere, and I think that case was so horrific, because it really just opens your eyes to how corrupt the system is.

“It really just shocked me into action. I think we couldn’t ignore it and not talk about it anymore,” she continues. “We just couldn’t ignore it and not talk about it anymore. We need to raise awareness about that sort of thing, because the words just came out so easily for me, because it was something that was bubbling up over time. the conversation wasn’t being had, so we just needed to take it into our own hands.” They wanted to bring the conversation into the music, especially into a scene saturated with women being taken advantage of: that strange feeling of privilege male audience members seem to get by watching women onstage that somehow allows them to touch the performers, or to punch and push women in the crowd because it’s at a concert.

Putting these values into practice, not only in their music but their lives as well, is important to the band. They’re embodying the role models they looked for growing up, not only in the messages they send but in the way they act between each other. “We’re very odd people, so I think I wanted someone that was a bit more like what we are and how we interact with each other and stuff like that, and I didn’t see anybody like that,” Molly says. “I think we’re filling a little gap there for someone, because if I saw a band like us when I was a kid, I think I would have been pretty happy, and I’d have felt like there was somebody like me in the industry.”

“If you want to make people aware of matters like that, then you can do it,” guitarist Carys Jones adds. “Like how we were maturing and forming these opinions, if there’s young people listening to us, we can send them that.” Whether it be about feminism and basic respect for fellow humans, or important things in our current climate like voting, the band can use that platform, in person or on social media, to speak out about it. “If

you’ve got people listening to you, then you might as well try to make a difference.”

For the “Stanford” video, they wanted to speak up about assault, but their working idea of a narrative-led story didn’t quite fit

the message they hope would come across. To achieve more of an empowering, unifying feeling, focusing on the support they hope is available for victims of sexual assault, rather than the act itself, they put out an open call to their friends and fans to participate in their own way. “I think that was the most important part of it as well,” Molly continues; “it’s not the actual act that matters. It’s how we as a society take it and do what we do with it afterwards, and we want to be a part of the positive movement that comes from these horrendous things.”

With the Kavanaugh debacle permeating all our minds at the moment, it’s important that we take the time to stand in solidarity with those who have experienced this, or are at a risk of falling victim to it. Stand in solidarity with us, and revel in the glitter and flowers we went through during the filming. Keep an eye out for Babe Punch’s inevitable world domination, as well; this is a determined group of talented people.