At the SJSF 2016 someone asked me why there are no female guitarists in this genre?
What would you say?

Twang cheers!

Ralf Kilauea

www.kilaueas.de

https://kilaueas.bandcamp.com/album/touch-my-alien

Aloha:
Seems there is a growing interest in female electric guitarists but many of them are very young and have not "found" surf yet. Plenty of very technical shredding going on by the young lasses like Orianthi. Maybe we need to encourage her to play some surf tunes. Then, like a lot of players, they have a shelf life. Probably shorter for women. That's the main cultural chasm. Also, there are plenty of women playing classical guitar and other instruments in classical, also a technical style and many with recording careers. Again, have not "found surf music" . We have our work cut out for us.

I see plenty of bass guitarists female and also surf style drums. Interest is growing.

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Two all-female surf bands:

Bombon (San Pedro, CA)

https://www.facebook.com/laschicasdelbombon/

The Neptunas (Long Beach, CA)

http://www.neptunas.com

Female guitarist:

Glasgow Tiki Shakers (Mar Vista, CA)

https://www.facebook.com/glasgow.shakers

Bill S._______

HELLDIVER on Facebook

I have seen much more bassist than leads. But I think the women are discouraged thing may be a bit on the way out. As new generations come up this will probably equalize to the level of females that are truly interested in playing lead. My daughter (9) likes watching guitar players, but she prefers singing and if she has to choose an instrument, it would be drums.

The majority of my female friends and family are not really drawn to surf music and prefer more vocal music. A matter of fact most of my male friends don't really get too excited about surf. So part of the problem may be surf is definitely "an acquired taste" and perhaps it doesn't draw a large cross section of people.

Surfcat

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Surf, the most dangerous of all musical genres...

ElBirkerio wrote:

sure?

Not sure what point of mine you are addressing. Again, it looks like mostly female bassists, not leads - and on average probably a low percentage of females involved in surf in general. I haven't been to a surf show in California or that coast, but the shows I go to on the East Coast, (NYC, PA, Conn, Vermont, VA, MD, DC, NC etc...) are mostly filled with dudes playing and watching, and usually older dudes like myself - Exceptions for Los Straitjackets, Cossacks, and similar big draw acts. Most of the crowds for local surf bands are dudes (and their wives).

I would love to see this change and I'm hoping that when my daughter hits Junior High she says "Dad, could you show me some surf riffs". That would bring tears of joy to my eyes...

Surfcat

2023 SG101 Compilation - Tribute to Noel
The Journey Home - Agent Octopus (Our SG101 Comp download)

From Atlantis with Love - Released - July 2023
Agent Octopus-Spotify
Christmas on the Beach - NEW SINGLE Dec 2023!!
Reverb Galaxy - Angle of Attack CD - BANDCAMP

Surf, the most dangerous of all musical genres...

Yeah I get a sense that it's in the listenership, even if I don't understand why the listenership is that way. Call-ins to my radio show would suggest that there's an even split but if I look at analytics for my website or facebook page, it's less than 10% female visitors. Granted, a lot of people consuming my content are in bands, but that's a pretty heavy skew.

You would think that instrumental music would be pretty gender-neutral. Go figure. Maybe it's like careers in computer science: nothing about the work itself that excludes women, but it makes it intimidating to do your thing when you're surrounded by men.

Storm Surge of Reverb: Surf & Instro Radio

Last edited: Aug 04, 2016 14:19:34

In addition to what Danny and Jake said, sadly it probably isn't just the missing encouragement. When you look at the way how female rock musicians are covered by the press or how people talk about them on the internet, in 80% of the cases there is as much space dedicated to their looks as to their music and performance (often it is even more space).

Just look at some older threads about some of the artists mentioned above. Do you find similar comments about looks in threads about male performers? Probably much less.

Let's face it: In our society a women playing a guitar is first seen as "a women" and then as a guitar player. Would YOU be interested in devoting time to music, when most of the time the very thing you're interested in goes unnoticed, because people prefer to talk about your dress, your face or your chest?

With surf music (and other genres with strong ties to the past) this may also be strongly connected with the way women are represented in artwork etc. The bikini girls and go-go dancers don't exactly propagate a progressive picture of women. Why should you develop greater interest in a genre, where the role for you already seems to have been cut out as "attractive extra"?

I don't want to rain on anybody's parade and of course everybody is free to design their record sleeves and live performances in the way they want. But maybe we have to decide if we want girls in bikinis or girls with guitars...

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Last edited: Aug 04, 2016 17:15:13

simoncoil wrote:

I don't want to rain on anybody's parade and of course everybody is free to design their record sleeves and live performances in the way they want. But maybe we have to decide if we want girls in bikinis or girls with guitars...

I think you're onto something Simon. I wonder if that whole aesthetic (including gogo girls) is part of what keeps the genre from being accepted as current and viable.

Danny Snyder

Latest project - Now That's What I Call SURF
_
"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I'm back playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Last edited: Aug 04, 2016 21:30:55