🔗 Share this article

When asked about the most punk gesture she's ever pulled off, Cathy Loughead answers without pause: “I performed with my neck injured in two locations. I couldn't jump around, so I decorated the brace instead. That was an amazing performance.”

Loughead belongs to a growing wave of women transforming punk music. Although a upcoming television drama focusing on female punk broadcasts this Sunday, it mirrors a movement already flourishing well outside the TV.

The Leicester Catalyst

This energy is most intense in Leicester, where a recent initiative – currently known as the Riotous Collective – sparked the movement. Loughead was there from the beginning.

“When we started, there weren't any all-women garage punk bands here. In just twelve months, there seven emerged. Today there are twenty – and growing,” she remarked. “Collective branches operate across the UK and globally, from Finland to Australia, laying down tracks, gigging, featured in festival lineups.”

This boom doesn't stop at Leicester. Across the UK, women are repossessing punk – and changing the environment of live music in the process.

Breathing Life into Venues

“There are music venues around the United Kingdom thriving because of women punk bands,” she added. “So are rehearsal studios, music instruction and mentoring, recording facilities. The reason is women are occupying these positions now.”

They are also transforming who shows up. “Female-fronted groups are performing weekly. They're bringing in broader crowd mixes – ones that see these spaces as safe, as intended for them,” she continued.

A Rebellion-Driven Phenomenon

Carol Reid, from a music youth organization, stated the growth was expected. “Ladies have been given a vision of parity. However, violence against women is at crisis proportions, radical factions are exploiting females to peddle hate, and we're gaslit over subjects including hormonal changes. Women are fighting back – via music.”

Another industry voice, from the Music Venue Trust, sees the movement reshaping local music scenes. “There is a noticeable increase in more diverse punk scenes and they're feeding into community music networks, with independent spaces programming varied acts and creating more secure, more welcoming spaces.”

Gaining Wider Recognition

Later this month, Leicester will host the debut Riot Fest, a three-day event including 25 women-led acts from the UK and Europe. In September, Decolonise Fest in London honored ethnic minority punk musicians.

This movement is gaining mainstream traction. The Nova Twins are on their maiden headline tour. Another rising group's first record, Who Let the Dogs Out, reached number sixteen in the UK charts recently.

A Welsh band were nominated for the 2025 Welsh Music Prize. Another act won the Northern Ireland Music Prize in recently. Hull-based newcomers Wench performed at a notable festival at Reading Festival.

It's a movement rooted in resistance. Across a field still plagued by gender discrimination – where female-only bands remain less visible and music spots are closing at crisis levels – female punk artists are creating something radical: opportunity.

No Age Limit

Now 79 years old, Viv Peto is proof that punk has no age limit. Based in Oxford washboard player in horMones punk band picked up her instrument only twelve months back.

“At my age, all constraints are gone and I can pursue my interests,” she said. One of her recent songs includes the chorus: “So shout out, ‘Fuck it’/ Now is my chance!/ The stage is mine!/ I am seventy-nine / And at my absolute best.”

“I appreciate this influx of elder punk ladies,” she remarked. “I couldn't resist when I was younger, so I'm making up for it now. It's wonderful.”

A band member from the band also mentioned she was prevented to rebel as a teenager. “It's been really major to finally express myself at this late stage.”

Another artist, who has toured globally with multiple groups, also views it as therapeutic. “It involves expelling anger: feeling unseen as a mother, as a senior female.”

The Liberation of Performance

Similar feelings led Dina Gajjar to establish a group. “Standing on stage is an outlet you were unaware you lacked. Females are instructed to be obedient. Punk rejects that. It's raucous, it's imperfect. This implies, during difficult times, I say to myself: ‘I can compose a track about it!’”

However, Abi Masih, a percussionist, said the punk woman is all women: “We're just ordinary, professional, amazing ladies who love breaking molds,” she explained.

Maura Bite, of the act the band, agreed. “Ladies pioneered punk. We had to smash things up to get noticed. This persists today! That fierceness is in us – it feels ancient, elemental. We are incredible!” she exclaimed.

Breaking Molds

Not every band conform to expectations. Band members, involved in a band, aim to surprise audiences.

“We avoid discussing age-related topics or curse frequently,” commented one. The other interjected: “Well, we do have a small rebellious part in each track.” Ames laughed: “That's true. But we like to keep it interesting. Our most recent song was on the topic of underwear irritation.”