In a new interview with “Heavy New York,” BUTCHER BABIES‘ Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey discussed whether they feel the term “female-fronted,” which is used to lump together disparate bands based on the presence of a female vocalist.
Carla said: “I think it discounts the men in the band. Just because you have a female vocalist doesn’t mean you’re a female metal band. But it is what it is. And if it brings someone in the door and they find our music because of that, then whatever.”
Heidi added: “You’re absolutely right about that, Carla. That’s something that always bugs me, because Henry [Flury, BUTCHER BABIES guitarist and Heidi‘s boyfriend] is one of the very few good eight-string guitar players in metal at all — in any genre, really. And he doesn’t really get that recognition that he deserves because people are so focused on, ‘Oh, it’s female-fronted.'”
“I don’t necessarily hate the term — I don’t really care anymore,” she continued. “When we first started, of course, we were, like, ‘Don’t say that.’ Now I don’t look at it as a negative thing; I look at it as this is, and has been, a movement that we’ve been a part of for 12 years now. So I’m not looking at this kind of offended that people would say ‘female-fronted.’
“To me, like I said, it’s a movement. So, that’s fine. We sound different than DOROTHY. DOROTHY sounds different than ARCH ENEMY and all these girls that are in the industry. Even though we sound different, we have created this little girls’ club where we support each other. Even the female guitar player Nita Strauss, she said something to me one time that really hit me hard was, ‘Queens straighten each other’s crowns.’ And I’ll never forget that, because that’s the reality of how it’s been for us our entire careers. We’ve all gotten along with the girls in the bands and always been the supportive ones cheering each other on. And that’s a beautiful thing. So I’m not offended by the term ‘female-fronted,’ because I look at it as such a positive thing. We have a club. We all sound different, but we have a club, and we support each other.”
You can watch full interview below.
