Petrol Girls: Fuelling Hope In A Broken World
PETROL GIRLS have Laurie Penny to thank for their band name. Lead singer Ren Aldridge heard the name being mentioned at a talk about feminism by Penny, as she was talking about the French women who went by the name that loosely translated to PETROL GIRLS. Aldridge loved the idea so much, she had to write it down. The band are known for their tongue-in-cheek humour whilst discussing otherwise difficult subject matters.
“It was a case-by-case thing with the subject matter,” Aldridge explains as we sit down to discuss the band’s new album, Baby, which is their third release. She’s situated in Austria as we speak over video call. “Abortion, because of my personal experiences that I’ve had, felt like fair game to be irreverent and tongue-in-cheek about.”
The song that Aldridge is talking about is Baby, I Had an Abortion, which is a standout song on their fantastic third album, and not just because of its name. It is an honest, raw and also silly pro-choice song. However, not all the songs are irreverent on the album. Fight For Our Lives is “about femicide, and the global movement fighting back against it. I’m not sure how you would be able to approach it in an irreverent or playful way.”
The playful side to PETROL GIRLS is a refreshing one. In a time where everything is doom and gloom, the band are making light out of dark subject matter: when it is relevant. However, whilst this might seem off-putting, the band clearly care about what they stand for. Outside of music and her job as a waitress (“to me, it’s all tangled up”), Aldridge spends her free time going to protests for women’s rights. “With this record, I was really interested in how and where humour can be used as a political tool. I think it can be very powerful.”
She is right. Over the past couple of years, social media has seen a rise in comedians creating parody sketches, such as British actress and comedian Rosie Holt, who gained popularity in 2020 with her satirical sketches on Twitter; or writing silly but scathing songs about what is happening in our lives, such as Munya Chawawa, who wrote and performed parody versions of popular songs in response to British politics. The children’s TV show and book series, Horrible Histories, has taught generations of the nasty sides of history with a comedic angle when necessary. In essence, if you can’t laugh, you’ll probably cry.
However, crying is not a bad thing. Neither is being vulnerable. Despite its happy-go-lucky tone, Baby, I Had an Abortion is still a vulnerable song at its core. To speak up about having an abortion is an inspiring thing to do. According to Aldridge: “I’m trying to challenge the idea that you should be sorry or ashamed of it. If more and more people reject the idea that it is something to be ashamed of, then it is much harder to push through laws that ban it because then people [view abortion] as normal and just [a part of] healthcare.”
There is a song on Baby that is the perfect mixture of humour and seriousness. It’s called Violent By Design, and whilst “the verses are angry and serious, the choruses are just us taking the piss out of the viewpoint of thinking that the police are going to protect us because they are fucking not.” Throughout our conversation, Aldridge makes jokes and laughs a lot. It is clear her humour never goes away. An example is when she is explaining the reason behind the album name, Baby, she jokes, “I call my dog, Patch, ‘baby’, and she was with us at the studio. So, the other [band members] are like, ‘No, Ren, it’s nothing to do with your dog!’ But to me, totally, it is about my baby.”
However, there are several meanings behind the name Baby. “I’m really into the ambivalence of it. Some people call their partners ‘baby’, and that’s something they both enjoy, and it’s a nice and romantic thing between them. But it can also be sexual harassment, like, ‘hey, baby’, and weird sexualising thing. I kind of like the gendered side of things.”
As for what the fans and general public should take away from this album? “I hope that people are playing Baby, I Had an Abortion at counter demonstrations against pro-lifers, and really winding them up. That would please me,” Aldridge explains. “And I hope it’s getting played at demonstrations where it is relevant, after-parties and social centres. I hope it keeps someone company on the bus on the way to work. I hope it brightens people’s days and helps them tune into difficult things that they are processing. I hope it reaches the ears of someone who is having very complicated feelings around their abortion, and makes them feel like that they have nothing to be sorry for.”
PETROL GIRLS have already released two albums (2016’s Talk Of Violence and 2017’s Cut & Stitch) that has seen them gain media coverage from the likes of Kerrang! and The Independent. However, Baby might be the breakthrough that the band have been building up to. Their feminist lyrics will resonate with anyone who have been angry at the world. In a world where everything seems like it is going to hell, PETROL GIRLS have provided the fuel for igniting hope with their music. And that fuel could easily turn into a blaze of change. One only has to be brave enough to light the match.
Baby is out now via Hassle Records.
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