INTERVIEW: Ren Aldridge – Petrol Girls

PETROL GIRLS have been one of the most exciting bands in the UK DIY punk scene for a while now. Their powerful message laced into their furious punk songs has really helped establish them. Now, ahead of the release of their second full length album Cut & Stitch we caught up with vocalist Ren Aldridge to discuss the album and the band’s politics.

So are you excited for the release of your new album Cut & Stitch?

Ren: Yeah we definitely are, we’re also a bit nervous cos it’s quite different to our last record. It’s a bit more experimental. It will be cool to get it out there and hear what people think about it.

There’s a lot more spoken word stuff this time, is that the more experimental side?

Ren: Yeah I’m so terrified. Like shouting is easy and fun but the spoken parts I’m making an effort to be more vulnerable and not just a one dimensional rage machine all the time. It’s challenging for me personally and there are some days where I think why the fuck have I done this. But hopefully it’s cool, I mean I’ve done it now and we’ll just have to go with it.

Those moments definitely work though. They keep things varied and provide a nice change of pace.

Ren: Yeah I think what we were trying to do is create something that is more dynamic in every way, not just musically but also emotionally. Like you can’t be angry all the time. Being angry or loud persistently isn’t sustainable and sustainability is a core concept of the record. This whole point of cutting and stitching being this ongoing process and following on from our last EP The Future Is Dark. There’s this idea of continuity, of keeping on going. Not like the revolution is gonna happen tomorrow and then we’re done. Like political change is an ongoing constant process that everyone can contribute to. So in that way it has to be sustainable, that process of making change has to be sustainable and I think over the years I’ve reflected a lot on burnout and the emotional strain of trying to be political. So yeah I think that hopefully having more reflective moments on the record gives space for the rage to have more potency.

Yeah, when you’re angry all the time it can sort of get a bit numbing so having moments of quiet makes that rage have more of an impact

Ren: Yeah that’s exactly it.

So what else would you say differs on this album compared to your previous work?

Ren: So I guess some of the song topics are not as obviously political. Like in the past everything has been clearly political but this time there’s a song called Skye which is just about my family dog who died a few years ago. I was really in two minds about us including that because initially we felt it sat oddly with much more political songs but then I thought about it a bit more. Like being able to love another living thing that much is something that is super important. Something I keep coming back to about music generally is that it is emotional and is about empathy at its core. And that’s something politics could do with a lot more of, so it does all tie in.

So was there anything that really changed the way you approached this album compared to the last one?

Ren: The writing process for this record was quite different as I was living in Glasgow at the while everyone else was living in Austria. So in terms of writing a lot of it had the music put down and then I added the vocals on top of that. Whereas before it was more of a mixed process. I definitely found this way more challenging but also more interesting because from a vocalists perspective you’re approaching these songs rhythmically and it sort of pulls the words out of you in a more subconscious way, rather than specifically thinking I want to write a song about this lets go. It’s a pretty interesting process even if it is really hard sometimes.

So obviously there is a very strong feminist message in everything PETROL GIRLS do. You said there’s less directly political songs this time but do you feel your core values are still the same as they’ve always been?

Ren: Yeah so what I realised after the record was done, like when you’re recording and writing your so deeply invested but when it was all done and having sat back and reflected on it. There are songs like Big Mouth for example is still dealing with a big feminist topic of how women and other marginalised groups are treated within society and how they are tolerated as long as they are quiet and well behaved, whatever that means. And I think that’s true for a lot of different marginalised groups. So I think that song can be seen in a purely feminist way. Like feminism is just my worldview, it’s how I’ve been able to understand a lot of things that have happened to me personally and a lot of the ways the world is structured within patriarchy and capitalism. So it’s always there, and I think you can hear it really clearly in songs like Tangle Of Lives which deals with environmental issues. But like the main lyric of “they think they own our bodies, they think they own our labour, they think they own the earth” it’s looking at that entitlement that some rich wankers think they have to the planet and it’s the same entitlement they think they have to peoples bodies. So I think I find writing music really interesting because it lets your draw these links that come from a a very empathetic level and then once you stand back you realise yeah fuck that’s what it is. And I think also during the process of writing this record I really found this way of explaining how I feel a lot of the time which is I’ve been mined. That’s obviously quite an environmental term again as the earth is mined for its resources and I feel like I’ve been mined for mine. I think that’s the best way to describe it and I think it’s really interesting that it’s an environmental word. Obviously I can’t speak for all women but I look at the way a lot of women around me are treated and it is like a resource that can just keep giving. But at some point you’re just gonna burn out. And that’s the point at which I have grumpily come round to the idea of self care. Because of the way the world is where it wants to keep taking from you, women and marginalised groups in particular have to take some space for themselves and be like no I need to look after myself now.

So do you think this scene in the UK could do more to spread these sort of ideas and messages?

Ren: Well it’s difficult, cos there’s so many different scenes and they’re all different depending on where you are. We tour around all over the place. Like in the UK there’s at least three or four different scenes that I identify with. Different parts of them have different issues and deal with things better in different ways. Like the crusty scene is probably the best on environmental stuff. And then there’s this queer feminist scene which is obviously doing incredible stuff on gender and race issues. I think that’s something that gets overlooked a lot of the time, how the punk scene says its anti racist but then you look around at most shows and why are most of the people there white. I think it’s an uncomfortable question we should keep asking ourselves. Are we making these shows and these spaces welcoming to people of colour. And I think it’s something that decolonise fest are doing some really amazing and really hard work to change this. I just think it’s different in different places and I think I have a lot of respect for the way different scenes do things. And it’s not gonna be perfect everywhere but I think it’s cool when people are at least trying. And I think especially the scenes that are super political, I think we could do with not being so hard on ourselves all the time. Because it does get really exhausting and I am definitely part of the problem with that. If people are trying I just really appreciate that. If they are trying to make the space more welcoming or less sexist that’s really cool. If people are trying to do stuff to change that catastrophic climate change is on its way then I support that. It can always be done better but I applaud anyone that is trying to do anything right now cos the future just feels so bleak sometimes.

Do you find adversity sometimes motivates you to just push back harder then?

Ren: It used to, in the past I would have said some of my favourite shows were in really difficult spaces and there is something to be said to be coming into a space where people are like “oh my god there’s a woman on stage” which has happened many times. I used to thrive on that challenge. But now I just have to say I’m so fucking tired and actually I think I’m finding it harder and harder to deal with difficult shows because it’s just exhausting. I think because I present myself on stage as a very aggressive and confident character that means people have very high expectations of me and what I’m gonna be able to do. And actually I’m quite timid, shy and anxious person so I find these expectations on me to be able to deal with like, a bunch of men who are being shitty at one of our shows. I find it so stressful and difficult to deal with. It’s a pressure from that direction but then there’s also pressure from people who shouldn’t have to deal with that shit for me to sort it out. So I just feel squeezed from both directions really and I don’t know how to deal with it, it’s just hard. For me it used to be like a constant party and now it feels more and more like it’s too stressful. Just because of this fear of people and it’s almost always cis men who just act like idiots in the crowd. I wish they could just stop, how hard is it to have a good time without ruining everyone else’s night.

Being non binary I experience that a lot and totally understand where you are coming from. It’s so frustrating that we are expected to be the ones to make them change their behaviour instead of them not being horrible. I guess this ties into what you said earlier about self care and knowing when to take a step back and look after yourself.

Ren: Yeah exactly and it’s such a hard balance and I’ve definitely been quite grumpy about self care in the past because I’ve seen privileged people use it as an excuse to step down, or that’s how I felt it’s been. And they’ve left people in a less privileged position to clean up the pieces. Like I’m white and cisgendered, I feel like I have got a hell of a lot of privilege and so I’m just trying to work out where I actually need to step back and look after myself and where is that just me being pathetic and I need to step in. And yeah having the mic is scary but it’s also a point of privilege in itself so I feel like I have a responsibility in that sense. It’s about trying to figure it all out.

So moving onto the last few bits. PETROL GIRLS are gearing up for a fairly lengthy tour over the next few months. Are you excited to get out on the road?

Ren: Yeah definitely, it’s gonna be really exciting to get out on the road. Like we can’t wait to tour with WAR ON WOMEN and then after that we are out with MILK TEETH and LA DISPUTE. So it’s gonna be really cool to spend time with those people and I think we’re gonna hit some places we’ve never been before which will be really nice. Also be really nice to return to some places and see old friends. To be honest at the same time I do find touring very exhausting and I’m a bit stressed about being on tour for such a long time and how I’m gonna cope with this. But we’re just see how it goes. We’ll be alright. Like I’m gonna take up running, not in a fitness way because I’m crap at it and always came last at school. But I’m gonna just have a little run around whatever town we are in each day just to get a bit of mental head-space. It’ll be challenging but ultimately rewarding and hopefully a lot of fun.

Finally what are you hoping to have achieved by the end of the Cut & Stitch album cycle?

Ren: Erm, that’s tricky. I think for me the whole point of making political music is to inspire conversation and action. Hopefully to help marginalised groups feel a bit more empowered. Songs like Big Mouth I hope it does inspire people to feel some confidence in their own voices. Something that we’re really big on is this idea of passing the mic, but pushing that further. I’m really into this idea where there isn’t such a thing as the voice of the voiceless. It’s Arundhati Roy who said “there’s no such thing as the voiceless, there are only the deliberately silenced or the preferably unheard”. I just remember the first time I read that quote I thought yes exactly. I wanna create the spaces and conditions for people to be able to speak for themselves about the shit that effects them. I just thing voice is really important and being a vocalist it makes me think about what voice means politically. It’s something that comes up a lot on our record. Like there’s lyrics in The Sound that are like “raise your own voice, make your own noise”. Ultimately I hope it will inspire other people to start bands or make noise in other ways. To feel like they are part of a community that will back them if they speak up. Yeah, like conversation and having a chat is important. Face to face ideally, the internet is a terrifying place. I just like to think maybe somewhere a couple of people will have listened to the record and have a nice cup of tea and little chat about some of the ideas. That’s all I can ask for really, it would be lovely.

That’s a really nice way to look at it and a nice note to end on. Thanks so much

Ren: Thank you that was cool.

Cut & Stitch is out now via Hassle Records.

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