“It was offensive!” Emma Gaze explains to me about that infamous incident at the Trinity Ball in 2004. The programme that year had made some below-the-belt comments about a four piece from Brighton, the enigmatic Electrelane. “It was offensive ‘cause it said something like ‘you had better watch out if they start mentioning feminism’. ‘It was bullshit” adds Mia, ‘It was just people assuming because we had talked about that and people had brought that up in interviews, we were going to bring that up! Like we were going to be lecturing people from the stage. It was stupid!” And there you have it. 3 years later the band have finally been given the opportunity to state their opinion. “It was mean about most of the bands but most especially us and Buck 65, and we asked ourselves- ‘why are they doing that?’’’ concludes fellow band mate Verity.

Electrelane, hailing originally from Brighton, have added a welcome conviction to a music scene that in many cases has been sorely forgotten and neglected. This has from time to time been a source of curiosity to the press. Sometimes it has been skewed into becoming a source of feminism almost anachronistic with today’s world. However what I discover in this delightfully erudite band is nothing more controversial than a love of their music and a strong sense of direction musically -and with life as a whole. This is a troupe of women who have no qualms about stating an opinion and playing a blistering set, and thank goodness for that.

Formed almost ten years ago in the bedroom of band member Emma Gaze’s house, they now have four albums under their belts. These include their fantastic sophomore album ‘The Power Out’ and the beautiful ‘No Shouts No Calls’, which was released just this spring. But it hasn’t been all plain sailing. A few disagreements with the record company and of course, the age-old strain of being in a band for so long had begun to affect the band. With the release of their third album ‘Axes’ in 2005, things came to a crossroads. “It was the worst period we ever had” Mia recalled. “It was like saying to ourselves ‘we would finish or we would do another record’”. So what brought about the change in sentiment and eventually the release of a fourth album? A split! No, not from the band as such but a break from the local environment of Brighton. Emma headed to London and Verity to Berlin. “It was more productive meeting in certain times and places and doing your own stuff in between” Mia continued. So was the break helpful and refreshing? A resounding nod of approval answers my question. “Being in Berlin was so inspiring. We would wake up and it would be nice and sunny. It comes across in the record as it’s nice and happy,” Emma tells me. ‘No Shouts No Calls’ was brought forth into this world by a stronger, more content band than the one that gave us ‘Axes’.

‘Axes’ is an odd record. Odd for it is a totally live album. Yet it is not an album recorded in the Astoria with the background sound of wailing fans. This is an album entirely recorded in the studio. Verity explained to me the concept behind ‘Axes’- “We are more of a live band and wanted it on record. We half -tried it on albums before and now we thought ‘why not do it in a studio, in one go?’” The record company were predictably, a bit dubious about such a departure, especially after the critical success of The Power Out? “The record company would have liked to have us record something with singing on it as it would be easier and sellable. However the only way we could do something is if we could do the stuff the way we wanted”. The girls stood their ground. “We caused them a few problems”, Emma continued, “because we’re not like, you can do our art work and stuff. They were like, ‘No Shouts No Calls’ would have done better if we hadn’t done ‘Axes’ but we told them that there would never have been ‘No Shouts No Calls’ if we didn’t do ‘Axes’”.

So there you have it. Electrelane are not going to badger you with feminist rhetoric and they are not going to sit down and let people or record companies get in the way of doing something they clearly feel passionate about. Electrelane are true artists and believers in what they do and worth checking out the next time they play. They also -thankfully for us- don’t hold a grudge.

Conor O'Neill is a winetaster and former Buenos Airen, studying History and Politics in Trinity.
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