In February I made a post on the Girls Rock School facebook page asking for people who wanted to be involved in a documentary about women creating their own platform. I got about four responses via email and messages on FB and one of them was Lou Mclean.
“Hi Ida,
A friend of mine shared your post on the Girl’s Rock School page and I saw you were looking for people from GRS to participate in your documentary.
I am a graduate of Girl’s Rock School Edinburgh, and have gone on to carve out a successful career as a solo singer-songwriter since my debut gig at their winter showcase in December 2015.
In addition to this, I also work closely with GRS promoting the cause, helping out by promoting and playing shows and as running a workshop as their Song-writing tutor.
I would love to take part in your documentary and discuss the realities of being a woman in the Scottish scene, and the importance of taking up space & working in solidarity with other women.
hope to hear from you soon,
Lou 🙂 “
We decided to meet up at Leith Depot to talk about what Girls Rock School is, what her thoughts on being a woman in the Scottish music scene are and how a female platforms helped her build confidence.
The questions I had written down were
- What is GRS?
- How did you find out about it?
- What was appealing about GRS? Why?
- Did you try a music career before GRS?
- Do you think that being in GRS has opened up more opportunities for you as a musician? Why?
- Is it harder for women to break in the industry? Why?
- How do you feel about the fact that bands with women or women in them are not as represented at festivals and gigs as all male bands?
- Do you think that even if a “Female band”/artist is not as big or wished for as a male band, they should still be booked?
- Do you feel that you don’t get as many gigs as your male colleagues because of your gender? How does it show?
- Why is it important for women to create their own platforms?
- How are you involved in GRS today?
- Why are you involved with GRS today?
I feel that the interview went well and she had a lot of good opinions that will give me material about why there is a need for female collectives.
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