Female Drummer Magazine TomTom To Throw A Crackling Gig at School Bar, Apr 21

Let’s admit it, female musicians have it harder than their male counterparts. Like just about every other industry in the world, it’s an uphill battle for females to gain equal noticeability in the music industry, or not be turned into a gimmick to promote said music or band. So it’s comforting to see platforms out there that not only have girls’ backs, but are also actively inspiring more of them to pursue a career in music.

That’s where TomTom Magazine – the only magazine in the world dedicated to female drummers – comes in. After putting out calls for international contributors, Ceridwen Brown, drummer for the volatile, brutally honest female-led punk band Ugly Girls, out of Shanghai pitched her China Grrrl series to their editors who were quickly interested in featuring the heavy female presence in the Chinese underground music scene. Seeking collaborators outside of Shanghai Ceridwen reached out to the Blackout Queen of Beijing aka Xiaoxiao, a prominent promoter and music scene aficionado, last summer. This week they throw a two-night extravaganza featuring 21 distinctive girls, 8 underground bands, and over 10 hours of fierce rock and roll to be filmed and featured at TomTom Mag online, their first associated events in Asia.

Founded in New York City 2009 by Mindy Abovitz, “Tom Tom’s purpose is to raise awareness about girl and women percussionists from all over the world, to inspire females of all ages to drum, and to strengthen and build the otherwise fragmented community of female musicians.” The quarterly magazine has covered a wide array of drummers - from Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint) to Kim Schifino (Matt & Kim) – and have held events all over the US and Europe.

The China Grrrl project has already featured interviews with various underground female drummers in Beijing (including YiYi of Rhonda  Beng/Outsiders and Jocelyn of Free Sex Shop) during which the idea formed of throwing a showcase in the spring of 2018. As Xiaoxiao notes, female bands and musicians are quite common in Beijing and Shanghai, and are very good for that matter (i.e. Nova Heart, The Hormones). However, “far too many foreigners who have never been in touch with Chinese rock music, or have never been to China, have no idea that China has female rock bands, female musicians, and female punk bands. They don’t even imagine that girls in China can perform on stage this way. It’s ridiculous.” Furthermore, there will always be men who “refuse to actively support girls in the scene… who feel a female’s stamina and explosiveness could never match that of males…all the while discussing only their appearance and attire.”

In many ways, the TomTom endorsed events, which will also be filmed as a mini-documentary series with associate production from Subtropical Asia (co-founded by Beijing based female drummer Cab), is a war cry for female drummers and musicians, and Ceridwen and Xiaoxiao are more than happy to take the opportunity to promote the true status quo of female representation in Chinese rock and roll with a thrilling three evening event that’ll take place across Beijing and Shanghai. They kicked things off in the capital at Temple Bar Thursday, April 19th with Rhonda, Duff Beer, Wasted Laika, and Xiao Wang.

On Saturday Apr 21, things get turned up a notch as legendary all-female Qingdao punk outfit Dummy Toys joins Shanghai’s Ugly Girls, and our own Free Sex Shop and Quick Shot for a riotous feminist outing.  Be sure to check out Ceridwen’s China Grrrl diary series on TomTom Mag online too.

The show takes place at School Bar on Saturday, Apr 21 starting at 9pm. For more information, click here.

Photos: TomTomMag, School Bar