Mega-babe, Bec Sandridge has released a groovy new clip for her single “You’re a Fucking Joke”. A self-confessed turtle neck wearing, cuddle-loving Bec, has been wooing the world with her “who-who-who-HA-whoo’s” while touring around with Abbe May this month. With a national headlining tour coming up in August, Bec Sandrdige is a force to be reckoned with!
The clip that see’s Bec rocking around, backed up by an entourage of lipstick wearing, mannequin playing male counterparts may seem edgy and peculiar, but there’s a much worthier underlying theme being showcased. We chatted to Bec to find out what “You’re a Fucking Joke” is really all about and how gender roles are stereotyping women within the industry.
Introduce us to Bec Sandridge in 140 characters or less:
Punk-spaghetti-disco-pop writer and logomaniac who is currently obsessed with lipstick, turtlenecks and cuddles.
What were your major inspirations for this single? What inspired you to write/produce the single You’re A Fucking Joke? Sonically, I was inspired by groups like ABBA, Fleetwood Mac, Blondie and Arcade Fire. Thematically, I was influenced by someone who was a bit of a twat in Glasgow. But it’s fine…
I love that you’ve established your very own genre for your music, can you elaborate a little on what exactly “Spaghetti disco pop” is? I like spaghetti, there’s also spaghetti western guitars, there’s definitely disco drums and boogies in there and all-in-all, my songs are pop princesses at heart.
What influenced the song title for the single “You’re a fucking joke”? For the first time in a long time, I wanted to be as direct as possible in my writing and I felt that this title was the most honest set of words to describe the situation that went down.
I saw that your two latest singles are available for pre-sale on Vinyl (YAY!). Are you a Vinyl kind of gal? So exciting! My Dad passed on his wee vinyl collection to me a little while ago, but half of them are water + sun damaged so they are mostly stuck on my studio’s walls. I feel like I really like the idea of taking a collection of songs out of a beautiful and big cover and manually playing it on a player(as opposed to streaming). It’s somewhat therapeutic and it’s a nice thing to give music listening time. That being said, if I’m honest, I haven’t done it in a long while! *runs/walks home to play records*
From what I’ve read and seen I’m sensing a lot of girl power (which I love). You said “I wanted to create a video that subverted the way I experience gender and stereotyping not only within the music industry, but the world in which we exist.” Would you care to elaborate a bit further on this?
Often in music videos, women are positioned in the background or secondary to what the male protagonist or ‘hero’ is doing. We stand there and are made to just ‘look pretty.’ Or we stand there to play a support role. We are told and commissioned to not take up space. To play guitar as a prop. And it’s shit. ‘You’re A Fucking Joke’ attempts to flip this standard on it’s head. The men are props who look pretty and who sometimes play mannequins as guitars. This allowed me to dictate how I use the space and do what I love freely (that is, to sing and play guitar) without my gender being the focus or the object of sexualisation.
You said “we needed to create a world where my gender wasn’t the focus” – do you feel as though there is an issue within the creative industry (in particular the music industry) where females are overlooked? Is this something the video/song aims to address? There’s a definite push for girls-to-the-front in popular culture at the moment, which is amazing, but it still isn’t enough. And probably wont be enough for quite some time. Women in the music industry are still described as ‘great female artists’ or ‘female guitarists,’ whereas men who are artists are simply called that, an artist. It’s kind of interesting that my gender needs to be placed in front of what i do and I think my video definitely comments on this.
In relation to the topic of women within the music industry, I’d love to know your opinion on the latest controversy over the Spilt Milk festival line up. Featuring only one female artist (Vera Blue) in a predominately male line up. The festival that aimed to bring together some of “Australia’s best things” has overlooked some great female talent such as yourself and other Aussie female talents such as Montaigne, Ngaiire, Alex Lahey etc. Personally I decided to boycott the festival. What are your thoughts on this? Is this an all too real issue that is continuing to be overlooked with women within the music world?
It’s super interesting that Australia’s ‘best things’ don’t involve females. And by interesting, I mean, it seems like some sort of joke… To be honest, it is really uninspiring and more than anything it’s a really big disappointment and dis-service to women in the music industry and also to young women like myself who weren’t necessarily encouraged to play guitar or pursue a creative field. I mean, I wouldn’t claim to be one of Australia’s best things, but i would definitely agree that Montaigne, Ngaiire, Alex Lahey deserve to be placed in that talent box – I would’ve liked to attend as a punter if they were playing. Diversity makes things exciting and inspiring.
Where did the brilliant idea to have lipstick wearing, mannequin playing male back-ups stem from? We originally wanted to invert Robert Palmer’s ‘Addicted To Love’ clip, but Shania Twain beat us to it. And to be honest, I’m really, really obsessed with turtle-necks and lipstick. So it seemed like a really fitting representation of me.
Did you get to choose the shades of lipstick; they are divine? Or can we thank Imogen for that? I have my go-to lipstick (‘Ever-ready-red’ by Covergirl – I hope I get an endorsement). As for the gents, I have no idea on the lipstick choice, but it does look pretty smokin’. I’d give Maree Dolores Spagnol credit for the make up on everyone. She made us seem trendy.
How was working with director of the clip, Imogen Grist? We’re both super nervous nellies, so it was really fun and also challenging – Imo and I conquered our filming anxiety by switching ‘I’m nervous / I’m going to pee my pants’ to ‘I’M EXCITED’ (this phrase was probably stated at least 50 times in two hours).
I was sensing a little Bowie influence with your attempt at a ‘genderless’ (having a cast that looked neither male or female) look? Was that something you were going for? Was he in any way an inspiration for you, on your music? Who has been your biggest inspirations in regards to your music?
Gotta love Bowie. I love his approach to gender and sexuality. For me it is so important that my songs come first. But that being said, it’s also really important for me to be acknowledged as a strong musician first, who is SURPRISINGLY also a women *shock horror* When performing live i’m very aware that I’m a 6 ft tall woman, playing electric guitar – I take up a bit of space and i make a lot of noise, so i often feel i defy the trope of the fragile female singer-songwriter. I am inspired by Stevie Nicks, Feist, St Vincent and Cyndi Lauper.
You’ve mentioned on your social media that marriage equality is something very close to your heart (as it is for most young Australian’s). Would you care to share your thoughts on the topic? It’s definitely close to my heart. For most of my life, I’ve struggled with my own identity – I never know what to identify with in terms of my sexuality. The thought of legislations complicating or policing that (even further) really sucks for myself and any other person struggling to ‘normalise’ their sexuality.
You’ll be commencing you’re headlining tour in August and then BIGSOUND! How do you feel? I’m SO NERVOUS/EXCITED. I get to bring my whole band. So there’ll be five of us boogying on stage. I get really excited visiting some of my favourite places in Australia. Andddd BIGSOUND line up is definitely note-worthy (I’ve already purple texta’d it in my diary – which means it’s v. exciting).
Are there any pre-tour jitters?
Always.
What’s your favourite thing about touring/ playing?
Meeting new people. Hearing their wee stories. Post show-cuddles.
Do you have any tour ritual’s you’d care to share with us? I think that my voice sounds better after having a glass of coca-cola, so that usually goes down pre-show. This probably adds to my show jitters. I sometimes like to colour in before the show too, it keeps me focused on breathing and remaining relatively calm.
You’re also touring with Abbe May; can we expect any collaborations in the future?
I really hope so! Her voice is next level.