Fr. 22.2.13 20:00
Wayne Lost Soul
&
LOUISE DISTRAS
“LOUISE DISTRAS is the new face of
acoustic punk. She’s a woman with a clenched fist full of protest songs
that target injustice, chauvenism and bigotry; the love child Billy Bragg and Patti Smith never had.
Nirvana inspired Wakefield-born Louise to pick up a guitar at the tender age of thirteen. Twelve years on, she uses it as a weapon to push a politicised brand of hard-hitting contemporary folk. Her first single ‘The Hand You Hold’, released earlier this year, set out to “empower young women.” It was angry, and pointed, asking the media: ‘Who are you to say/we should look this way?’ “I’m sick of the way women and young girls are reduced to stereotypes and exploited,” says Louise, 25, who is proud to be putting purpose back in pop.
Utterly of the Left – Bragg and Anne Scargill are fans – she says she is influenced “by ELO and the Bee Gees as much as the Clash.” She’s currently finishing her debut album with Steve Whale (ex of The Business), Mick Talbot (Style Council, Dexys), Jamie Oliver (UK SUBS drummer) and engineer Pat Collier.
Targets for Louise’s anger include David Cameron (“a dickhead”), the Hillsborough cover-up and “lame NME fringe bands – they can go fuck themselves.”
She has also been campaigning for the release of Russian art punk trio Pussy Riot, whose protests she compares to that of suffragette Emily Davison and even Rosa Parks. “They’re three incredibly brave women who have been jailed for simply speaking their mind and fighting for freedom,” she says. “Their struggle is our struggle.” Louise’s mission? “To destroy all apathy.” STREET SOUNDS MAGAZINE
Nirvana inspired Wakefield-born Louise to pick up a guitar at the tender age of thirteen. Twelve years on, she uses it as a weapon to push a politicised brand of hard-hitting contemporary folk. Her first single ‘The Hand You Hold’, released earlier this year, set out to “empower young women.” It was angry, and pointed, asking the media: ‘Who are you to say/we should look this way?’ “I’m sick of the way women and young girls are reduced to stereotypes and exploited,” says Louise, 25, who is proud to be putting purpose back in pop.
Utterly of the Left – Bragg and Anne Scargill are fans – she says she is influenced “by ELO and the Bee Gees as much as the Clash.” She’s currently finishing her debut album with Steve Whale (ex of The Business), Mick Talbot (Style Council, Dexys), Jamie Oliver (UK SUBS drummer) and engineer Pat Collier.
Targets for Louise’s anger include David Cameron (“a dickhead”), the Hillsborough cover-up and “lame NME fringe bands – they can go fuck themselves.”
She has also been campaigning for the release of Russian art punk trio Pussy Riot, whose protests she compares to that of suffragette Emily Davison and even Rosa Parks. “They’re three incredibly brave women who have been jailed for simply speaking their mind and fighting for freedom,” she says. “Their struggle is our struggle.” Louise’s mission? “To destroy all apathy.” STREET SOUNDS MAGAZINE
“In all fairness, if the 60′s and
70′s could see us now – they’d all be rolling in the graves, really
rolling. While music itself has reached an apex of creative possibility,
ease of use and execution, for many musicians the lyrical content,
meaning and message has been lacking in the mainstream. Louise Distras
is one of those crusaders; if being a staunch feminist, punk enthusiast
and down right acoustic wild child wasn’t enough to facilitate an
interest – then her uncompromising appreciation for melody is.”
THE ESPIAL
THE ESPIAL
