“We’re here to feed the pipeline and give visibility to artists”: How LOUD WOMEN are changing grassroots music

When Cassie Fox founded LOUD WOMEN in 2015, it was sort of a happy accident. Tired of feeling like she and her bandmates were the only women in the room when playing gigs, she decided to host one herself with friends. Over a decade later, LOUD WOMEN is now a global feminist DIY music collective spanning across four continents.

“It was actually quite a selfish thing that I was doing,” Cassie tells Kerrang! today. “I certainly wasn’t thinking global at that stage. I wasn’t in music, I had two small children back in 2015 when we first started so I definitely wasn’t looking for a side hustle, I was busy enough! I had a full-time job in book publishing as well, so I had a totally different world.”

The first LOUD WOMEN gig took place in the now-closed Silver Bullet in North London. Loads of people rocked up, and it completely sold-out. It also marked the debut gig for Dream Nails, the first of many bands to pass through LOUD WOMEN and find success.

“The venue was really pleased to have a sold-out gig so asked us to do it again. Bands started getting in touch and saying, ‘I hear you put on these really cool gigs. Can we come and play?’ It snowballed from there,” Cassie remembers.

LOUD WOMEN is now a registered CIC (Community Interest Company), which is “halfway between a charity and a limited company”. And 2026 is shaping up to be their biggest year yet, as they’re set to host their 11th LOUD WOMEN FEST LONDON on September 5 at Rich Mix. It’s their biggest annual event, and celebrates women, trans and non-binary artists in punk, rock, indie and wider alternative music. This year’s line-up is the most international to date, featuring artists from across the UK, Europe, North America and Australia.

But that’s not all, LOUD WOMEN FEST will also take place in Bristol and Newport (South Wales) this year, and there will be events in Berlin, Hamburg, New York, Halifax (Nova Scotia), Toronto, Colorado, Tokyo, and across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in Australia. All of them operate on a not-for-profit basis, with proceeds going directly to the artists. And it’s possible due to volunteers who care about the mission.

“I’ve now got something like 650 names on our volunteer list, which is nuts, and that’s all around the world,” says Cassie proudly. “That’s organisers and writers on our music blog, people who help with our radio show, photographers. We put out compilation albums so there’s a mini record label as well. We [then have] all the regular gigs and the festivals.”

One familiar name who was instrumental in supporting LOUD WOMEN is Lambrini Girls’ Phoebe Lunny, who used to do interviews and helped the organisational team: “She is super clever… Anyone who [solely] looks at the chaos of her climbing up a 20-foot pole, don’t underestimate her. Do so at your peril!” laughs Cassie.

And it’s not just Lambrini Girls who’ve been involved with LOUD WOMEN – they were also there for a number of other bands who’ve now made it big, from Nova Twins to Big Joanie, and they were even early supporters of Amyl And The Sniffers.

“I’ve got this list of bands that I had for a minute, then they were snatched away by the big guys in suits,” Cassie explains. “When Amyl And The Sniffers first came over to the UK, I went and saw them in a tiny pub in Camden, and they were awesome. I was talking to their manager about booking them for LOUD WOMEN FEST London. Within minutes they got snapped up by Rough Trade and off they went to the big time, but it was really cool to have been there.”

Evidentially, what LOUD WOMEN do works, but they’ve still faced criticism. The ethics of women-only stages and events is something that regularly comes into question, with some believing they prevent marginalised artists from playing on larger, mixed stages, and ‘others’ them instead.

But Cassie says their work has the opposite effect: LOUD WOMEN isn’t here to put women in a bubble; rather, it’s to provide an early career boost to help them burst out of it. It’s a grassroots solution that fixes the disparity of support for women and LGBTQ+ artists of all ages and backgrounds, before they get to those huge festival circuits.

“A couple of years ago, Glastonbury got stick for not having very many female headliners,” says Cassie. “[Organiser] Emily Eavis at the time said that the trouble was the pipeline at the grassroots level. We’ve got loads of really amazing artists, but they’re not getting supported to get to that next level. That’s what we’re here for, to feed that pipeline and give visibility to those artists.

“We curate a stage at Rebellion Festival, which has been a really important step for us. We’ve had a bit of criticism for that. You get criticism for breathing, don’t you? We’ve had people [asking], ‘Doesn’t that mean that Rebellion won’t book women on the other stages, because they’ll say they’ve got the LOUD WOMEN stage?’ But that’s not been the case at all. We’re now flooding all of the other stages with the bands that have been through the LOUD WOMEN introducing stage.”

There’s a lot of care and consideration that goes into selecting the line-up for LOUD WOMEN events. These artists are hand-picked by the team, and Cassie guarantees there is something for everyone at their festivals.

“We champion all ages, which is something that I don’t see a lot of on the DIY scene,” she adds. “Being over 40 seems to be the last great taboo. We’ve got bands like The NaNaz, my own band I, Doris, and bands like Hagar The Womb who’ve been around since back in the day.”

But, for these events to keep going, LOUD WOMEN is reliant on your support. You can help by turning up to their gigs and buying tickets in advance, supporting their Patreon, or buying merch and their physical music.

If you’re feeling inspired, you can even get involved yourself. “Write a review for us or give us some band tips, put on a LOUD WOMEN FEST in your hometown if there’s not one there,” encourages Cassie. “We need more support, and bands need more support. It particularly hits women and marginalised genders harder because we tend to earn less, and we tend to have more caring responsibilities. I’m seeing bands at the moment cancelling international tours or just not being able to tour in the first place because it’s so expensive.”

Without vital grassroots venues and supporters, we could lose so many artists. Artists who could have your next favourite album inside them, but not enough cash to bring it to life. Pretty much every band that’s made it big has a story about their worst gig, their failures and their hardships, because they were once playing in empty pubs and juggling jobs.

When you go to a grassroots gig, not only do you get the eternal bragging rights that you were there before someone blew up, but you also get to immerse yourself in one vital part of being human that is diminishing: community.

“I love giving bands their first gig in a really supportive environment where they’re playing in front of an audience that wants them to do well,” Cassie smiles. “You really need that, especially as gender marginalised artists who already feel that imposter syndrome; we’re trying to exist in a system that’s designed to keep us out.

“We have line-ups that reflect not only all genders, but all the colours of the rainbow and all ages!”

LOUD WOMEN FEST LONDON takes place at Rich Mix on September 5. Tickets go on sale May 4.

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