Louise Distras

Louise Distras is an English singer, songwriter and musician from Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Louise Distras
Background information
GenresAlternative Rock, Punk Rock
OccupationsSinger, songwriter
InstrumentsVocals, Guitar
Years active2012 – present
Websitelouisedistras.com

Early life

Louise Distras was born in Wakefield, a city in the North of England, in 1987.[1] She taught herself to play the violin at an early age and later learned to play guitar by "bunking off school and smoking cigarettes"[2] and listening to Nirvana's debut album Bleach. Distras ran away from home in her teens.[1] In a 2019 interview with The Chronicle she said "being able to escape into song-writing is what got me through."[3]

Career

2012–2015: Early career and Dreams from the Factory Floor

Distras started performing live in 2012 holding her first shows in pubs and open mic nights. At one of her early gigs she met Anne Scargill (a prominent figure of the Women Against Pit Closures movement that supported miners and their families in the UK miners strike of 1984–1985) who sang 'Women of the Working Class' to her. "She told me to write a song that's just for women, so that's what I did," said Louise on X (formerly Twitter). Distras uploaded her first single 'The Hand You Hold' to YouTube on International Women's Day, picking up media attention from The Guardian,[4] The Independent, and BBC Radio 1. She was invited by Billy Bragg to perform on the Leftfield Stage at Glastonbury Festival and he tweeted "Maybe we'd have done better at Eurovision if Louise Distras had been our entry?" In 2015, she released her debut full-length album Dreams from the Factory Floor and performed across America, Canada, Scandinavia and Europe, opening for The Damned, Buzzcocks, Stiff Little Fingers and Television.[5] Music journalist John Robb called her "the most important protest singer we have" in a review on the Louder Than War website.[6]

2016 – 2019: Rising profile and Street Revolution EP

In 2016 Distras premiered her new single 'Aileen' via Kerrang!,[7] marking a change in musical direction. Kerrang! named Louise Distras a 'Star of 2017' saying "Louise Distras is the most exciting voice in UK punk right now!" 'Aileen' received radio support from Huw Stephens (BBC Radio 1),[8] John Kennedy (Radio X)[9] and Rodney Bingenheimer (KROQ). It also featured on the Hugs for Chelsea benefit album which premiered on Rolling Stone.[10]

She embarked on a UK and European Tour with The King Blues[11] and performed on the main stage at Punk Rock Bowling Festival in Las Vegas.[12] Distras headlined the Nick Alexander stage of Frank Turner's Lost Evenings Festival at The Roundhouse in London, and performed at Glastonbury Festival[13] for a second time under the invitation of Billy Bragg.

In 2018 Distras announced she was working on her second album and premiered the music video 'Land of Dope and Glory' by MTV VMA nominated director Lewis Cater. "It's inspired by Black Mirror and looks like Crass joined forces with Barbie to create a dystopian TV channel," said Louise in an interview with Loudersound.[14]

In 2019 she released the 'Street Revolution EP' and received more praise from Kerrang! who said "Louise Distras has the kind of voice that could charm the paint from a car". The title track 'Street Revolution' was made John Kennedy's 'X-posure Hot One' on Radio X and named as one of DJ Gary Crowley's top tracks of 2019 who described 'Street Revolution' "as a song for our times. It leaps out of the radio".

She also performed in Germany, supporting The Subways, The Interrupters, Dead Kennedys, Dropkick Murphys and appeared as a special guest on the new King Blues album 38 Minutes.

2020–2022: Covid 19 and creative pause

In a post on social media, Distras stated her new album release had been pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the music industry and being subjected to online abuse.

On 4 November, Distras released a new single "Black Skies", with a spoken-word introduction from Steve Ignorant of Crass.[15]

In an interview with Backseat Mafia, Distras revealed she had to crowdfund her upcoming new album as she had never been paid for the sales of her debut album Dreams from the Factory Floor.[16]

2023: New album Beauty After Bruises

On 27 January Distras released 'Girl in the Mirror' and announced her second album 'Beauty After Bruises' would be out on 28 April via Ministry Of Love Records, saying "I don't want to make music that's a space for the best, glossy version of myself so Beauty After Bruises is about the ugly truth. This album is messy just like me and it's about honouring the parts of myself that I looked away from."[17]

'Beauty After Bruises' was recorded at 25th Street Studios in Oakland, California with American Grammy nominated producer Ross Peterson (Bruce Springsteen, Elle King) and mixed by the English music producer Stephen Street (best known for his work with the Smiths, the Cranberries and Blur). Guest musicians include Mick Talbot (The Style Council / Dexy's Midnight Runners) on keys, and Puscifer drummer Gunnar Olsen on drums.

Louderthanwar said "Punk is about attitude and Louise has enough for the whole of Yorkshire. Her voice was always emotional but now it's more introspective, more mature and distinctive. With less shouting, she has become a voice to be heard."[18]

Clash Magazine said "Wakefield's underground heroine Louise Distras is at her best on new album 'Beauty After Bruises'" and "'Beauty After Bruises' is a hugely endearing return from a massive talent."[19]

A&R Factory said 'Beauty After Bruises' is a triumph of candour-instilled innovation".[20]

In an interview with Vocal Media Distras criticised Ireland's new hate speech laws saying "We should all be able to speak without being policed and told what we can and can't say about our own lives."[21]

Alongside five other women, Distras featured in a Daily Mail article about the experiences of ordinary women being ostracised from their jobs for questioning gender ideology.[1][22]

In an interview with writer Julie Bindel for UnHerd about misogyny in the music industry, Distras said that "the music industry used to be about freedom of expression and freedom of speech", and there was "an urgent need to build a new one with a proper counterculture, where women have actually got a proper say".[1]

Artistry and style

Distras's biggest influences include Nirvana, citing their 1989 debut album Bleach as her favourite album. Some of her earlier influences include Bee Gees, Queen, Abba, Sex Pistols, Whitney Houston, Oasis and Lydia Lunch.[23]

She has incorporated elements of the classic 1977 punk rock aesthetic into her work, notably in the music videos 'The Hand You Hold' and 'Shades of Hate.' She is also known for retaining her thick Yorkshire accent during interviews[24] and makes no attempt to sing in an American accent.

Onstage she sometimes wears Converse trainers, Dr. Martens, Fred Perry shirts and punk inspired jewellery, such as earrings designed by Vivienne Westwood.

Activism

Distras describes herself as "a soft working class feminist rooted in a Northern working class upbringing" and has written for fanzines citing Ariel Levy's Female Chauvinist Pigs as one of her early influences. In 2012 she supported the Russian feminist band Pussy Riot in an interview with The Guardian.[4]

In 2013 she appeared on the BBC Radio 1 documentary "Make Some Noise"[25] and John Pienaar's BBC Radio 5 show Pienaar's Politics to discuss the role of protest songs in modern music.[26]

In 2015 Distras auctioned vinyl test pressings of Dreams from the Factory Floor on eBay and donated the funds to California non-profit human rights organisation Justice Now. Justice Now co-ordinated an art project based around 'Dreams from the Factory Floor' lyrics, where people in the Central California Women's Facility (the world's biggest women's prison) illustrated copies of her songs 'The Hand You Hold' and 'Love Me The Way I Am'. The finished art pieces were displayed at various events throughout the year.

Later that year she performed alongside Mick Jones (The Clash) and Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols) at London's Coronet Theatre to raise funds for the London Fire Brigade in Joe Strummer's memory, and appeared live on Channel 4 news to discuss the closure of Kellingley Colliery.[27]

In 2019 Distras became an ambassador for Musicians Against Homelessness and joined Jon Sparkes (Chief Executive of Crisis), Alan McGee, Shaun Ryder and Neville Staple of The Specials at the Houses of Parliament in London to campaign against homelessness.[28]

Distras has criticised perceived censorship of working-class artists, describing "cancel culture" as "just mind games for the middle classes".[16]

Discography

Albums
  • Dreams from the Factory Floor, Street Revolution Records, CD/DD, 2013, Pirates Press Records, LP, 2015
  • Beauty After Bruises, DD, CD, LP, Ministry Of Love Records Department 2023

Singles/EPs
  • "The Hand You Hold", DD 2012
  • "Shades of Hate", DD 2012
  • "Stand Strong Together", DD 2013
  • "Love Me the Way I Am"/"Bullets", 7", DD 2014
  • "Bullets", DD 2015
  • "Aileen", CD, DD 2016
  • "Outside of You", DD 2017
  • "Land of Dope and Glory", DD 2018
  • "Street Revolution" EP, CD, DD 2019
  • "Black Skies", DD, Ministry Of Love Records Department 2022
  • "Girl in the Mirror", DD, Ministry Of Love Records Department 2023
  • "Factory Girl", DD, Ministry Of Love Records Department 2023
  • "Truth in Your Lies", DD, Ministry Of Love Records Department 2023
  • "Love & Money", DD, Ministry Of Love Records Department 2023

Compilation appearances
  • "Aileen" on Hugs for Chelsea, DD, 2016

Collaborations
  • Paradise by The King Blues, 38 Minutes CD, DD, 2019
  • Boomer and the Severed Goats Head by The King Blues, 38 Minutes CD, DD, 2019
  • Black Skies by Louise Distras featuring Steve Ignorant, DD, 2022

References
  1. Bindel, Julie (3 October 2023). "Does Billy Bragg Have A Woman Problem?". Unherd. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  2. "Louise Distras: "Punk rock saved my life!"". Loudersound. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  3. "Punk Party". The Chronicle. Retrieved 4 October 2023 – via Press Reader.
  4. "Have Pussy Riot sparked a new wave of grrl power?". The Guardian. 21 August 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  5. "Louise Distras announces Shepherd's Bush Empire show". Skin Back Alley. 10 July 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  6. Robb, John (29 August 2013). "Louise Distras 'Songs From The Factory Floor'". Louderthanwar. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  7. McMahon, James (23 September 2016). "Louise Distras Premieres New Single, Aileen". Kerrang.
  8. "LOUISE DISTRAS – New single 'Aileen' airs on BBC Radio 1 with Huw Stephens / John Kennedy Radio X / Alex Baker Kerrang! & more – Martian PR | National Radio & Television Promotions (U.K)". October 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  9. Louise Distras | Interview + Live Session | RADIO X, retrieved 14 July 2022
  10. Blistein, Jon (16 May 2017). "Tom Morello, Thurston Moore Contribute to Chelsea Manning Benefit Compilation". Rolling Stone.
  11. Stevenson, Will (13 February 2017). "The King Blues & Louise Distras Live Review @ Manchester Academy 3". Rocksins. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  12. Matview, Emily (9 January 2016). "The Bronx, JFA, Strung Out and more round out PRB 2016 lineup, 3 day passes now on sale". Punks In Vegas. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  13. "Glastonbury Festival 2017 Lineup". Glastonbury Festivals. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  14. Edwards, Briony (13 April 2018). "Louise Distras unveils new video for Land Of Dope And Glory". Loudersound. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  15. Ray, Mark (6 November 2022). "Louise Distras: Black Skies – Single Review". Louderthanwar. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  16. Callen, Andi. "News: Louise Distras – First new music after 3 years". Backseat Mafia. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  17. Ray, Mark (31 January 2023). "Louise Distras: Girl In The Mirror – Single Review". Louderthanwar. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  18. Ray, Mark (21 April 2023). "Louise Distras: Beauty After Bruises – album review". Louderthanwar. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  19. Murray, Robin (22 May 2023). "Louise Distras Looks Inwards On New Album 'Beauty After Bruises' | News". Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  20. Vandergast, Amelia. "LOUISE DISTRAS PRESCRIBES SUGAR FOR THE PILL IN HER INDIE ROCK LP, BEAUTY AFTER BRUISES". A&R Factory. Archived from the original on 19 May 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  21. Singleton, Mike. "Louise Distras - "No More Leather Jackets"". Vocal Media. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  22. Burchill, Julie (2 October 2023). "What Went Wrong With Billy Bragg?". The Spectator. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  23. Norris, Mike (15 February 2019). "022 - 'BLEACH' WITH LOUISE DISTRAS". Podnose. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  24. "BBC CWR – The Godiva Festival, Godiva Festival: Backstage with Louise Distras". BBC. 10 July 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  25. "BBC Radio 1's Stories: Make Some Noise". BBC. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  26. BBC Pienaar's Politics with Louise Distras (Interview), retrieved 14 July 2022
  27. Louise Distras – Channel 4 News: Kellingley Colliery, artist views, retrieved 14 July 2022
  28. louderthanwar (28 October 2018). "Musicians Against Homelessness create special event in the House Of Lords". Louder Than War. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
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