Last year, a new festival held their first event in the Bay Area in California. Doll Fest describes itself as “a celebration of the feminine energy, friendship, and community gathering together in support of one another.” This year, Doll Fest is back! Volume II will be held in Oakland, CA on March 28th and 29th with a pre-party on the 27th. And the lineup this year is just as jaw dropping and inspiring as the last.
We wanted to get in on the action, so we’ve asked the amazing bands a handful of questions about the festival including who they’re stoked to be playing with and what they think a festival of this caliber means to our scene.
We spoke with Vicki and Kofy of Skip the Needle about the radical solidarity of being surrounded by femme artists, the queer joy of sharing space with other queerdos, and why Doll Fest feels like both a political and deeply personal statement. They also reflect on fighting to be heard, staying true to themselves in male-dominated spaces, and using music as a vehicle for justice, authenticity, and liberation. Check out the interview below and grab your tickets to Doll Fest today!
Interview
What does playing a femme-only festival like Doll Fest mean to you personally?
Vicki: Being surrounded and supported by femme artists and producers is so freeing. Walking into a club knowing that ethos will permeate everything about the show, and the mutual respect and care that we show each other will radiate out to the crew and audience. It means so much more than just being another band on a line-up. It’s necessarily a political statement but also a personal one: We are bringing not only our individual creativity to this show but a sincere sense of solidarity with and for each other.
What would you want a younger version of yourself to feel seeing this lineup?
Vicki: It might take awhile to get here, but you are gonna have the best time of your life playing with other queerdos.
What does “taking up space” look like for you as a femme musician?
Vicki: Sometimes it means “throwing elbows” so to speak. Men are not habitually supportive of us, and often threatened by our power and confidence. Less and less so, but there are still times when I/We encounter a basic lack of respect that would be afforded to a male counterpart.
How does your identity influence your music, performance style, or the stories you tell? And how does your lived experience show up in your lyrics or live performance?
Vicki: As a black queer woman, who has been a professional musician all my life, I’ve experienced a whole lot of imposed censoring and attempts to police my appearance, my politics, my anger, my personhood, even the instruments I wanted to play.
As a member of the Tonight Show Band for nearly 20 years, I was locked in near constant battle with the network who wasn’t keen on me being queer, or black or a woman for that matter. Once I was free from the constraints of a white male dominated industry with some very trivializing and degrading ideas about how women should present themselves, I vowed to stay true to my nature.
For one thing I began to play rock music as a bass player, something I was constantly discouraged from doing as a teenager, and writing my politics and fight for justice and equity into the lyrics. I want to scream what I believe to be true and my amazing bandmates create the conditions and support for us all to be our true selves.
Have you experienced moments where being a femme artist shaped how you were received in the music scene?
Kofy: I am a woman / dyke artist and it’s apparent when I walk in a room. I’ve had bands where I was the only woman in the band and had to fight to get my songs played and performed the way I wanted them to be – I’ve been talked to in a condescending way, been ignored and looked over. These were more than moments but you push through. The music scene is made up of a bunch of other tiny scenes so somewhere in there I’ve also been honored, nurtured, and accepted.
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