Bad Copy

In just one week, the Bay Area will be hosting the inaugural Doll Fest. The two day festival will take place at the Cornerstone in Berkeley, CA and is “a celebration of the feminine energy, friendship, and community gathering together in support of one another.”

The lineup is a jaw dropping list of rad bands all with a femme energy to them along with multi-genre artists. Doll Fest will feature artists such as The Iron Roses, The Darts, Tsunami Bomb, Dog Party, Tess & The Details and many more on March 1st and 2nd along with a pre-show party on February 28th.

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 chatted with Angela, Sam, and Austin, the trio of siblings who comprise the Vegas based band The Dollheads. They talk about bands they’re excited to share the stage with, inspirational Bay Area bands, and much more. Check out our interview below and grab your tickets to Doll Fest now via their website here!

Interview

Tell us a little about yourself and why you’re excited to play Doll Fest.

My name is Angela, I’m 18 and the oldest member of the band. I am the lead singer and guitarist. Sam is 16 the bassist/back up vocals and our brother Austin is the drummer and he’s 14. Doll Fest is a unique festival that showcases women in music so we are really excited to be a part of it.

Which bands are you most stoked to see or play alongside?

We are excited to see The Iron Roses again. We have played with them twice last year at Punk Rock Bowling and Punk Rock Saves Lives in Colorado and they are awesome on and off stage. The Darts is another band we want to see again. We watched their set at the Punk Rock Museum last year. We are also excited to see The Vaxxines and Tsunami Bomb. We got to meet Andy last year at PRB and he is super cool!

How has the Oakland music scene or Bay Area culture influenced your sound/creative process?

Growing up, we listened to a lot of bands from east bay punk scene including Rancid and Green Day.

Angela: I love how some of their songs take the listeners to specific time and place. It really resonates with me and inspires the way I write.

Sam: Mike Dirnt and Matt Freeman are two of my favorite bassists and they inspired some of my bass lines. The bass line for “She’s a Girl” was heavily inspired by Rancid.

Austin: Tre Cool is the drummer that inspired me to pick up drums. I remember when I was 7, I wanted to play Basket Case for my first recital and my teacher suggested to slow it down because he thought it might be too fast for me. I have always loved playing fast, but it can be a problem for my sisters during live shows. Sometimes I get so hyped and ends up playing faster than I should.

How do you see events like Doll Fest contributing to greater representation and empowerment of women in the music industry?

Doll Fest will encourage more female artists and musicians to believe in their craft and hopefully inspire young girls to play an instrument and make music.

What unique challenges have you faced as a female musician, and how have you and the band overcome them?

Angela: Starting out young and being a female fronted band, it was hard to be taken seriously, especially when we first came out as The Dollheads. It was very difficult to book shows and we had to do most of it on our own. We just kept making music and tried to have fun with whatever show we could get.

Sam: When we finally finished our first album, we applied to play for Punk Rock Bowling and luckily Shawn Stern gave us a shot. Since then, we were able to play a ton of shows in the US and UK.

What message do you hope to convey to your audience through your performance at Doll Fest?

We hope that we can inspire others especially young girls to believe that they there is a stage for all of us. It might be small right now but we can still have fun and play loud.