Ask Cathy Loughead the most punk thing she’s ever done, and she doesn’t miss a beat: “I went on stage with my neck broken in two places. I couldn’t bounce around, so I blinged the brace up instead. That was a great gig.”
Loughead is part of a growing movement of women redefining punk. When Riot Women, Sally Wainwright’s new BBC drama spotlighting female punk, airs this Sunday, it will reflect a scene that’s already thriving far beyond television.
That energy is being felt most viscerally in Leicester, where Ruth Miller’s 2022 Unglamorous Music project – now known as the Riotous Collective – lit the fuse. Loughead was there from the start.
“When we began, there were no all-women garage punk bands here. Within a year, there were seven. Now there are 20 – and counting,” she said. “There are Riotous groups across the UK and the world, from Finland to Australia, recording, gigging, playing festivals.”
The explosion isn’t limited to Leicester. Across the UK, women are reclaiming punk – and changing the landscape of live music while they’re at it.
“There are music venues across the UK thriving thanks to women punk bands,” said Longhead. “So are rehearsal studios, music teaching and coaching, production spaces. That’s because women are in all these roles now.”
They’re also changing who shows up. “Women-led bands are playing every week. They’re bringing in more diverse audiences – ones that see these spaces as safe, as for them,” she added.
Carol Reid, programme director at Youth Music, said the rise was no surprise. “Women have been sold a dream of equality. But gender-based violence is at epidemic levels, the far right is using women to peddle hate, and we’re gaslit over issues like the menopause. Women are fighting back – through music.”
Toni Coe-Brooker, from the Music Venue Trust, sees the movement reshaping local music scenes. “We’re seeing more diverse punk scenes and they’re feeding into local music ecosystems, with grassroots venues booking more inclusive bills and building safer, more welcoming spaces.”
Later this month, Leicester will host the first Riot Fest, a three-day event featuring 25 all-women bands from the UK and Europe. In September, Decolonise Fest in London celebrated punks of colour.
And the scene is edging into the mainstream. The Nova Twins are on their first headline UK tour. The Lambrini Girls’ debut album, Who Let the Dogs Out, hit No. 16 in the UK charts this year.
Panic Shack were nominated for the 2025 Welsh Music Prize. Problem Patterns won the Northern Ireland Music Prize in 2024. Hull-based newcomers Wench played the BBC Introducing stage at Reading Festival.
It’s a movement born partly in protest. In an industry still dogged by misogyny – where all-women acts remain underrepresented and live venues are closing at crisis levels – female punk bands are creating something radical: space.
At 79, Viv Peto is proof punk has no age limit. The Oxford-based washboard player in horMones punk band picked up her instrument just a year ago.
“Now I’m old, all constraints are gone and I can do what I like,” she said. One of her recent songs includes the chorus: “So shout out, fuck it / It’s my time! / The stage is mine! / I’m 79 / And in my fucking prime.”
“I love this surge of older female punks. I didn’t get to rebel when I was younger, so I’m doing it now. It’s great.”
Kala Subbuswamy from the Marlinas said she hadn’t been allowed to rebel as a teenager. “It’s been really major to be able to let it all out at this late stage.”
Chrissie Riedhofer, who has toured globally with Boilers and Virginia’s Wolves, also sees it as catharsis. “It’s about exorcising frustration: being invisible as a mother, as an older woman.”
That same frustration led Dina Gajjar to form Burnt Sugar. “Being on stage is a release you didn’t know you needed. Girls are taught to be compliant. Punk isn’t. It’s loud, it’s imperfect. It means when bad things happen, I think: ‘I’ll write a song about that!’”
But Abi Masih, drummer for the Flea Bagz, said the punk woman was every woman: “We’re just ordinary, professional, brilliant women who enjoy subverting stereotypes,” she said.
Maura Bite, of the Folkestone band She-Bite, agreed. “Women were the original punks. We had to smash things up to be heard. We still do! That badassery is in us – it feels ancient, primal. We’re a bloody marvel!” she said.
Not every band fits the stereotype. Julie Ames and Jackie O’Malley, part of The Misfit Sisters, try to keep things unexpected. “We don’t shout about the menopause or swear much,” said Ames. O’Malley cut in: “Well, we do have a bit of a ‘raah’ moment in every song.” Ames laughed: “That’s true. But we like to keep it interesting. Our last track was about how uncomfortable bras are.”
