Three-fifths of Venus Grrrls are gathered around a table, their cards held close in a tense game of gin rummy. After a busy summer, they deserve a break. With a string of high-energy performances at The Great Escape, Isle of Wight, and Reading and Leeds festivals, bassist Hannah Barraclough reflects over her pint that they’re living “a bit of a teenage dream.”
Barraclough began with the guitar before discovering her true passion. “I played in a college band, and the lead singer couldn’t play bass and sing,” she recalls. “So, he said, ‘Oh, you do it, Hannah!’”
Lead guitarist Eliza Lee grew up surrounded by classic rock, embracing the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin during her mid-teens. “Watching [1976 concert film] The Song Remains The Same and seeing Jimmy Page, I thought, ‘I want to be him in every way!’” she says.
While Lee was taking her guitar to school to tackle Keith Richards’ Brown Sugar during lunch breaks, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Grace Kelly felt overshadowed by the technical prowess of male players she heard on her stereo.
“I have dyspraxia, so I struggle with coordination,” she says. “But then I saw Joan Jett – she wasn’t doing anything complicated or flashy, but it was so effective and purposeful. She used her guitar to channel her songwriting, and I thought, ‘I can do that!’”
Kelly reached out to other female-identifying musicians at Leeds College of Music, inspired to form an all-female band. “The women I had been exposed to weren’t musicians. Riot Grrrl and Bikini Kill were new to me – female drummers, guitarists, and bassists.”
Barraclough adds, “My only female inspiration was Kim Deal from the Pixies. It didn’t hit me how rare it was until I went to music college and realized, ‘Oh, there’s nobody else!’”
Lee’s experience was different. “In ’70s rock, there was a lot of gender bending,” she says of the decade that fascinated her. “Men wore big platform heels, women’s shirts, and had long hair; so I always saw myself fitting in.”
While Lee was studying in Newcastle, 100 miles away, Barraclough and Kelly, along with two other musicians, formed Venus Grrrls. However, the project faced several setbacks. “March 2020: lockdown one,” Kelly says. “First gig back: September 2021. Then I was diagnosed in July 2022.”
Kelly, suffering from acute myeloid leukemia (AML), underwent chemotherapy at 24 years old. This experience has significantly impacted her. “I realize I can’t write all our songs about cancer,” she says. “Before being ill, I would have been too intimidated to write about something so intense.”
Last year’s single Lidocaine features a metaphor about the local anesthetic used during her treatment. Barraclough notes, “Unless you know Grace’s story, it sounds like a love song.”
“I’m just over a year out of chemo,” Kelly says. “I’m still regaining my strength. It’s not a straightforward process – some days are better than others.”
Lidocaine was the first track to feature Lee, who composed her part in the studio after hearing the song for the first time the previous day. “As a slightly self-indulgent lead guitar player, I love spending time at the 12th fret and beyond – that’s my happy zone,” she admits.
Comparing Venus Grrrls to Crowley, the Newcastle occult rockers she was already touring with, Lee says, “It’s a good challenge because it’s more nuanced. There might be time for solos – but not yet!”
“It’s about being purposeful with your solos,” Kelly advises. “Like in Divine; what you do is such a good balance.”
With a recording method established, how do they translate their hard rock edge to the stage? “I use a million guitar tones in a show,” Lee says. “When we soundcheck, I’m like, ‘How much time do you have?’” She believes a Kemper Profiler is the best setup for the group. “I’d love to be a valve purist with a ’70s Plexi… but I’ll wait until someone can carry it up the stairs for me!”
Lee continues, “I have quite a few tones that are just noises. The one in Hex is labeled ‘Ew’ on the pedalboard. There’s one that sounds like a whale song – we aimed for a narwhal with big, sparkly, weird cloud delays.”
Her PRS SE in vintage cherry cuts through over Kelly’s more streamlined Fender Vista Venus, designed by Squier and Courtney Love in 1997. “It’s got that real grungy, ’90s authentic sound,” the frontwoman explains.
“And it’s so light because Love hated really heavy guitars. As a singer, you need to stand proud. Even a Telecaster is a bit too heavy for me, and it brings me down.”
Barraclough proudly plays a Diamond Anniversary Fender Jazz bass, enamored with its maple neck. “I love how smooth it is,” she explains. “I can transition much more easily.” She attributes her live sound to a precise pedal mix. “I mainly use a Boss DS-1 Distortion, a Boss CH-1 Super Chorus, and the MXR M84 Bass Fuzz Deluxe – blending them just right is perfect.”
