Heavy Metal Reigns At The Australian Women In Music Awards & Conference 2023
YEAH THE GIRLS!
Yesterday, the annual Australian Women in Music Awards & Conference was held in Brisbane/Meanjin. And for the first time ever, heavy music was heavily featured throughout with both the inaugural Women in Heavy Music Award and conference program including a forum titled Breaking Metal Barriers. Let's give you a recap of festivities!
Firstly the Breaking Metal Barriers forum was facilitated by our very own Ebony Story, and featured Tiana Speter (Publicist, Owner & Editor of The Soundcheck), AWMA nominee Emmy Mack (vocalist, Redhook) and industry professional, Lili Jean Berry. They discussed the trials and tribulations of being a woman in the heavy music scene, and the struggles they've encountered along the way.
The awesome foursome shared personal experiences of what it meant to be a woman in an overly populated "boys club" and how they're working twice as hard (if not more) than their male counterparts for recognition - on top of heavy music's disadvantaged due to lack of support from the overall music industry.
On the forum topic, Ebony reflects:
"It was really great to get three women from different spaces in our industry together to actually have a productive conversation about the issues women have in the heavy scene and what we can actually do to try and encourage change. It was clear that while we can keep pushing from a grassroots level by supporting other women and having conversations with industry people we have access to, change really does need to happen from the top down as well.
A huge thank you to Vicki Gordon and the AWMAs for making this forum happen, it's wonderful to see support from such an incredible organisation!"
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Breaking Metal Barriers (L-R): Ebony Story, Tiana Speter, Emmy Mack and Lili Jean Berry.[/caption]
Later that evening, the Women in Heavy Music Award was presented by hardcore enthusiast, Erin Nolan (Head of Partnerships at Oztix) who was a key player in heavy music's inclusion at this year's event, alongside Vicki Gordon (Founding Executive Producer & Program Director).
Erin shared her excitement with Wall Of Sound about yesterday's festivities and the recognition of heavy music at the event, stating:
"I’m still buzzing and inspired after such a strong focus on women in the heavy scene at AMWA following a great panel, Breaking Metal Barriers featuring last night's winner, Emmy Mack. One of my favourite quotes of hers was “lift as you climb” - talking about lifting the other women up as you succeed. [My] key takeaways were about conversations and educating the men who hold the keys to ensuring there is diversity not only in lineups, but in all the behind the scene work also. It starts there - there is huge momentum building with AWMA and making a change and I’m excited to be part of it."
The Women in Heavy Music Award Category (celebrating women who led and/or contributed to positive developments, innovations, or transformation of the Heavy Music scene) included nominees Jelena Goluza of hardcore activist group Outright, br00tal Deathproof PR extraordinaire (and former BLUNT editor) Amy Simmons, and the enchanting Emmy Mack from genre-bending, jet setter act Redhook.
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It was Emmy who took out the inaugural award and delivered an incredible speech, not only highlighting how hard it is to be a woman in the scene, but the metal scene in general not receiving enough support or acknowledgement from the industry as a whole.
Some key moments from Emmy's speech (full clip below) included anecdotes about the overwhelming reception in support of Australian heavy music outside of our country, despite it not getting the recognition it deserves down under.
"The interesting thing is every time that I've toured overseas the overwhelming thing that gets sent to me by people in the industry over there in places like Europe and the UK is like 'There must be something water in Australia', it's crazy cuz they can see the explosion of talent and innovation that is coming out of our little community, right here in our backyard. It's devastating sometimes that our own industry here doesn't see that."
And as the heavy music industry fights for scraps of support, it's the women who are ultimately fighting for scraps of those scraps.
"...what I want people to understand is that when heavy music itself is fighting for scraps of support in our industry, the women who are so disproportionately marginalised within that space are fighting for the scraps of the scraps, so we have like double the fight on our hands."
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The night also included an exciting performance from Crave Death frontwoman Candice Bankovacki delivering gutturals alongside the all-female house band (including The Superjesus' Sarah McLeod) that guaranteed everyone in attendance was paying attention.
Check out our recaps from the conference and ceremony and make sure you scream extra loud for our INCREDIBLE Australian Women in Music.
Written by Paul ‘Browny’ Brown @brownypaul
See the full list of winners and stay in touch with the AWMAs here.
