Vocalist of Krimewatch Releases A Few Words About Females Involved in Hardcore

We, as hardcore/punk rock/metal lifers on Unite Asia, have always wanted to figure out ways to make our community out here in Asia as inclusive as possible. It continues to be mainly straight male dominated…even though we know there are many scenes/communities out here that have a growing group of people challenging the regular male-dominated norm that is underground music.

Recently, US hardcore punk band Krimewatch rolled through Japan and their vocalist penned some really poignant words about her interactions with females who showed up to their shows. Some of the words that were shared with her are quite startling “Women are encouraged to keep their mouths shut…”. After reading, we asked her permission to put her full letter up because this is something that requires further conversation throughout Asia:

“Osaka last week!!!

I talked to a lot of girls at our Japan shows – they told me about how difficult it is to be a woman and the obstacles they face in Japan and in punk/hardcore spaces. Women are encouraged to keep their mouths shut because it’s often easier that way – I know from experience as I felt a similar pressure even though I grew up in America. I learned from one person that when they first started going to shows there were a lot of girls, but many of them slowly stopped coming.

It has been really cool to have these conversations and encourage girls to start bands and express themselves more in general. It was also cool to speak to men at the shows and help them be a little more aware of their naturally dominant presence. I’m really glad we were all able to have this experience because I think we all gained something. I think some of the girls in this pic didn’t know each other too, I’m glad we could bring them together ❤️ ”

On that tip…every once in awhile we release some music from our fellow sisters out here who kill it in bands…you can go check so of them out below.

But more importantly – go talk to people, your friends, your community…what are you doing to make sure your presence, your scene, your community is welcoming to people. Go challenge the norms…make Asian hardcore progressive, liberal, open-minded, an awesome mix of people/races/ethnicities/religions, cultures, thoughts, and ideas!

GOOD LUCK!