Qulture Magazine

It was international womens day and what better way to celebrate it than to celebrate a handful of Scotland’s amazing female musical artists. We saw The Froobz, Rosie Alice, Room 27 and Romay O’Donnell all take to the stage, and 10% of the profits going to Breast Cancer Charities.

The gig took place at the infamous Legends Bar in Edinburgh. I was asked to go along and photograph the evening and of course I jumped at the chance!

As I arrived, the first thing that struck me was how diverse the crowd was, people of all ages and genders were in attendance, and it was so nice to see how willing they were to celebrate these wonderful females in the industry as much as I was.

The gig took place upstairs in legends where it is quite dark, but the perfect setting for such an intimate event. The venue seemed to have slight issues with a leaky roof which definitely made things interesting, as they placed buckets around the floor to catch drips coming from the ceiling. This in no way seemed to stop members of the crowd from dancing throughout the night though!

First to take to the stage was the wonderful Romay O’Donnell. A talented singer-songwriter from Fife. She has been writing songs for around ten years, and uses music as an expressive outlet for things that may be happening in her life or thoughts and feelings that she is having at the time. I think this really shows in her music when she is performing. She closes her eyes and almost transports to a different place and emotion.

It was Romay’s voice that really stood out for me. It has the perfect combination of soulfulness, smoothness and raspy undertones that pair perfectly with her acoustic guitar. While Romay was on stage, she had a sort of vulnerability which is very intriguing, she looked a little nervous, but I would be too if I was up there with just a guitar, my voice and a spotlight on me. She had a lot of ‘banter’ with the crowd and I could tell that humour, seems to be a way of getting over those nerves.

I was impressed when she pulled out a bit of paper with lyrics on it, and said she had written a new song literally the night before and wanted to sing it for everybody. Then going on to say she had forgotten her glasses and couldn’t read the lyrics, but was going to attempt it anyway. I would not have been able to tell whether she missed lyrics out or not, but either way she performed it like it was a part of her normal set which the crowd received well.

Watching Romay, I was instantly reminded of the amazing Eva Cassidy, who had a very similar style to her performing, and voice. I think Romay could do big things, and I am excited to see what the future holds for her.

On to the second act of the night and we were graced by the wonderful Rosie Alice who is a Glasgow based singer-songwriter making her mark on the Scottish music scene at the moment. Being influenced by artists such as Amy Winehouse and Fleetwood Mac, to more current performers like Charli XCX and Billie EIlish, her music has a good mixture of upbeat tunes and more subtle melodies for a wide range of tastes.

Even before getting up to perform her own set, she was cheering on Romay who came before and you could tell this was an evening that she really wanted to be part of and loved supporting her peers. She took to the stage with an air of confidence, and humour that instantly warmed the crowd to her. She also did an acoustic set, being joined by the guitarist from her band only, it very much felt like a more stripped back cosy set.

I loved the fact that when you hear Rosie sing, you can hear the Scottish in her voice, something I am not sure is a concious choice by her, or whether it just naturally seeps through but it was giving me Amy McDonald/Katy Tunstall vibes and I was all there for it!

Rosie’s most recent single ‘Toxic Loving Ways’ was recently played on BBC Introducing on Radio Scotland and she has done support slots with the band ‘Dictator’ and fellow Scottish singer-songwriter Kyle Falconer back in March. She is definitely a rising star on the scene, and if you get a chance to catch her live, I would definitely check her out before she starts playing bigger venues.

The first full band of the night ‘The Froobz’ were the third act to play, and to my suprise not headlining as I would have thought. Boy did they make an impact. I had heard quite a bit about them from also being a live music photographer and word of mouth from being out and about around Edinburgh and Glasgow, so I was excited to finally be seeing what all the fuss was about.

The three piece, all female band are definietly a force to be reconed with at the moment. They are the epitomy of the strong female presence which is happening throughout the music industry at the moment, with a kickass punky edge that makes them stand out from the crowd.

A highlight for me from their set was when they performed their single ‘Big Boy’ the angsty feminist track that encaptulates the no ‘bullshit’ movement that young woman today are becoming a part of. If you love 80’s female punk rock bands and love a good dance and excuse to jump about and let your hair down like your in your bedroom with no one watching, then get yourself along to a Froobz gig, you won’t leave disappointed.

Finally, we get to the last act of the evening and the all female band ‘Room 27’. This is a very new band on the scence from East Lothian, but the five piece have the energy and confidence on stage to make you think they had been performing live for quite a while. The five piece played a mixture of their own music and covers, and I would say they are similar in style to some of the more mainstream rock bands from the early noughties but with guitar licks like you would find in an 80s metal band.

I do feel they still have a little way to go before they are playing bigger venues, but fully believe they have the base and talent to pave a way for themselves amongst the other amazing music coming out of Scotland right now.

This gig was all about celebrating female empowerment in the music industry on all levels, whether that be as a performer, a photographer, sound engineer, set designer, lighting tech or any of the other professions that it takes to put on a good show, and this is something I feel like we need more of.

Thank you to all of the artists that made it such an amazing night to attend and witness.