An Interview with The Electrick Girls
This issue we got to interview super-cool girl collective, The Electrick Girls. Hope, Lola, Felicity, and Nicole are set to redefine riot grrrl culture as a more inclusive space for girls of color. You can find their website at electrickgirls.wordpress.com where they describe their mission as, "spreading intersectional feminism, helping each other survive teenhood, and changing the world!" We're so excited to see where these unstoppable girls go next.
- Tell us a little about who you (the core four members) are and how you met each other
Hope: I'm a queer 13 year old Bengali and Italian girl from Vermont. I’m really into social justice! I’d always wanted to start a collective like this, but I’d always let fear get to the best of me. When Lola dm’ed us all with her idea, it was an immediate yes.
Lola: I'm a 14-year-old artist of color from Connecticut. I met all of the girls on the Internet. I had worked with Felicity before, and I followed Nicole and Hope on Instagram. I contacted them with the idea of starting a movement for young punk girls.
Felicity:I’m 15-years-old, soon to be 16. I love to draw, read, and especially write my heart out. I met the girls in a dm that Lola put us in(I’ve known Lola for a while and have joined her in a magazine before EG) and when she asked all of us to start a group of punk, (feminist) activists I was so intrigued I couldn’t say no.
Nicole: I’m a queer 14 year old girl from Peru who loves cinema. I met the girls when Lola put us in a DM group but I’ve known her since 2014. I’ve always considered Lola one of the coolest persons on the internet and when she included me into the Electrick Girls i was super excited!
- How did you come to develop the idea for The Electrick Girls?
Lola: I was really inspired by the Riot Grrrl movement. After watching the Punk Singer, I felt like there needed to be a movement for all the girls of color that weren't given recognition in this era and for the girls of color who felt that Punk Culture wasn't for them because punks of color aren't represented enough. I had like Nirvana and The Doors at a very young age, and I knew that it made me an oddity in my community because I was a black girl listening to “white music”. But the truth is Punk wouldn't even exist without the African Americans who invented Rock and Metal. I knew that our generation needed a group of radical teenage girls of color who listen to alternative music and have angst and want to rebel. I contacted all the girls on Instagram to ask if they'd be interested and Electrick Girls started from there.
- What was the inspiration for starting this platform? Hope: Rad feminists like Kathleen Hanna who use art forms like music and zines to protest inequality. Just seeing black punk girls on the Internet (or on the street if I'm lucky!) is motivation. My inspiration is to reclaim a culture that I, and many other colored girls, are alienated from today.
- What are some of your plans for the future of The Electrick Girls?
Nicole: This year we're looking forward selling zines, t-shirts, bracelets, and much more. We definitely want to reach out to more girls and spread the word about our movement, and we're brewing some cool plans of empowering young feminists and giving them a platform to express themselves.
- How can somebody get involved with The Electrick Girls?
Felicity: Our fellow Electrick girls can send in submissions, information is on our website ElectrickGirls.wordpress.com. And they can also tag #ElectrickGirl in their art, writing, or whatever they wanna show on Instagram or Tumblr! Other inquiries and questions can be sent to our email, electrickgirlz@gmail.com. We love to have more and more girls get involved with us, it lets us know the movement is growing!
