A Seat at the Table

Reviews / Votes

In 1995, the journalist published Never Mind The Bollocks: Women Rewrite Rock, a series of interviews with artists including Courtney Love, Bjork, and Justine Frischmann. This kind-of-sequel updates what's changed - and what hasn't - for female musicians, with Christine And The Queens, Mitski and Kate Tempest among those participating. The most urgent interview is with Chvrches' Lauren Mayberry, who offers a powerful account of the negative drag caused by online trolls and the effects of speaking out. Reasons to be cheerful - and angry * Q Magazine * Kate Tempest, Clara Amfo, Ibeyi, Georgia, Tracey Thorn . . . Journalist Amy Raphael talks to 18 incredible women about their experiences as musicians and the music industry with fascinating and illuminating results * Stylist * A perceptive and candid collection of new interviews with 18 women that discuss everything from #MeToo and queer politics to the impact of social media on their lives and the subtleties of routine misogyny * Irish Times * Raphael has collated a stunning collection of interviews, then removed herself entirely, presenting each as a narrative as if the subject is talking straight to you, the reader. It breaks an added barrier in really being invited in to understand each interviewee, unfiltered. It's a fascinating, brilliant book, full of joy, rage, a love of music, and a battle to show that it can be done even when culture might push back. A celebration of some of the best and most exciting faces in music today, and a must read * The Skinny * A series of wide-ranging, deep-dive, soul-baring interviews, full of candid, intimate, spiky meditations on inspiration, artistry, sexuality, race, love, self-doubt, abuse, defiance, and everything in between . . . Raphael had carved a vital space for female artists to 'womanspread', as it were, and speak freely -- Barbara Ellen * Observer * Variously optimistic, troubling, joyful, illuminating, fierce and thoughtful. It is often all these things at once -- Fiona Sturges * Guardian * Many women interviewed for this collection - including the eloquent Kate Tempest, gender activist Chris (AKA Heloise Letissier from Christine and the Queens), a feisty Alison Moyet and wise woman Natalie Merchant - argue that it's not just about whether you 'get your tits out', but whether you get respect and recognition for your work. 'I've been in this industry for 35 years . . . I've never felt the need to conform to one shape. No one has ever really claimed me,' says Moyet. 'I've never been cosseted, nor have I been someone's muse. And [that] really saved me.' Moving words indeed -- Lucy O'Brien * Mojo *