Leftfest guests Bratakus QnA
Bratakus – a two-piece riot grrrl punk band from the north of Scotland – are sisters Breagha (guitarist and singer) and Onnagh (bass) Cuinn. They answer Margaret Chrystall’s questions
Q I was intrigued about what inspired you to head down the riot grrrl route. Had you been listening to that genre and just clicked with it – and how difficult was it to create the band you wanted. Did you already play your instruments?
A We were really inspired by the Riot Grrrl idea of spreading feminist messages through DIY punk. So, when it came to forming a band we knew that was something we really identified with. Forming the band was really difficult. We live on a hill outside a tiny village in the north of Scotland and there was absolutely no one around who was into the same kind of stuff as us. We were both playing guitar and bass already and tried to form a few bands unsuccessfully. In the end, we decided to just do it the two of us and a drum machine. Obviously, the drum machine has its pros and cons, but it’s worked out really well for us over all.
Q What were the biggest challenges to bringing Bratakus to life?
A The biggest challenge is probably where we live, because if we’re asked to play a gig (or just want to go to one) it’s usually at least two hours away from our house, but usually more. We have just learned to get used to travelling a lot. Another challenge is the drum machine. As we said before, it makes a lot of things easier (sound checks, organising practices, etc) but it also means when we write songs, we need to programme the whole drum track before we can try it out and see if it works, then if we decide we don’t like one part, we need to unplug everything, start up the computer, reprogram it, export and put it on the phone that we play the tracks from, then go and try playing it again. And sometimes we find that it’s still not right. Also, since we’re so busy all the time, we never get to see our friends unless they come to our gigs – haha!
Q What have been some of the highs and lows, the laughs – and the kicking the wall in frustration moments – along the way?
A High points would definitely be getting to play with great bands that we genuinely love and meeting loads of cool like-minded people. Because we live in the middle of nowhere, there aren’t that many like-minded people around, so it’s nice to meet people in the music scene that have similar outlooks to us. As for lows, the biggest one was probably when we spent six months working on our album and when we finally got the album three tracks in the middle were jumbled up and didn’t match the tracklist. It’s one of those things that doesn’t seem like a big deal, but is so frustrating when you’ve been working on something for so long. There are too many laughs to write down. One moment was when we were filming the music video for our song No More Love Songs. One of our best friends filmed it for us in our dining room. We had these screaming baby masks on that we found in a Halloween section and we were puppeteering them so it looked like they were singing. As we were playing we would keep zoning into the ridiculousness of the situation and burst out laughing. Luckily our faces were covered by the masks so you couldn’t see in the video!
Q What are your greatest achievements so far with the band – and what are your biggest dreams you re trying to bring to life either this year or next?
A Putting our album out entirely ourselves on our own label was quite a big achievement for us. Also the fact that we’ve been able to play in Sweden, Belgium, Gran Canaria and are booked to play in Japan next year! We’re in the middle of organising a two-week European tour. Our absolute biggest dream would be to play with The Distillers if they come over here on tour.
Q I’m dying to know who your riot grrrl heroines might be – and whether you’ve had a chance to see any of them live, at all – or whether that matters?
A If we’re talking Riot Grrrl as in feminists in punk, then obviously Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wilcox, Tobi Vail, Brody Dalle, Jayne County, Tannrr (from GLOSS), Poly Styrene, and Juliette Lewis. Between us, we’ve been able to see Kathleen Hanna, Brody Dalle and Juliette Lewis, which was amazing. They’re all great performers and really strong, powerful women.
Q How was the tour and what lessons have you learned from it, favourite places to return to, epic moments, have you any wisdom from ‘on the road’ you might want to share?
A We’ve done quite a few short tours now, but not a proper big one yet. They have all been amazing though. Our favourite places have been the 1in12 club in Bradford, the lughole in Sheffield, which sadly has shut down now, the Wharf Chambers in Leeds, Musical Vision in Aberdeen, the Glasgow Autonomous space and we played a squat in Bruges that was a tiny cottage with a thatched roof, once you went inside one of the rooms was decked out as a venue with monitors and everything which was really cool. Gran Canaria was quite an epic moment. We were contacted to ask if we wanted to play by a friend of a friend who we’d never met who paid for our flights, let us stay in his house for five days, fed us delicious vegan food, booked us two gigs, drove us to them, then paid us for playing them. He also lived five minutes from the beach, so it was sort of just too good to be true. We went in January, and we’re already booked to go back at the end of this month! We know someone who went on tour and forgot to bring their guitar, so our wisdom would be to remember your instruments!
On Saturday from 7pm at The Tooth & Claw, Bratakus play Leftfest Inverness: Never Mind The Boo-geoisie alongside Josephine Sillars, Table For Four, On The Black, Hamish Macdonald and DJ Mark 92 (Karawane). Tickets: www.fatsoma.com/leftfestinverness
