Encyclopedia of Black Women in Rock Music
I got to see Melissa’s band live a few weeks ago. Here’s the full video from that night. I’d been trying to catch them for a while. I stuck around to see HammerFall for a second time and then got to see all the cameos Melissa did with Kamelot for the finale. She’s a dynamic performer and I highly recommend checking her out of you get the chance.
March 30th, 2024
Not sure of the singer’s name, but Pearl is a great live band. Had a hardcore punk sort of vibe, which y’all know I’m partial to. ☺️ Check them out.
So, story time. This group of ladies make me particularly proud. I’ve been listening to rock music since 2002, but didn’t start going to shows until 2009. The only thing I found to go to locally were hardcore shows, so that made up the bulk of what I was seeing and listening to at the time.
One of the things I always wanted to see was black women doing hardcore and metal music on the stage, since that’s what I prefer to listen to, but when I first started going to shows that wasn’t something I ever saw. When I started this blog in 2011 there weren’t a lot of black women in rock in general, but there were almost no black women doing heavy rock music. Alexis Brown of Straight Line Stitch was the only one I knew of at the time.
It’s been an absolute pleasure to see that change over the years, and to have so many women to choose from when I want to dig in and listen to hardcore. Because the hardcore scene was the first scene I ever explored in Atlanta, it always has a special place in my heart, and I love that there are so many black women doing this type of music now.
Like a lot of hardcore kids, I transitioned into metal as my primary genre of choice and most of the shows I go to now are metal shows. And there’s a glut of black women to choose from when I want to listen to metal as well! But I always look fondly on the days of going to weird, out of the way venues (including a random warehouse) to go see hardcore shows, and the women in this group remind me of good times.
Bleed The Pigs (Kayla Phillips) #SeenLive
Replica
Venkman (Lynette Vertilus)
Buggin (Bryanna Bennett)
Hostilities (Larissa Perrin)
Red C (Toni Young)
Picture credits go to their respective owners.
Checked out Punk Black yesterday and got to see a few ladies rocking the stage. Awesome show, awesome community.
I highly debated whether or not to add this singer/band to the blog based on some of the antics 💦 this singer has gotten up to. But, debatably, that incident could be considered very rock and roll, so I’m adding her. Research this band with caution though, and be careful of the videos you pull up of them. 😂
Black Women In Rock 