I, amongst most of my femme peers, have taken to Kelly Dawn Helmrich's new book 'It's Not For You' like a duck to water. It almost felt like required reading.
For some context, the book is about how many different women from all eras of Australian music have had to navigate the industry, so naturally, I've had a lot of thoughts and feelings.
To begin, this book was simply stunning. Kelly did such a wonderful job of bringing so many iconic artists together and compiling essentially a sense of girlhood and what its like to actually be a woman in the industry, whilst intertwining them with her own experiences and how they connect to each featured guest.
To preface, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the state of the industry for women, non-men, the lgbtqia+ community etc, is WAY better than it was even 10-15 years ago, but that absolutely does not mean that there is so much room for improvement. Not only that, but the industry is also presently rife with another plethora of issues.
The book made me feel equal parts hopeful/inspired and sad. Hopeful in the sense that there are so many wonderful women who have paved their way in an industry that was not there to support them fully, meaning we can follow in their footsteps or forge our own path. There were some truly inspiring stories in this book, literally every guest featured has an incredible story.
Sad in that whilst the landscape has gotten better for women, there is so much room for improvement. But also sad in the fact that these women, and countless others have had to deal with all the bullshit thrown their way in order to get ahead, or even more simply, just keep up.
Even we, at our small fish level, a band that has been around for 8 or so years, have had to deal with a hefty level of bullshit. Some of it affects us at a band level, and some at a personal. On a band level, in rock music specifically, there still seems to only be a few spots open for femme rock bands, and all those wanting to occupy those spaces are pitted against each other in a competition that no one wants, especially the bands involved. There is simply not enough room for everyone to flourish because the landscape is still so dominated by any and every group of guys with long hair, mustaches and baggy jeans who's band name starts with "the". Not only that, but the inclusion of women on festival lineups (the crumbs remaining in this dire landscape) is seriously lacking or just non-existent.
On a personal level, I found myself resonating with Julia Jacklin when she mentioned that it's her natural instinct to downplay her achievements. I, too, feel that way, which I didn't realise I did until I read this book. It made me sad to realise I've been doing this because I don't want to come off like I'm bragging, but in reality I have worked really bloody hard and everything I've achieved as been a direct result of the effort I put into my craft. Also having Amy Taylor mention that she had to go out and win over the AC/DC crowds each and every night they played on tour was very interesting, because not only did we see that with our own eyes, it was actively something I had to do with my own band when we took to the stage directly before Amyl & The Sniffers set one night of the AC/DC tour in late 2025.
To quickly sum up, this book is important, I recommend all women in music read this, as well as the men, to really gain an insight on what it's like to be a woman in a male dominated field.