“We’re the little freaks on your concrete”.
If you want to sum up Worm Girlz philosophy in a nutshell, it’s with those 7 words: They don’t take themselves too seriously and they don’t care if they fit your expectations of what they’re supposed to be – whether that’s as a woman, a rockstar or anything else inbetween.
The ‘little freaks on the concrete’ who make up Worm Girlz, the femme punk quintet from Meanjin/Brisbane are Jade Montgomery, Angie Gale, Isabella Wood-de-Melo, Loz Rowe, and Nikolai Bray, and we sat down Loz and Jade to get to know the band a little bit better ahead of their sold out hometown show to celebrate the release of latest single ‘Kills Me Like You Do’.
The Worm Girlz name came from bass player Angie’s twin sister’s obsession with composting and worm farms (an obsession I also share) and when Worm Girlz got chucked in the mix as a band name option it just felt like the right choice, although Jade admits she took a little bit of convincing, but ultimately it’s the unconventional, slightly off-putting sound of the name that drew them in.
“They’re the perfect mascot for everything that we sort of already wanted to represent in the music industry” she shared, alluding to the fact that to many people worms are just these slimy little creatures that maybe get dismissed but they’re in fact very cool in that they can turn veggies scraps into dirt. But not only do worms go about their lives quietly turning food waste into soil, they also create space with their tunnels for more things to grow or thrive and generally making the world around them a better place. And that’s pretty much what Worm Girlz have been doing since they emerged into the industry (although you can decide for yourselves if it’s been quietly or not).
Their entrance into the music industry has been blistering, going from formation to their first album release in roughly two years. Yet their journey so far has been anything but cavalier:
“We’re just 5 wriggly rock worms, who like making music together, love community, love yelling and screaming about things that we’re passionate about. We came into the scene super hot and fast, but we’d like spent six months to a year beforehand, really just figuring out, who we were together as a band, what we wanted to stand for and what we wanted to put out in the world.” And it’s clear this ‘mission statement’ is still their guiding light driving every choice the band makes.
Last year was huge for the band. “Maybe the longest year ever” they confessed before hastily adding “but only because I think we were able to jam pack it full of so much”. And jam packed it was: Tours with both Crywank and Waxx plus ending the year with the release of their self-titled debut album and their own headline tour, and that’s before you even factor in juggling day jobs and doing this all as a fully independent band (which they joke feels like “four full time jobs” sometimes – a sentiment I can definitely relate to!)
And they’re showing no signs of slowing down. They’re already onto their new era, with a recently released single and some live shows in Meanjin (Brisbane) and Naarm (Melbourne) to celebrate, albeit with a few changes this time around.
“It’s been cool to now approach a new era, a new project with practised, tried and tested ways of doing things. It’s like, we know what we can do and we know what sort of stories we can tell and what we have told, and we are looking now at what haven’t we said yet? What do we still feel like we need to say or needs to be said or what does our audience want?”
And new single Kills Me Like You Do is a perfect glimpse into what we can expect to see more of! Released during pride month the song tells a queer love story of those first few weeks of meeting someone and getting swept away in the momentum of this big dramatic love story. The inspos for the song are wide ranging:
“It’s a little bit dangerous, but a little bit like a love story.” they share. There’s an obvious nod to heated rivalry in there and the show’s work putting queer love stories out in the mainstream. But it’s also a throwback to their teenage years, to the yearning love stories of Twilight, the Vampire Diaries or Sherlock.
“We wanted to write a song that really almost just like cheekily went all in on one of those tropes and was just a lot of fun.”
It’s clear Worm Girlz love what they do, but their words also echo with the weight of responsibility. They talk about Kills Me Like You Do being a way to “go back and heal our teenage selves”, the significance of sharing queer stories and of the importance of their audience feeling that they’re being listened to.
We end up on a tangent discussing our past musical tastes and the things our younger selves listened to. It’s clear despite us growing up half the world away from each other the industry standard of what a rock band looked like, and the stories they were telling was pretty much the same. For Loz, it was bands like Spacey Jane dominating that narrative, for me, it was watching bands like Arctic Monkeys or The Wombats getting their start. What I thought was interesting was that they echoed my feelings. It’s not that we didn’t (and don’t still) enjoy that music but at some point we started looking for the representation of ourselves in the music industry and found it lacking. Loz sums up their hopes nicely:
“I want to see and hear real stories and I want authentic storytelling. And so I think that hopefully that creates a little bit of a turn as well where people are actively engaging with music less passively, people are actually really seeking out the sort of music that they want to find, the types of communities they want to be in and experiencing real experiences as opposed to AI, but also opposed to maybe just the radio or algorithmic music that they are just being fed without much second thought, which I think is what a lot of consumers can sort of fall into”
And Worm Girlz have taken the bull by the horns with this, actively sharing queer stories and carving out these communities at their live shows. When I asked what that looks like they settle on:
“we’ll accept anyone if you’re nice and if you care about all the people there, we’re not exclusive, but if you want to be a dick, then you’re not really welcome”
But as we move on to talking about what advice they’d have for other bands trying to do the same thing they reveal a bit more of the nitty gritty of what building these communities really looks like:
“I think the 1st thing that a band should do as a band is just sit down and talk about what they want out of their live spaces and like actively critique what they’ve seen or how they’ve felt uncomfortable, like start where it starts.”
For them, one thing they personally found uncomfortable was a crowd or band with a heavy drinking culture or when where there’s only one type of person in the audience. So they started there.
They also looked for other bands to work with that were a good culture fit with what they were trying to do, looking at the energy of their crowds or the people they brought along. And paid special attention to the venues they chose:
“I think that it just starts with a conversation where you ask questions, you go, ‘is there a gender neutral bathroom in this venue? Could we make one?’ It’s really simple little questions that, they may not seem simple at the time, but they are just little questions that you can just ask and just know that it doesn’t need to be all at once. you can, start small and start just asking questions and asking advice and asking for help or changes that you want to see.” Jade shares.
Audience participation and feedback is also crucial. They mention the great relationship with their fans often, and the shared ‘social contract’ of what a Worm Girlz gig looks like, but they’ve cultivated this by listening, sharing and asking questions of the fans they’ve built along the way
Jade is also quick to reassure me that there are many artists out there who are actively creating these more inclusive spaces, even if we do have to look a little harder for them.
I know this is true, but it helps to hear it. And later in the interview I ask for some recommendations of artists they think deserve some love and attention and almost as if proving their point they reel off a list of some awesome femme and/or queer artists including a couple of my personal favourites: Oscar The Wild, FVNERAL, Oh Daisy! PEPTALK and neish.
I left the interview feeling like it was one of my favourite chats ever, and at the time I couldn’t put my finger on why. Obviously they were lovely and gave great answers to my questions, but most people are lovely most of the time. Then I realised, it was their unwavering commitment to making the world a better place, to championing queer joy and doing this on their own terms. And the best part is, they’re seeing success while doing this. They’ve had a huge year touring, a sold out hometown show and now an Australian Music Prize nomination under their belt for their debut album! In an industry where there’s often fears that taking any kind of stand can irreparably impact your career it’s incredible to see Worm Girlz doing just that, and taking home the spoils!
Grab tickets to their upcoming Melbourne show here.
And listen to their latest track here.