Interview with the orginazors for Ladyfest Rotterdam 2006.

OvaryAction: Can you just say your names and what projects you are involved in, besides Ladyfest?
It's Elle Bandita(EB), and I'm doing Elle Bandita and The Ripplets, I play guitar there, and I did the Bookings for Rotterdam...and...I'm homeless!
Hi, I'm Kim(K) and I did the exhibition for Ladyfest and the illustrations for the flyer and the program. I'm an illustrator and a photographer.
My name is Hilde(H) and I did the general organization for Ladyfest, such as funding and planning of workshops and I'm also in the band Marie Celeste.
I'm Valesca(V), I work at Water Front the venue the Ladyfest was at. And I helped organizing the Ladyfest, and I did kind of the same stuff as Hilde - general things... And oh, I play the drums, of course, in the Ripplets.

OA: Is it the whole organizing committee we are talking to now? Is there anybody else?
EB: No, we are like the main people that organized it and held meetings and stuff. But there was also a lot of volunteers. But they are not here right now. They are not as hard core...

OA: When did you decide to have a Ladyfest? When did you all get together?
H: The thing I mainly remember is that Elle Bandita had her CD release in December, in my town, and that's when she came to me and said: Let's do a women festival together. Because we both have known for a long time that we are very much into girl bands female music. And that's when I said: Yeah, let's do it, let's have a Ladyfest. And shortly after Valesca and Kim joined us in the organization. That's how it all got started.

OA: Have you been to Ladyfests before?
H: Yeah, well...of course I've met the OvaryAction Team in Glasgow five years back. That was the first time. Then I have been to Ladyfest Madrid (2005), Ladyfest Liege (2003), Ladyfest Berlin and I did Ladyfest Amsterdam a couple of years back (2003). So yes, I'm very much in to the Ladyfest thing.

OA: So what is a Ladyfest for you? What are the most important criteria, to describe a Ladyfest?
H: I think the most important criteria is just the whole atmosphere at a Ladyfest. The bands, the workshops, the art, everything is really important, and a part of the big thing, but what makes the Ladyfest is the atmosphere. Because when I did Ladyfest Amsterdam I was stressed and I never wanted to do it again. But when I was in Madrid, exactly one year ago, there were that same atmosphere again and it was so amazing. And that's when I thought: We need that here in Rotterdam too. And that got it together really beautiful, because in october I thought I really need to have a Ladyfest in Rotterdam and the two months later Ms. Elle here comes to me and says: Let's to do this shit. Perfect. Things come together.

OA: Are you satisfied about the Ladyfest here in Rotterdam? What was difficult, what would you think went wrong? What went right?
EB: I was very satisfied. Everyone was fucking enthusiastic and you know, there is only some stupid ass crusty punks complaining about how expensive it was, but you know, fuck you if you only wanna stay in squats for the rest of your lives, you fucking gang. Go ahead! But I think the atmosphere was good.
V: In the end what matters is that everybody, all the bands and all the people that were here, except for the ones you just mentioned, were happy and having a good time.
H: And a lot of networking took place. And that is very important for us. We gave small bands a big stage to do their thing. That's very important to us, and that is what happened. And what we need to discuss for the next time, maybe the only mistake we made was that we didn't have any bands that drew big crowds. So that is what we might should have: bigger bands. It might be utopia to have with really small bands and then expect a lot of people, especially locals, to come to the festival. So that might be a point of evaluation for next year.

OA: So you are going to do it again next year?
H: Of course. V: Yes! K: I can't wait! EB: Or maybe even faster!

OA: Where you thinking of having some Ladyfest nights or something like this, as a club, maybe?
EB: Well, I don't know. Sometimes the weather in Holland is very good to do something outside, too, you know. So....
All: This is classified information!
EB: Well, you never know. We came up with some nice ideas and I think we really gonna do our best to do this again and even better and you know....

OA: Do you feel it's a strong female musician community in Rotterdam? Is there a community?
V: Yes, I definitely think so, cus a lot of the bands, well a couple of the bands who played here also practise here, and we all get together at the Water Front. The thing is that once you've started talking to each other, those girls know other girls that make music and so, yeah I think it's a really big scene here.

OA: And how did it feel to perform at your own Ladyfest?
H: Stressful. Never doing that again. No, but it was fun. I loved it!

OA: Do you feel difference in the audience when you play at Ladyfest or other events?
H: Yeah, I think so. Cus you might remember the audience in Glasgow in Scotland. When I did the performance there with Lady Die!!! The thing I never had encountered is that when we had our talks in between songs, people were actually quiet. And hushing each other: "She's saying something..." and they were listening and when we finished the songs people would go berserk. I mean, that is something I never encountered before! I think the same here. People are extra enthusiastic. That is what I think. Elle Bandita might have something different to say..

OA: Yes, cus you put up a surprise act, actually.
EB: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it wasn't really planned because we booked Fitts For Fight, but they couldn't come so we had to arrange something in the last minute. That's why we invited Sweet Sweet and thank god I'm glad! But they could only play for half an hour, so we were missing out on some extra thing so that's why we did the Radical Cheeleading and then I did some songs as Elle Bandita. So it wasn't planned cus I thought it would be a bit arrogant to play on your own festival. Give it an extra impulse to...you know...this riot grrl medley thing, so I did.

OA: Is these your two riot grrl anthems that you performed?
EB: No, I think they're not my personal anthems but I think they are very good songs, it was Uncle Franc from Team Dresch and Youth Decay from Sleater-Kinney. And these songs really fit together so I thought: Yeah, I'm gonna make a medley out of them! And it worked really good. So that was fun, yeah!

OA: And money wise? Did you get sponsors, was it really stressful, did you get founding? Are you breaking even?
H: Barely! We don't have any sponsors, except for Key Music, they provided all the equipment. And then Valesca and I put a lot of effort, time and energy into getting funds from Rotterdam Festivals, which is a fund for festival in Rotterdam. Dienst, Kunst und Kultur (this might have been spelled wrong..), which is a part of the city, a city fund for cultural things. And there is Stichting Trust Founds, which is a special fund for gay and lesbian activities. And that's where we got a couple of thousand euros. And that was just enough to cover all the expenses. And Water Front also put in some money.
EB: And of course we had a benefit concert. H: Yes, organized by Manuella Ijuano in Bar and Boos in Leiden which also raised some money. Elle Bandita, Marie Celeste and Displayed also performed. That's the whole funding.

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