Girls to the Front | Bottled Violence

Bottled Violence is a five-piece noise punk band formed at the Rock City Institute in Eindhoven. During their live shows, they transform into an overwhelming wall of raw feedback, fuzz, screamed vocals and pounding drums. Their lyrics often tackle themes such as monarchy, capitalism and human rights. This political engagement has been evident in their performance at a housing rights protest in Eindhoven and their shows in squats. The band’s influences include Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys and Sonic Youth.

This year, Warming Up Festival is not asking how you can live more sustainably. It is asking why so many people, especially young people, have tuned out of a conversation that may affect them more than anyone.

Not out of indifference, but because of mental exhaustion. Because of climate anxiety and guilt. Because of a system that places the emphasis on individual responsibility, while the biggest polluters and fossil fuel subsidies largely remain out of the spotlight. And sometimes also because a climate movement that seems to demand perfection rather than participation.

You can’t save the world alone. Fortunately, you don’t have to. Warming Up Festival therefore takes a different approach: solidarity instead of penance.

For three days, the festival brings together art, journalism, music and conversation around the question of how individual choices relate to systems that are largely beyond our control, and where we can actually make a difference as a collective. It is a festival that makes room for imperfection, for doubt and for new forms of engagement.

More information and the complete program can be found here.

Girls to the Front is a Utrecht-based initiative focused on the representation of FLINTA people in the Dutch punk music scene. It began as an event on 8 March at dB's, organised by Bibi Fay Bannink, an 18-year-old feminist punk fan with a plan. It grew into Girls to the Front, a compilation LP featuring 14 punk bands with FLINTA frontwomen, released at EKKO on 8 March. This was followed by a tour across the Netherlands, including shows at Paradiso, VERA Groningen, Rotown and Wilde Weide, as well as a DJ set at Down The Rabbit Hole.

Girls to the Front not only celebrates the diverse punk sounds created by FLINTA people making themselves heard across the country, but also seeks to explore the intersectional struggles and sources of inspiration people encounter, whether through making zines or organising more interdisciplinary events featuring poetry, film discussions and panel talks.

Girls to the Front hopes to build a community of FLINTA people who can mosh together without constantly having to guard themselves against male dominance in spaces like these. Drawing inspiration from the Riot Grrrl movement, the initiative connects its legacy to contemporary issues and struggles. Above all, Girls to the Front wants to bring FLINTA people to the forefront and create space for them to scream, mosh together and celebrate their identities through punk, both as a music genre and as a way of life.