Career advice - How to become a female rock musician
Ex-screamer of the Dirty Burds (RIP), current screamer in The Swankers, the rockalicious Jiggy Burd tells you how to become a rock singer and what to do with the swathes of skinny indie boys dying to kiss your hand when you come off stage...
Name: JIGGY (visit Jiggy's MySpace)
Career title:
Singer with the Swankers (ex-singer of the Dirty Burds)
Full-time/part time: Full-time
How long have you been doing this: All my life...
Qualifications and/or training duration:
To be a properly rocksome singer you have to have a huge gob
Skills: Screaming. Yeah!
Job perks:
Meeting skinny indie rock boys, of course...
What made you want to go into this profession:
The chance of meeting skinny indie rock boys.
How physically or mentally demanding is the job:
Hmm. It really depends on how many skinny indie rock boys you succeed in pulling.
Long hours? See above :)
Downside of the job:
All that screaming and pulling of boychicks means you're gonna end up with a sore throat, one way or another.
Most hideous career moment to date:
Well, my most hideous career moment to date - that I'm willing to admit to - was playing with the god-awful 'Ten Minutes With My Dad'. Ten minutes on stage with them was ten minutes of complete and utter shite. I don't care if they read this.
Do you meet interesting people and if so, who was the most interesting?
Do I meet interesting people as a rock chick singer? Oh, believe. Iggy Pop, The Hellacopters, Turbonegrom, The Hives... a whole chain of rawk bands. Part of the perks, definitely.
Is there a danger factor in being a rock singer? Definitely. So far I've got:
1. Knocking teeth out with mic
2. Nearly breaking my ankle doing a stage dive
3. Knocking out a member of the audience with my mic stand. Way to go!
Sexy uniform?
I have a collection of stage outfits. You don't go to the corner shop looking like you do on stage - unless you've had a really heavy night out.
Do you meet fit, clever, solvent blokes in your line of work?
I can't stress this enough... if you become a rawk singer you will meet sexy young skinny indie boys. Lots of them. So they'd better be the kind of guy you want to meet and hang out with, or you're in trouble...
What advice would you give young women who are interested in this career path?
Shyness won't get you on that stage and off it, night after night, in one piece. So don't be shy!
