12. Leila ArabLike Weather
I feel that Leila very much has a spirit that The Slits had in a way. I don’t even mean musically, but that is a woman who does not need or want to be liked. She is someone who’ll make her music, it’s utterly her, she’s completely a one off, she’ll make her music and there’s now kowtowing to little femininity or fashion, or I’ve made one record like this so the next record has to sound like that, or it’s got to be all songs, she’ll just as much do songs with lyrics and melodies as she’d do an instrumental. And they’re both as important for her. She’s not part of any gang or scene.
I actually went round her house once and saw her studio in her bedroom. She’s got this big, dark bedroom absolutely crammed full of equipment, which she knows back to front. I said to her that I was actually a bit scared of technology and she was furious with me, she didn’t let me off, just like The Slits wouldn’t have done if anyone had said anything weak like that to them back in the day. She told me to fucking get a grip, stop pussying around and learn it.
She’s just got so much conviction and she’s incredibly talented. I love the track ‘Underwater’ so much but I could just as easily love something heavy and beaty that she does. She’s intense and scary and authentic. And there need to be more women out there who don’t give a shit, who work hard, who commit themselves to their work, stand up and be counted. Lean in, as that Facebook woman says.
