After years of individually fronting some of Boorloo/Perth’s mainstay acts like HUSSY, NEW TALK & TROLLEY BOY, Shinead Ruby, Kiera Alice Owen & Germaine Jones came together as Grunge Barbie in 2019 and proceeded to take over line ups across Perth and Fremantle. Earning a series of incredible shows (including a pre-lockdown show with Sleaford Mods and support for RVG), Grunge Barbie bend the parameters of grunge, punk and hip hop, weaving them together fearlessly.
Let’s be clear, Grunge Barbie sounds like no other.
Three powerful women have turned the last couple of years, with all of its see-sawing highs and lows into a blueprint for anyone who has ever had to crash and reboot. There’s darker energies within the trio, sonic flirtations with noisework, brave explorations of cancel culture, outdated ideas within feminism and insidious inequalities based on race, sex or class. This subject matter can be explosive territory however this is where the lyrical capability of Ruby truly shines, posing questions rather than opinions and genuinely speaking to her experience of womanhood in 2023. As rumours of a new EP circulate along and tours on the horizon, you can expect unrelenting forward momentum from this iconic West Australian band.