BeatRoute Magazine [AB] print e-edition - [November 2017]

FEMMEWAVE 20 17
MOMBOD
spectral trance of European mindscape
by Caroline Reynolds
FUTURE WOMB
actor, dancer and musician set to kick off Femme Wave
by Sarah Allen
photo: Fish Griwkowsky
MomBod is a punk infused trio, reminiscent of the feminist Riot Grrrl era suffused with
grunge and psychedelic sound, and, as the band name implies, all three members are
mothers.
"There's a uniqueness to ourselves, yet we share something that's the same," says guitarist
Mandy Fox. "We're all mothers, and we all love music, and we all are determined to do that,
and that's another thing that brought us together."
Fox, also a member of the Fox Eyes, a raw rock group that has been playing in Lethbridge for
years, joined forces with experienced bassist Silvana Campus of the alt-rock duo betterhalf, with
the encouragement of their drummer Amberlea Parker who wanted to make music with other
women, specifically moms.
"I wanted something to look forward to every week, and to get music back into my life," say
Parker. "I've never really had a lot of mom friends, and just having two other badass moms to
play with is the best thing I could ever ask for."
While each musician comes from a diverse creative background, the shared experience of
motherhood is something the three connect on.
"There's this level of understanding that other people don't necessarily have," says Campus.
"We're flexible with each other," adds Parker.
"It's nice to do something that's not being a mom, being able to actually carry on other parts
of your life. Those things don't need to stop because you are now a parent," says Campus. "I
think it's cool being able to balance out being a mom, with being a rad musician."
The band has been together since the spring, forming in anticipation of FLIP Fest, a femme
and gender-non-conforming music festival that took place in Lethbridge this August. After the
festival the three were enjoying themselves so wanted to continue creating together, and are
now playing Femme Wave. Their music is a strong collaborative process, each member taking
turns writing the lyrics, singing, and co-writing songs together.
"At the moment we're just writing songs, let's try this thing and see how it feels. It's fun to
write by feel," says Campus. "It's cool to just explore a song."
"We have our different ways of talking about our own personal lives at times too during
practice," says Fox. "You make better connections musically as a group if you're making heart
connections, and I think that's one of the most important things of anything we do as individuals...we
have the heart as a part of it, or it's not real."
With the band name, MomBod, comes a political conversation the bandmates didn't really
expect to initiate.
"People are using the idea of 'mombod' to shame moms that don't fit into your stereotypical,
have a baby and get back into your jeans," says Parker.
"We want to take it back, make it something new, make it something better," says Campus.
"We're going to create a new definition."
As stated on their Facebook page, in response to an Urban Dictionary definition of Mom-
Bod, the band says, "We would like to challenge this notion of "Mom Bod" as outlined by Urban
Dictionary to be redefined as any person who has given birth and who's post-birth body is any
shape or size. We, as rock moms, would like to celebrate these endless variations of the Mom
Bod (stretch-marks and all) and would like to encourage every mom to love themselves and
their bodies post child. In that notion, we take up a new meaning of MomBod as a means of
empowering all moms everywhere."
"It's pretty cool how the politics have come up on their own," says Fox. "I think for the most
part we're doing what we love, and we're doing what we want to do, and it doesn't matter if
we're moms or not, we'll do it."
MomBod play at the all ages venue McHugh House (Calgary) for Femme Wave on Nov.S aturday 18
at 5 pm.
Mikaela Cochrane, front woman and songwriter
for new act Future Womb, is no stranger
to Calgary’s arts community.
She has captivated audiences on-screen at the
Calgary International Film Festival, most recently in
Ice Blue, and gracing the stage as her alter-ego ‘Lily
Bo Pique’ at Garter Girls Burlesque shows, but you
haven’t seen her quite like this.
Cochrane will be making her festival debut, as a
musician at least, at the Femme Wave Kick Off Cabaret
at Commonwealth on November 16 with her guitarist
Jordan Moe, bassist Michael De Souza and drummer
Andrew Ellergodt – and the festival suits her perfectly.
She says that besides being excited about multiple artistic
mediums being represented in the festival, that there’s a
level of comfort she feels within Femme Wave’s environment.
“It’s almost a guaranteed safe space,” she says.
The festival is the perfect platform for her work. She
says, “Being a woman is a huge part of who I am and a
pretty significant theme in a lot of my lyrics.”
Cochrane told BeatRoute that it took a very long
time for her to decide on a name for her act that both
meant something to her personally but also offered
relevancy to the content of her songs.
She just so happened to figure it all out in a float tank.
“I got a gift certificate for a float place. I went there
and I was in a pretty bad place at the time, mentally.
I [figured] I would treat myself, do this thing. When
I went into the room there was this weird little pod
with this glowing blue light inside. When I got in I was
just like, ‘This is like a womb.. from the future!’”
She leapt from the tank, quickly scribbled down the
name, and returned to her ‘Future Womb’ for her float.
Just like a womb’s role in creating life, Cochrane
uses Future Womb to cultivate and establish herself as
she navigates through some personal uncertainty.
“I was feeling very lost and I felt like a lot of the reasons
why I was [feeling that way] were the things that had
been taught to me about what it meant to be a woman.”
Making her music was a way for her to articulate her
experience for both herself and others who can likely relate.
She describes her sound as psychedelic dream pop
with influence from ‘90s artists, but also includes a
bit of a Latin infusion. Cochrane’s eerie vocal quality
mixed with her stage presence offers the aesthetic of a
neo-noir film, a little dark and gritty.
Cochrane has been recording singles slowly as time
allows with her brother, Taylor Cochrane of local band
36?, but isn’t necessarily in a rush to complete a record.
“I want to do it right, not just release it. I still don’t
know the route I want to take. I want it to be a concept
album of a specific time in my life. Other than
that, the rest is pretty fluid right now.”
Future Womb performs on November 16 at Commonwealth
as part of the Femme Wave Kick-Off Cabaret.
BEATROUTE • NOVEMBER 2017 | 25