CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE ISSUE 2: PLATFORM

THE TUTS
They’re not just limited to that,
however; not only do they play the
more obvious punk and indie festivals,
but are delving into various
crowds. They’re popular within
the ska crowd because of a tour
they did with The Selector, and are
playing more South Asian events
in order to access a demographic
that is, sadly, sorely lacking
in straight up-and-down punk
circles. “As a three-tone band, we
also want our audience to look
three-tone,” guitarist Nadia Javed
says, “because we want to make
a movement and send this message
out of uniting the races and
cultures together from all minority
backgrounds.” By bridging the
gap here, they’re attracting people
– specifically women, and more
specifically, women of color – to
their shows who, not too long ago,
were absent at these shows.
Their greatest goal is to empower
people listening to their music,
to pick up instruments and play
themselves, to become a part of
something bigger, to feel safer
and more comfortable. “We want
women in the crowd and people
from minority backgrounds to feel
like bad bitches,” Nadia says. “We
wanted them to feel empowered.
We want them to think, look,
there’s a brown girl onstage. I’ve
never seen a girl like that before
playing guitar. I want to do that.
And just to feel confident and do
shit they’d only see white dudes
doing.” They’re well aware of
the importance of representation
in the arts, as well as in wider
society, but while we’re seeing an
influx of women musicians taking
over places that were previously
composed of entirely male lineups,
it’s still almost entirely white
lineups. It’s notable to comment
on the fact that, amongst all the
bands interviewed over the weekend,
Nadia and drummer Beverly
Ishmael were the only women of
color I encountered and spoke to,
and some of the very few involved
in the festival.
It has to be something to do with
pigeonholing that happens too
often within the music industry.
Within the genres that see more
of a diversity in ethnicity – RnB,
hip hop, grime – helps people of
color feel less out of place. The
Tuts have gone completely against
this in an attempt to bring greater
representation to more guitar-driven
music genres, which is why
they find it so important to use
their platforms as musicians in the
public eye to speak on these