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International act 'The Soap Girls'
visit the Fox and Goose
Photographs by Patrick Trollope.
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THIS South African double trouble act started out at the
age of 8, getting a name for themselves selling soap for charity, in Cape Town. According to their Mum, who is acting as the UK Tour Manager, that is how they
gained the name 'The
Soap Girls.' After playing in Liverpool
the night before, the girls came to Southport to play at the legendary, Fox and
Goose Music Venue. On Friday 12 August 2016, we headed over to see them
live. Once you get past the
pre-conceptions this is a show that gives reporters anxiety attacks. You will
always get it wrong, but that is the point... Many punk architects were and are
intelligent poets and thinkers and Punk was and still is a music movement that
has shattered and still is breaking conventional taboos and stereo-types we may
hold. The girls, who are in their early 20's are both sisters, Ca (Mille) and
Noe (MIE) Debray, do not want to be neatly packed into a single explanation, put
down as following an ideology, or boxed off into a set category. They say they
are non-conformist and dismissive of socialism and capitalism. This is bizarrely
a contradiction that is the Punk movement... But moving away from that question,
it is true to say that these girls are not your normal act, as they are truly
unpredictable on stage. On one side you have the raunchy stage shows that to
some is exploitative, to others liberating. The band says they want to send a
message out, not to be non-judgemental to others. They want to sit on outskirts
of the mainstream, but do they? The girls are fantastic to talk to and are very
switched on and they have to be more so than ever since they were picked for
stardom by Universal records. In true Punk form, they are now self financed,
unsigned, after the girls broke free, as the label went totally against what the
girls wanted to be. This freedom shows in the unpredictable show that is billed
as good old mischief and mayhem. Watching it I suddenly felt old, as it brought
back my days at University, as a student. But that's the point. The girls don't
give a flying **** what people think of them. This band is infamous for
delivering an unadulterated performance that courts controversies both on stage
and off stage as they also raise many issues. If you pay attention they are not
quite what you think you hear, poking a finger at the world. We are told that
this act was very much toned down on the night, so it's hard to compare them to
other bands within the music industry. The lack of clothing and the lyrics of
the songs are not as controversial as you might think. All the songs are their
own and have personal meanings to them. They have their own instruments, and put
on a really good show. They want the audience and people around them not bow
down to the mainstream, to like yourself for who you are. It's hard to say if
this is the case that the audience watching, does in reality, but they are both
fearless on stage.
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As for what they did on the night, we watched them do the duo's trade mark
Voodoo Child during which a member of the audience drinks a secret drink. Also
getting more audience participation, with an uncooked fish being given to an
audience member who then had to bite and suck out an eye. The girl who did it
seemed to enjoy it! They persuaded lads onto the stage to take shirts off, but
despite the girls best efforts, no girls joined in. Then they got a Champagne
bottle and sang one of their more controversial songs, as a lad sprayed the
audience with it!
I have to salute them for putting on an interesting night.
The support acts included the venue owners band "Backlash"
and the other was "Somos Muchos."
Click on
here to see more
photographs taken at this event.
For more on this alternative, grunge band, see the Soap Girl's
website.
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Click on
here to see more
photographs taken at this event.
We would love to know if you attended the event and what you thought of it.
Please email us your views to:-
News24@SouthportReporter.com.
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Click on
here to see more
photographs taken at this event.
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