LOUISE DISTRAS is the new face of acoustic punk. She’s a woman with a clenched fist full of protest songs that target injustice, chauvenism and bigotry; the love child Billy Bragg and Patti Smith never had.
Nirvana inspired Wakefield-born Louise to pick up a guitar at the tender age of thirteen. Twelve years on, she uses it as a weapon to push a politicised brand of hard-hitting contemporary folk.
Her first single ‘The Hand You Hold’, released earlier this year, set out to “empower young women.” It was angry, and pointed, asking the media: ‘Who are you to say/we should look this way?’
“I’m sick of the way women and young girls are reduced to stereotypes and exploited,” says Louise, 25, who is proud to be putting purpose back in pop.
Utterly of the Left – Bragg and Anne Scargill are fans – she says she is influenced “by ELO and the Bee Gees as much as the Clash.” She’s currently finishing her debut album with Steve Whale (ex of The Business), Mick Talbot (Style Council, Dexys), Jamie Oliver (UK SUBS drummer) and engineer Pat Collier.
Targets for Louise’s anger include David Cameron (“a dickhead”), the Hillsborough cover-up and “lame NME fringe bands – they can go fuck themselves.”
She has also been campaigning for the release of Russian art punk trio Pussy Riot, whose protests she compares to that of suffragette Emily Davison and even Rosa Parks.
“They’re three incredibly brave women who have been jailed for simply speaking their mind and fighting for freedom,” she says. “Their struggle is our struggle.”
Louise’s mission? “To destroy all apathy.”
http://www.louisedistras.co.uk/
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WAYNE LOST SOUL is most often found fronting Kings Of The Delmar - one of the tightest, most hard-hitting punk rock bands in the UK, but when he's not doing that, he's surprisingly found with an acoustic guitar in his tattooed hands.
Lost Soul, Wayne's acoustic alter-ego, is quite a different story to his regular punk rock influences. His songs weave together elements of blues, country, folk, punk and rock'n'roll to create something entirely new and unique but with melodies that will stay in your head for years to come.
"We're skimming stones across the river, leaving broken hearts in our wake. Believe the lies they're born to tell us, and make the mistakes that we make...
I suppose you could call me a protest singer. All my songs are inspired by the things I find wrong with the world, the people I meet, their stories and the things that have affected my life.
My songs are brutally honest and I want people to think about what I'm saying. I have some pretty funny stories to tell." - Lost Soul
http://waynelostsoul.com/fr_home.cfm
Doors: 19.00 AK 3,-€
