2Tone: Lives and Legacies – Women Pioneers
Sat 24 Jul 2021, Coventry Cathedral
UK City of Culture 2021

“The first in a series of collaborations between the University of Warwick’s Department of Film and Television Studies, the Centre for Television Histories and the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, 2Tone: Lives and Legacies – Women Pioneers brings the pioneering women of punk and 2Tone to Coventry Cathedral for an evening of lively discussion and film screenings.

Our Q&A will be chaired by Jennifer Otter-Bickerdike and will feature Pauline Black (The Selecter), Rhoda Dakar (The Bodysnatchers/Specials/Special AKA), and Helen McCookerybook (The Chefs/Helen and the Horns). We’ll also be showing Stories from the She Punks (2018, 45 mins), a documentary that features the stories of women musicians from the punk-inspired bands of the 70s and Sisters with Transistors (Lisa Rovner, 2020, 90 mins), the remarkable untold story of electronic music’s female pioneers, composers who embraced machines and their liberating technologies to utterly transform how we produce and listen to music today.”

Addendum: Helen Wheatley chaired as Jennifer Otter-Bickerdike had to isolate.

Link: coventry2021.co.uk/what-s-on/2tone-lives-and-legacies-women-pioneers/

She’s At the Controls: Sound Engineering, Production and Gender Ventriloquism in the 21st Century
By Helen Reddington

“She’s At the Controls is essential reading. Helen Reddington reshapes our knowledge of sound engineering and music production in the twenty-first century, foregrounding the power and limits of feminism in a male-dominated industry while offering hope for a more egalitarian future.

In She’s At the Controls, Helen Reddington illuminates the varied ways in which women producers have been marginalised within the music recording industry and reshapes narrative of sonic technologies. Indeed, women play a prominent role despite the myriad manifestations of misogyny that have prevented them from acquiring funding, education, training, and sheer opportunity over the decades. …” continue reading here

Audrey J. Golden on the Louder Than War website (Book Reviews), 18 June 2021: louderthanwar.com

Robert Elms discussed She’s at the Controls: Sound Engineering, Production and Gender Ventriloquism in the 21st Century with it’s author Helen Reddington on his radio show on the 9th June 2021.

Listen here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/…

(From 36:08 – 44:55, available for 29 days)

BBC Radio London Robert Elms show: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09j3n95

The Helen McCookerybook Interview

“Singer-songwriter Helen McCookerybook musical ventures first came to light as the bass player and co-singer with The Chefs in the late 1970s and early 80s. She then formed Helen and the Horns. John Peel admired both bands and between them recorded six BBC Radio 1 sessions. Then came the long break filled with the stuff of life. In 2005 Helen started again as a solo artist and up until the pandemic was regularly playing live gigs, and releasing recordings. Thankfully ( at least in the UK and for the time being) we seem to be emerging from that crisis. So a good time to chat with Helen about the past ,present and future .. Enjoy.” continue reading

Deviation Street Online Zine (Sound), 7 June 2021: deviationstreetmagazine.com