Cora Perkins, Assistant Spectrum Editor
Behind the distorted tracks and stage dives that have long made Richmond a beacon for hardcore music, the women performing, shooting and attending these shows have been the backbone of the scene for years.
Richmond has long been known as an influential city for hardcore music. From house shows packed to the brim with fans of slam drums and moshing, to record stores dedicated to stocking their shelves with heavy riffs and powerful vocals — Richmond has put its love on display.
Kimmy Rivera, the vocalist for local post-hardcore band Athera, has loved music since she was a child.
“Growing up, me and my siblings would play Guitar Hero almost every day,” Rivera said. “My older brother was really into nu metal at the time and as I always looked up to him, I naturally liked it too.”
Once Rivera started at VCU, she made it her mission to go to more local shows, attending her first Richmond show at Cobra Cabana, an essential bar and venue in the neighborhood of Carver.
“There, I saw Sick Of It All and Wasted Space. I was with Sonny and Jackson [of Athera] and I had the most fun ever,” Rivera said. “Ever since then I’ve been going to shows with them and here I am now.”
Rivera said she would love to see more women and queer people in the hardcore scene.
“Being the vocalist in Athera, I am honestly super proud and grateful that I can be in a position doing what I love, and hopefully giving other women and young girls the representation the scene needs,” Rivera said.
Sherri Powell, vocalist of Hanahaki, is mainly self-taught other than a short phase of middle school chorus classes and vocal training for commercials when she was young.
“I actually taught myself how to scream by yelling at traffic on my commutes to school,” Powell said.
Being a woman in a mostly male-dominated field has been difficult, Powell said.
“Sometimes I have a bit more leverage in who I speak to when I say I’m part of the band, but more often than not I feel like I’m never taken seriously or I’m largely dismissed,” Powell said. “Sometimes people try to talk to my bandmates instead of me, assuming I’m just someone’s girlfriend there for accessory and not a member.”
Powell said she has had to grow a thicker skin being a part of the scene and to get people to listen to her.
“Getting on stage and showing everyone that I can be just as, if not more, terrifying than every other vocalist has been a great way to get people to listen, mostly because I’m so loud they can’t ignore me,” Powell said.
Things really only get done when women get involved, Powell said.
“Femininity has the gift of emotion, empathy, and kindness; women put it to action,” Powell said. “Women in this scene work hard for this community, because we simply have to if we want to be taken seriously.”
For Laine Roldan, vocalist of Bleed Out, music has always been a big part of their life. Once they started going to local hardcore shows, they gained motivation to create music again.
“Seeing the community kind of sparked my passion for performing,” Roldan said. “I’ve been very involved in the Norfolk and Richmond scenes since then.”
As a feminine-presenting person, said they have had to work hard to prove themself, and it is the same in the hardcore scene.
“I’ve gotten hate from men who give the boys in my band praise but have a problem with me,” Roldan said. “It never deters me though — only motivates me more.”
Queer people, women and people of color deserve a voice in the scene, Roldan said.
“I think we’re all tired of hearing white men scream about their issues on a mic,” Roldan said. “We’re tired of seeing creepy men abuse, target, manipulate our friends then having the scene do nothing.”