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Music

Tough Tits Are Dismantling the Patriarchy One Boob Joke at a Time

Stream their EP 'Hairless' and read our Q&A with the band about body image, superpowers, and general tit chat.
Emma Garland
London, GB

Aside from having what is clearly the greatest band name this side of Diarrhea Planet, Tough Tits are also one of the greatest punk bands the UK has full stop. Their name straddles the bridge between playgroud humour and a pub fight in Eastenders, and in that sense is a pretty good mission statement for them as a whole. Comprised of Liz, Ayesha and Hells, Tough Tits have only been playing together since November, but in that time have been grafting hard, making hella boob jokes, and pushing back against the prevailing notion that a band featuring approximately zero men is still something to be commented on. "Being an all female line up shouldn’t be a novelty and we want to see more women doing the same," they tell us.

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We're premiering their Hairless EP below, which contains three tracks of pissed off garage-infused punk taking down the patriarchy one snarky lyric at a time - tied together with artwork by Liz.

Give it a listen and read our Q&A with them about body image, superpowers, and general tit chat below.

Noisey: Sup Tough Tits! Where did you meet?
Liz: I met Ayesha through her partner Oliver, me and him work together. She knew that I was a drummer and she really wanted to play guitar in a punk band. Me and my housemate Hub came up with the name a while ago so when she approached me, I was totally up for it and she was really keen on 'Tough Tits'. After a few months of writing we decided we needed a bassist and/or synth player so started asking about. I've known Helen for years and she'd been experimenting with various synths so we got her down for a few practices and it went from there.

Ayesha: Liz works at the pub i spend 70% of my life in and someone told me she wanted to play drums in a band so I went up to her and suggested we start a punk band. We played together for 2 or 3 months before we realised we needed more instruments to reach optimum radge so Hells joined us with her bass and synth.

Hells: I’ve known Liz for years. We met (formerly) at a Patti Smith gig, she moved in with my mates and would get pissed in the pub managed so we became party pals. I first met Ayesha at a beer festival, I was working when her and Liz came to the bar and asked me to join Tough Tits. I’m still not sure why they asked me to join the band but I’m chuffed they did! I’d been pissing about on synths a bit, so I was really keen to jam with them and see what noise I could add. I’d never played bass though, so that part scared the shit out of me!

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Describe Tough Tits in three words.
Liz: Queer, angry, lovesick. Maybe that's just me.

Ayesha: Three big tits.

Hells: A punk band.

The EP deals a lot with body image. What advice would you give to young girls especially facing all these pressures to look or present them-selves a certain way?
Liz: The lyrics for "Hairless" were written by Ayesha and came from a personal place, so I won't try and pick it apart too much. But I see the song, as being a window in to the pressure women are under to remove their body hair. People are enduring torturous, time-consuming routines daily. I think people should try and be more comfortable with them-selves, do what you want, I'm more hairy than hairless. I wrote "Nipslip" from an angry place. I don't agree with female nipple censorship. I think enforcing laws upon people's bodies in order to 'protect' them is missing the point and problem entirely. So basically, I'd say, if you feel shamed or controlled and you want freedom, do something about it. Be active and let people know how you feel, other people definitely feel the same way, that's how we create change.

Ayesha: That's really hard. I used to consider myself as someone who doesn't get pressured by body image but I’ve learnt that's absolute bullshit. We're subconsciously bombarded with so much crap about how to look/feel/live it's impossible to not compare yourself to stuff you're force fed. The only way out of this complete societal fuck up is, without sounding too 'mum', just do whatever makes you feel all right about everything.

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Hells: The EP explores body image from a twenty something female perspective, but the pressure to present/look a certain way affects all genders. I feel these pressures are not ‘women issues’, but ‘people issues’ that we must tackle together to achieve change. Without getting to heavy, I would advice anybody struggling with the pressure to conform should binge on every single episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race.

What's your superpower?
Liz: I make a mean guacamole.

Ayesha: I have impeccable eyesight.

H- I work with the general public.

If you won the lottery tomorrow, what would you do?
Liz: Invest in all of my creative friends. They're all class and lovely. The cuts in funding for arts has really took it's toll. I'd want to start a massive, non-profit, creative hub where good things could happen.

Ayesha: Damage my eyes and buy loads of really expensive glasses then go on tour forever.

Hells: I would go to the pub.

Who, in the world generally right now, is the biggest tit of all?
Liz: I think tits are great. And Donald Trump should never be associated with them.

Ayesha: Probably Katie Price's left one. (Is she still relevant?)

Hells: What Liz said.

Word. Thanks!

Hairless EP is available to pre-order now via Drunken Sailor Records and Frux Tapes.