Congratulations to the good people of Girls Rock Louisville who now have a brand new CD to show off their hard work and dedication to the craft of making music and boosting young girls' self-esteem at the same time. We talked with Carrie Neumeyer, one of the co-founders and currently serves as the Executive Director of Girls Rock Louisville about the making of the CD and its release this Saturday, December 3rd at Guestroom Records.
What is Girls Rock Louisville?
GRL is a nonprofit music program that aims to empower girls, women, and gender non-confirming individuals from all backgrounds in a supportive, inclusive environment. Our unique programming promotes self-expression, self-confidence, skill building, collaboration, community building, and social justice. No prior musical experience is necessary to be a part of our programming—we welcome all levels of experience! During our 2016 summer camp program, participants aged 10-18 learned an instrument, formed a band, wrote a song, performed in concert, and recorded their music in a professional recording studio. We had 40 campers and numerous adult volunteers from the community who shared their expertise in music, counseling, visual arts, activism, and education.
Tell us about the new compilation “Girl Rock Louisville 2016 Summer Camp Bands”.
We took our 2016 summer campers into LaLaLand, a professional recording studio that generously donated the recording time. The camper bands’ tracks were recorded and mixed by GRL volunteer and LaLaLand engineer Anne Gauthier and mastered at Black Lab Audio by Shelley Anderson, who was also a GRL volunteer. The CD features seven amazing original songs, which blend musical genres and styles in fresh and unexpected ways. The songs are all bold, earnest, and powerful. I am so proud of every single one of our campers and volunteers and what the bands created in such a short period of time.
How did the kids come up with the songs and their own band names? Were they involved in all the processes of making the album from recording to art work?
Campers worked together on every aspect of their band—the band name, the lyrics, the songwriting, and band logo, which they screen-printed onto t-shirts. Each band chose an adult band coach and a band manager, who helped them navigate technical issues and helped give them tools to learn how to resolve conflicts. The compilation album’s cover art was created by one of our campers, Laura Mattingly.
Where can people find out more about the camp and Girls Rock Louisville?
You can visit www.girlsrocklouisville.org or find us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
