Butcher Babies singer Heidi Shepherd says her struggle to be accepted as a woman in the metal world made her work harder to achieve her dreams.
Shepherd fronts the band along with Carla Harvey and says they haven’t had it easy since they started out in the world of rock and metal. But she adds that she would probably not have been as driven had she not met with resistance.
Shepherd tells Metal Wani: “It’s been an uphill battle, but it’s also a double-edged sword. It’s been somewhat of a hard journey because of that, but I feel very lucky, because I think if it had just been widely accepted, I may not have worked as hard for it, and I may not still be working as hard, and we may have just floated under the radar.
“The fact that we are something different, two girls in a metal band, maybe it turned some heads. It turns people off, without hearing the music at all, but it also turned heads that may not have turned before.
“And it is unfortunate that people immediately dismiss a band because there are girls in it. That’s ridiculous – that’s the dumbest thing ever. There’s no reason why girls can’t get up there and rock just as hard , if not harder than, the boys.”
Despite the early struggles, Shepherd says she has noticed a softening in attitudes towards her band.
She adds: “I’m so happy to say that I’m seeing a movement. From when we started to now, people are understanding that and coming around. Every negative thing that someone has to say, or every negative person that we come across with it, there’s 10 people that are all for it. So it’s becoming more widely accepted and more viewed as exciting than a bummer.”
Butcher Babies release their second album Take It Like A Man on August 21 via Century Media.
