Research Title: "I Don't Want to Go To Heaven": A (Living) Archival study of Scotland's Girl Bands and Associated Do-It-Ourselves Cultures
Supervisors: Dr. Jo Collinson-Scott (University of the West of Scotland), Dr. Judit Bodor (Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design), and partner organisation Gill Maxwell (Scottish Music Centre)
Funded by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRCS)
About: My practice-based research will explore how living archives can reframe the histories of women in Scottish popular music, with particular focus on ‘girl bands’. Building on my award-winning feature-length documentary Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands (BBC Scotland, 2024), my research draws from over sixty hours of newly recorded interviews and more than 1,500 uncovered artefacts from private collections (lost demo tapes, photographs, flyers, and personal memorabilia).
Working in partnership with the Scottish Music Centre, this project seeks to store, protect, and activate this previously hidden archive through participatory methods including archival workshops, collaborative songwriting, and live performance. The aim is to develop feminist, DIY-informed approach to archiving that bridges creative practice and heritage work, exploring the ways in which women’s contributions to music are documented and celebrated.
As a practising independent songwriter, musician, and former ‘girl band’ member, with twenty years experience as a woman making music, I approach this work through heuristic and autoethnographic methods, recognising that I am both within and alongside the histories I study. My project sits at the intersection of music, memory, and feminist cultural production, asking what it means to keep an archive alive when its subjects are still creating, performing, and shaping their own narratives.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carla-j-easton/
For the Academic page
Publications:
Made in Scotland Studies in Popular Music (2023)
Edited By Simon Frith, Martin Cloonan, John Williamson
Chapter 7: Place of Light
ABSTRACT
This chapter tells the story of growing up in mining towns and emigrating to the city to pursue a love of vinyl, girl groups and making music. It draws on my experience as a band member, collaborator and solo artist and highlights the importance and inspiration of my precursors in the shape of a parallel history of all girl bands in Scotland from 1960 to 2000. https://www.routledge.com/Made-in-Scotland-Studies-in-Popular-Music/Frith-Cloonan-Williamson/p/book/9781032161976
For Since Yesterday Page:
World Premiere - Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024
WINNER of "Best Scottish Film" at The List Film Awards 2024
WINNER of 'The Unsung Award' at the Besties 2024
LONGLISTED “Best Directorial Debut” at The British Film Institute 2023
The McKinleys, The Ettes, Strawberry Switchblade, Sophisticated Boom Boom, Twinsets, His Latest Flame, Sunset Gun, Lungleg, Pink Kross, Sally Skull, Hello Skinny and The Hedrons.
Ignored by the industry and deprived of the global success afforded to the male-dominated bands of the day,Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands is a celebration of the women and the music of yesteryear, and a rallying cry to the female talent of tomorrow.
Blending personal anecdotes with a scrapbook-style audio-visual aesthetic, Since Yesterday takes us on a decade-by-decade adventure, crafting the ultimate visual mixtape. Discover unheard demos, lost archives, and rare performances that celebrate the Game Changers, Trailblazers, Popstars, Post Punks and Pioneers who never compromised, and subsequently got lost in time.
The film takes a critical look at the barriers women have faced making music in the past, and still face today. It asks how we can inspire young women to make music, if those who do so are continuously erased from our cultural history. Written & narrated by award-nominated musician Carla J. Easton, this is a powerful global story told through a local lens.
