7 of Australia's best female bands are joining forces for a ridiculously good lineup

We’re in for an incredible couple of gigs pretty soon, as some of Australia’s best emerging female acts are teaming up for a series of shows named ‘Electric Lady‘, celebrating the swathe of local talent we’re currently being treated to.

Brought together by Holly Rankin aks the talented Sydney muso Jack River, the shows will also boast none other than Alex Lahey, Ali Barter, Bec Sandridge, Gretta Ray, Body Type and Rackett, all of whom have been putting out some impressive work in the last year.

The shows will be heading to Melbourne and Sydney, and Electric Lady will be launching as its own platform – @electricladyworld – for interviews with women from a range of backgrounds, not just music.

“The last year in music, politics and culture made me realise the time is now for this idea,” Rankin says. “Girls are ready to amplify their talent alongside each other, and the world is ready for diversity in female role models.”

People were pretty up in arms earlier today when it came to light that a Canberra venue was playing host to a gig with an 11-band lineup of male acts, to the point that headliners Regurgitator pulled out of the show, and it’s a situation that continues to arise far too often.

Now, we can already hear the complaints about this all-female gig, and the supposed hypocrisy behind fighting exclusion with exclusion. But the fact remains that, until we stop seeing such a gender divide on festival lineups and across the music industry as a whole, events and initiatives that take the focus off male acts for a moment are a necessary step to promote more diversity in what is still an undeniably male-dominated profession.

Tickets for the first Electric Lady shows go on sale this Thursday April 13 at 9am, and with a lineup like this one, you’d be silly to miss out.