Thoup Thoughts
29.12.25 end of year reflections
I’ve done and achieved so much this year. I’m actually super proud of all the stuff I’ve been up to which is super cool. First of all the largest change in my live has been the start of my new band [BRICK]. There is a little bit about that on here already. We are a Transfeminist hardcore band which myself and my girlfriend started after the Supreme Court ruling that happened back in April. She had come to see a band I was playing in at the time called Drive-by Kills a couple of days after the ruling had happened. After the show we were sat in the venue where I had been playing and talked about how we both wanted to be playing music that was a reaction to the ruling. We decided that we wanted to play hardcore and contacted a few friends who might want to join us. Jane (guitar) and Hester (bass) came from Transfeminist reading group and Ruby (drums) came from my other band at the time Nancy Cancer. We got together to write and record a couple of songs. Unfortunately soon after Ruby decided to leave due to childcare commitments. It’s a shame, we all still have a lot of love for her but it was just the wrong time for her. Joy (vocals) then later finds Max from a roller derby team she used to play in. This year we played 11 shows, including a short 4 date tour and outside the FiLiA conference in Brighton in protest of transphobic speakers at the conference. We also put out a 5 track 7 minute demo. It’s the first time I’ve been able to tour and only the second time I’ve been in a band that’s put out music. We’ve met some super cool people and done some cool things in the handful of months we’ve been a band and I’m really proud of that.
That being said not all the projects I started this year with have continued to be a part of my life. The previously mentioned Drive-by Kills I left shortly after starting [BRICK]. I felt like it wasn’t the band for me anymore. I still have a lot of love for those people however, I wanted to push myself musically more in-terms of musical creativity but also touring, shows and recorded output. Nancy cancer is a bit of a different story. We have gone on an indefinite hiatus. Not too sure how long this is going to last however, I have really enjoyed the time I spent with those gals. I learnt a lot about how to be in a band. But it was also just a fucking cool band to be a part of. The audio of the last show can be found in the “music” part of my website and on my internet archive page (which I have loads more bootleg sets I need to upload). I recommend checking that out if you’re at all into riot grrrl or punk music.
However, this hasn’t all been a year of fun times. The current situation in the UK regarding trans people and specifically transexual women is really concerning. It’s a pretty scary time for us all right now. I live in a pretty accepting part of the UK and even here it is starting to feel more and more unsafe. That isn’t even taking into account the issues within the trans and wider queer community that keep cropping up. I have seen huge amounts of trans misogyny being inflicted upon my friends and community in the past year. Maybe I’m seeing this due to being louder and more outspoken about issues than I have been in the past. But at least I got a cool hardcore band out of all of this :).
I’m excited for the coming year. It feels like only the start for all things [BRICK]. We plan on writing a whole bunch more and hope to plan to tour some more too. If you’re reading this and in the UK hit us up :). If you’re elsewhere I we would also love to hear from you. I have a few personal goals too. I want to start writing reviews of all the physical media I own. Tapes, records and CDs. We’ll see how that goes… Upkeep of this website will be dependent on that I guess. I want to finish some personal music projects too, I was working on a death industrial/noise project for a while which I really want to get stuck back into. More obviously I want to start updating this blog semi regularly with thoughts and updates to my life if anyone ever stumbles upon it I hope you enjoy :)