Doctor Brown’s is a popular bar and live music venue in Middlesbrough, England. Recently, the news broke that the establishment has a formal ban on female-fronted bands—a ban that was put in place by the female manager of the venue, Paula Rees. To justify the ban, Rees insists Doctor Brown’s clientele refuse to see female-fronted bands because women “can’t sing heavy rock.”
Rees has defended the controversial and sexist ban to The Northern Echo, insisting that “it’s nothing to do with me. It’s the pub’s regulars who come in every week. They won’t come in if there’s a female singer.” Rather, the ban, in her eyes, is strictly business: “We had female singers on in the past and customers just didn’t like it—we’re a rock bar and they don’t think that women should sing male rock songs.” She continued, “If we put a poster up and our regulars know there’s a woman in the band, they won’t give them a chance – they’re my bread and butter and we can’t risk nobody coming in.”
Hannah Sowerby, a local singer for Revenant and Syndicate 66, has previously had gigs booked at Doctor Brown’s. However, once the venue found out the two bands were fronted by a woman, the gigs were canceled. As she told The Northern Echo, “I haven’t been allowed to play because I’m female, despite the fact my band can draw a crowd.” She continues, “You wouldn’t get people saying they don’t like male bands because not all male singers are the same—just like not all female singers are the same. … It is a sexist attitude from the regulars and there’s no excuse for it in 2017, you’d think we’d be past this by now.”
However, Doctor Brown’s will host a band with a female singer next year, and Rees is considering booking female-fronted bands that can guarantee a large crowd. Despite this, Rees still is insistent that as a rule, the policy banning female-fronted bands will stay.
[H/T The Northern Echo; Photo: Gazette]