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Artist News
Girl Band drop “misgendered name” to become Gilla Band
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 17 November 2021
Girl Band are changing their name, and will from now on be known as Gilla Band. The group have put out two albums under their original name, but have faced criticism for it, given that their line-up is all-male.
“We are changing our band name”, they say in a statement. “We will no longer be performing or releasing records under the name Girl Band. We apologise for choosing a misgendered name in the first place and to anyone who has been hurt or affected by it”.
“When we were starting off [the name Girl Band] was chosen without much thought, from a place of naivety and ignorance”, they go on. “We had no grasp of the weight of it at the time and in the past few years have found it impossible to justify or explain this choice”.
“Regardless of our intention, the effect of the name has been damaging to individuals”, they continue. “To try and negate any unfortunate role we’ve played in propagating a culture of non-inclusivity in music or otherwise, we have decided to change it”.
“Thank you to those who spoke up about it and educated us on this, either directly or indirectly”, they conclude. “Moving forward we will be performing and releasing records under the name Gilla Band. Gilla being a given name taken from Old Irish”.
The band have also announced that they will play their first shows under the new name over three nights at Whelans in Dublin in January. Tickets go on sale on Thursday.
