Q&A: Voices of Change With GIRL NOISE
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY ZARMEEN AKHUND ☆
IN A WORLD OF PLEASE AND THANK YOU’S—comes GIRL NOISE, a women-led movement and music festival sparked by a growing need for girls to be loud with their dreams, voices and liberation in spite of society telling them otherwise. Artist and founder, Simone Lipkin shares with us her insights on making the movement possible.
Historically, women have faced repression of every desire, need or “defiant” part of themselves. From birth and through every stage of life, they are continuously met with external pressure to conform, shrink and deny their own capacity. GIRL NOISE is the opportunity to resist.
You can find them at their upcoming show on March 29 at the Sultan Room in Brooklyn, New York. The festival features a DJ set by ABIIZA, followed by an incredibly talented line up of artists: Buffchick, Caitlin Starr, Father Koi, For Opal, Leyla Ebrahimi, Simone and Speedrun. All ticket proceeds go towards The Lower East Side Girls Club, a non-profit providing mentorship and educational programming for youth in NYC.
In speaking with Simone, it becomes evident that the movement is not confined by age, race, sexuality or gender and refers to a broader “us” in the making. The initiative welcomes a community tailored to music, collaboration, fundraising and awareness, all in search of necessary political change.
In truth, we are all girls– imbued with strength, brilliance, power, and endless resolve.
Read our full conversation below.
LUNA: How was GIRL NOISE born?
SIMONE: I originally started formulating the idea at the end of 2024. It was kind of one of those things where I was thinking about how cool it would be if something like this existed. I was like “Oh, I'll do it myself, I’ll just try it.” I was doing a lot of deep dives on the 90s and these really cool political initiatives that were surrounded by music and artists at the time: Lilith fair and Riot Grrrl and all these great community-based initiatives. I was very inspired by that, and feeling like there’s a lack of it at the moment. I really wanted to see if this would be something people would be interested in. I wanted something like this to exist, as an artist and a fan of music.
LUNA: What was it like bringing this vision to life, from concept to forming actual events and making space for people? What was that process like?
SIMONE: It was pretty surreal. I didn't really believe that it was going to happen until the first show. It was very much like “Am I going to be able to pull this off? Are people going to come? Are people going to be interested in this?” When I started the booking process for the first show, I wanted it to be, first and foremost, a person to person connection, and for people to know that this is coming from me and my passion about this cause and mission. So when I first started that, to see a little bit of excitement or a little bit of interest, that was really exciting to me. And then getting a really incredible lineup for the first show is like, oh, you know, no one had to play that show. They were all taking a chance on me and the mission. It was really cool to see it all come together.
It didn't really hit me until the show was happening. People were there and all the artists were in the green room. It exceeded my expectations, especially with how much it meant to people. Just seeing how the artists connected with each other and the community we fostered in the space that night. Relationships were built that night and I'm seeing some of those artists continuing to play shows together and continuing to support each other. That was really special to see. It was definitely such a shock and cool experience because I've played shows for years and years, but this was such a different thing –putting together a bigger show of seven artists and for a cause, it was really special.
LUNA: Can you tell us a bit about GIRL NOISE’s mission?
SIMONE: It definitely started from a place of wanting to build a community of women within music. There are so many amazing women making music. There's so much amazing political activation happening right now. How can we make this feel a bit bigger than just one person or one moment? I really wanted it to feel like it wasn't this situation where people only come together when something really urgent is happening. I wanted it to be this longer lasting community. And I think because it started with music, and then obviously with what’s happening politically right now in the country, it happened to make a lot of sense that the two would kind of relate to each other. In my own personal life, I’m a very political person so I combined the two and found a way that I could express my feelings and try to make some sort of difference. There are so many reasons to feel helpless and hopeless right now. I wanted to make something for people to maybe feel a bit more hopeful. It was just really important to me that community came first, and that this was something that people could feel like they were a part of.
Also, there’s the fact that we're starting from the ground up, and that it really is all women behind the scenes and all women on the stage and fully DIY—no big corporate sponsorships, nothing like that. Everyone working on this believes in the cause, and I feel that's really important too; For everyone to have that same drive for community and activism and music. It’s been about finding a way to combine all these things while making it fun and making it girly, and just creating a longer lasting project.
LUNA: How do you balance being both founder/organizer and a performer? What does that look like on a day to day basis?
SIMONE: I think the good thing about it is that all of this is very aligned with my own artist project. Especially the music I’m making right now—from the perspective of womanhood and growing up in this world, but also identity, politics, self discovery—it all aligns with what I’m writing about. This was like a natural extension of that. It all feels tied together. And I love performing, so to have the privilege of being able to take the stage with all these amazing artists feels really special to me. It really doesn’t feel separate at all. It’s just a very natural progression of what I’ve been feeling in my own artistry and creative process.
LUNA: The show’s coming up on March 29, I’m excited! It also aligns with Women’s History Month. What’s something you’re looking forward to this time around?
SIMONE: I’m hoping there’s some growth each time. I’m already kind of seeing that from the response, which has been exciting. I feel so lucky that all the artists said yes, and that we’ve partnered with HeadCount for voter registration. That’s such a dream come true. It’s awesome that they were excited and wanted to be a part of the event, especially during an election year. We’ll have a vintage clothing seller from Brooklyn called Tired Thrift at the event. I’m such a fan of the store, it’s owned by two women and they’re wonderful people. It’s really exciting to be able to support women in different spaces, not just music. And then the biggest part of the show is the benefit. We’re working with The Lower East Side Girls Club, all proceeds from the night will go to them. They’re a non-profit and it’s their 30th anniversary this year. So it just lined up really well, we get to support them this year and highlight such an important cause. It’s a night of community and hope, which are the two things I wanted. It’s going to be fun.
LUNA: That sounds amazing. Any challenges or learnings that have come up along the way?
SIMONE: A lot of this is learning as I go. Because, you know, I talked to people in my life about how I started doing this. And some people were like, “Oh this makes so much sense. We saw this for you, of course you’re doing this.” But I think for me, I didn’t know where this would all go. There’s so much I didn’t expect to be doing, taking on this role as a booking agent, graphic design and press and social media- all of these roles that I’ve dabbled in for my own artist project but never took on in a bigger sense. So all of that has been such a learning experience.
The first show was really just figuring it out as I went. And this time around, I felt a little bit more prepared as far as what I had to do, as far as promotion, booking, etc. It’s exciting to try on different hats and be in different parts of the industry that I maybe wouldn’t have seen if I wasn’t doing something like this. And it’s really nice that people are so supportive.
LUNA: What are some ways people can get involved with your work?
SIMONE: Definitely by coming to the shows. We’re really excited about the response so far. But I think my goal is to make it bigger than just the shows. I want them to be a driving force. But I also want to start doing smaller things here and there, maybe an open mic night or smaller fundraisers, group hangs, etc. I’ve gotten so many nice messages from people volunteering or asking how they can help out. I think I’m definitely going to do an open call after the show to gauge interest. Because of course, I appreciate all the help I can get. Definitely keep an eye out for that because I’ll be sharing that soon! Hopefully we’ll be able to have another show this year too. But yeah, I think as we get bigger, I’ll want the network to grow and build the team too.
LUNA: What does the future of GIRL NOISE look like to you?
SIMONE: I definitely dream big. My guiding light when I started was Lilith Fair, which was an all women touring festival, and three times the amount of artists we have, and just a really big celebration. For me, my goal is to be able to expand this to LA and Nashville, other major music cities. Hopefully in the next 10 years, we’ll be able to tour with this and visit smaller states and cities as well. I’d like to make it a bigger, political initiative; go to states during election years and highlight different candidates, fundraisers, etc. For now, it’s really exciting to build this in New York, because you know, I’m from here. I love it here. There is so much amazing talent. It’s important to have your foundation somewhere and I couldn’t ask for a better city to do that. So yeah, growing is really important, hopefully playing some bigger venues in the future, expanding and being able to tour around the country. That’s the dream.
