Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell thinks there’s been a recent increase in young female guitarists.
The 26-year-old musician believes there’s been a shift in attitudes towards girls in the music industry which has led to an more female fans telling her the band inspired them to pick up the instrument.
In an interview with the Times, she said: "I have noticed lots more girls are coming up to me and saying, ‘Hey, I started the guitar!"
When asked what the reason for this was, she explained: "Well, I never had that attitude of ‘I’m going to do this because it looks like I can’t’, which is happening much more among young girls at the moment.
"It’s to do with #MeToo. People are considering all the things they never considered before."
Despite the band’s clear impact on their fans, the group – comprised of Ellie, Joff Oddie, Joel Amey and Theo Ellis – felt "guilty" about winning this year’s Mercury Prize.
The ‘Beautifully Unconventional’ hitmakers were awarded the prestigious accolade for their second LP, ‘Visions of a Life’, in September and though they were "proud" to be recognised, they were quickly "deflated" following a backlash that accused the panel of making a "safe" choice.
Ellie admitted: "It’s hard. Because winning was great — we celebrated. I felt proud. Then you read all these things and you deflate. I felt guilty. ‘I’m sorry I won this, please give it to someone else.’ And I don’t want to do that."
Joff previously recalled: "People were angry. They thought we were the safe option."
Ellie – who was on the 2016 judging panel – said: "But the safe option is always the left-field choice, because nobody can be angry. They go, ‘Oh, it’s nice to give them a boost!’ "
Ellie Rowsell sees an increase in young female guitarists
