Who wears the trousers?

Wears The Trousers is an online (and occasionally in print) magazine that’s aimed squarely at giving the male-dominated music industry a necessary swab of its hairy ears and a kick in the seat of its pants. Why? Because the UK needs a magazine that answers back to the sexism, casual indifference and sometimes outright hostility afforded to female artists. We’ve been around since 2005 and, while on the surface it looks like a lot has changed for women in the music industry, very little has. We believe it’s completely unacceptable to judge women artists on anything other than their musical merits. We also believe it’s ineffably boring to go on and on about the same elite cadre of old/dead male songwriters that have been elevated to godlike status (often at the expense of equally or more talented women) by the mainstream music press.

Contacts

EDITOR – Alan Pedder
editor@wearsthetrousers.com

DEPUTY EDITOR – Charlotte Richardson Andrews
charlotte@wearsthetrousers.com

NEW MUSIC EDITOR – Odhran O’Donoghue
REVIEWS EDITOR – Sai Ragunath
LIVE EDITOR – Wunmi Onibudo

ASSOCIATE EDITOR – Rhian Jones
PRODUCTION EDITOR – Clare Byrne

Our address

Wears The Trousers magazine
11b Hillfield Park
Muswell Hill
London N10 3QT
United Kingdom

A Wears The Trousers timeline

July 2005: Launched to a chorus of oohs, at lasts, bravos and aahs.

December 2005: Our readers voted Kate Bush’s Aerial as their album of the year.

February 2006: Chosen by the British Library to be one of the first 150 websites to be digitally preserved for all time as part of historical Women’s Issues collection, in conjunction with the Women’s Library and the UK Web Archiving Consortium. You can see every version of our website here.

December 2006: Our readers voted Joanna Newsom’s Ys as their album of the year.

December 2007: Ongoing website problems result in short hiatus. Long-serving Deputy Editor Trevor Raggatt went on to write for R2 magazine (formerly Rock N Reel).

May 2008: Moved site to WordPress. Started publishing again.

August 2008: Charlotte Richardson Andrews joins as Deputy Editor.

December 2008: Laura Marling’s Alas I Cannot Swim voted by our readers as album of the year.

May 2009: Published a trial print edition and scattered it all over the great city of London. Everybody loved it. Get one of our few remaining copies here.

November 2009: Released our first CD under the banner of Wears The Trousers Records: Beautiful Star: The Songs Of Odetta is a tribute album to the late, great folk singer and Civil Rights campaigner featuring covers of traditional folk classics from her vast repertoire by the likes of Anaïs Mitchell, Ane Brun, Marissa Nadler and more. All profits went to women’s charities. Get a copy here. Watch our homemade video for Linda Draper’s version of ‘Sail Away Ladies’ here.

December 2009: Published our list of the 100 best albums of the decade, by or prominently featuring women. Joanna Newsom’s Ys emerged victorious. Our readers voted Bat For Lashes’ Two Suns as their album of the year.

March 2010: Website given a much-needed makeover.

July 2010: Celebrated our fifth birthday!

November 2010: Published a handmade zine in honour of the tenth anniversary of Ladyfest. Download a copy, or order a print one, here.

December 2010: Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown announced as our album of the year. Glasser’s ‘Apply’ was song of the year.

January 2011: We joined the judging panel for the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition.

May 2011: Rhian Jones joins as Associate Editor and Odhran O’Donoghue as News Editor.

September 2011: Our readers vote Emmy The Great as the winner of the 2011 Venus Prize for her second album, Virtue.

December 2011: Published a 2011 yearbook in print. tUnE-yArDs’ W H O K I L L was named album of the year, with song of the year going to Wild Flag’s ‘Romance’.

February 2012: Chaired a discussion panel at the Roundhouse Rising festival in London with guest speakers Viv Albertine, Jen Long (Radio 1), Annette Lee (4AD), Lucy Jones (Eat Your Own Ears) and Ruth Daniel (Unconvention)

May 2012: Invited to participate in a discussion panel about the future of the music magazine alongside Sean Adams (Drowned In Sound) and Michael Lewin (Notion Magazine).

May 2012: Announced summer hiatus.

November 2012: RELAUNCHED WEBSITE