Have you been watching the BBC series, Riot Women? For anyone in Leicester who is watching, the story might seem quite familiar.
Leicester’s Riotous Collective is now looking to get even more women involved with a series of taster sessions and also an upcoming 9 week course, which is beginning in the new year.
We caught up with them to find out more about it all.
First of all, if anyone isn’t familiar, tell us about the Riotous Collective and how it started?
Riotous Collective started off with Ruth Miller who decided to start an all women band called The Verinos. She decided it would get wonderful to women who never had a chance earlier in life to have the opportunities to be in a band. She started Unglamorous and ’66 Days to your Debut’ She ran 3 sessions of this from 2022 – 2023. Sadly she died from cancer in October 2023. At the end of 2024 – having had a very upsetting year, the women from Unglamorous rebranded as Riotous Collective. We ran our own version – ’66 Days to the Stage’ in January 2025. The fuller story to this is available at https://www.riotouscollective.uk/about/
What has been your favourite thing about being involved?
Being part of Riotous Collective has so many wonderful experiences; having an outlet to be creative and speak your truth and having a close knit comradery of like minded women is really very special.
You received a lot of media attention recently due to the Riot Women series on BBC. Do you see the huge similarities between the two?
You could say that the band in Riot Women are doing what Ruth and The Verinos did in real life. Unglamorous and now Riotous Collective is a community of bands/ volunteers looking to find other women to have the same experiences and opportunities that we had.
Tell us about the 66 Days to Stage project?
It’s a 9 week course, starting on the 1st Sunday in January and then every Sunday 2pm after. During this time women will get to try out a range of instruments, choose the one they want to play, get into a band, write some songs and then perform onstage on 8th March – International Women’s Day at Firebug. It sounds daunting, but all the members of Riotous Collective has gone through this process so we know how it feels! You can find more about the workshops here – https://www.riotouscollective.uk/workshops/
Who are the taster sessions aimed at?
The Taster Session is a very mini ’66 Days to the Stage’ – it’s for anyone who wants to try it out and see if its for them. 9 weeks is a big commitment and hopefully once the project is complete, they will want to start their new life in a band, writing and performing with the rest of us. The taster session is an easy way to see if this is what they want.
Tell us in 5 words why someone should come and have a go?
Friendship, Music, Creativity, Joy, Expression
How can people find out more?
https://www.riotouscollective.uk/
Upcoming taster sessions will be held on Sunday 23 November and Sunday 7 December (1pm – 4pm) at Stayfree Studios. The 66 Days to Stage project will launch in January. You can sign up for these via the Riotous Collective website.
