First Timers is a yearly series of workshops in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, culminating in a two-day festival that encourages "new faces and voices in bands", in order to "do something about the lack of diversity in the music community".

Background

The festival was founded by Bryony Beynon of

Good Throb Good Throb was a feminist punk band from London. History Good Throb was active between 2010 and 2016. They consisted of KY Ellie (Ellie Roberts) on vocals, BB Thing (Bryony Beynon) on guitar, Ash Tray (Ashleigh Holland) on bass and L-Hard (Lo ...

, inspired by similar events in North America, with the first events happening in 2013. To take part, one or more band members have never been in a band before or one or more members has never performed that role in a band before, and one or more band members has to belong to a group marginalised in society. This includes being

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physica ...

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

LGBTQIA+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group is ...

, a

person of colour The term "person of color" (: people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is associated with, the United States. From th ...

, or a

woman A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or Adolescence, adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functi ...

. Bands that emerged from the festival include

Big Joanie Big Joanie is a British punk band formed in London in 2013. Its members are Stephanie Phillips (guitar and vocals) and Estella Adeyeri (bass guitar and vocals). Founding drummer Chardine Taylor-Stone left the band in 2023. After a few singles an ...

, Whitelands,

Charmpit Charmpit was a British punk band formed in London in 2016. Its members were Anne Marie Sanguigni (bass and vocals), Rhianydd York Williams (guitar and vocals), Alex Iossifidis (drums), and Estella Adeyeri (guitar). They released one album on Sp ...

, Breakup Haircut, Primetime, Scrap Brain, Slags and Panic Pocket. Speaking with

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

in 2019, an organiser with the festival reported that nearly 90 bands had formed to play the festival up to that point. Beynon also organised an iteration of the festival in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on 14 July 2018.

References

Music festivals in London 2013 establishments in England Punk rock festivals Music festivals established in 2013 Underground punk scene in the United Kingdom Counterculture festivals {{coord missing, London