As a female songwriter and Gen Z riot grrrl, I’m always looking to other musicians for inspiration, especially other female-fronted bands and artists. We just got back from playing in Los Angeles, and driving around LA and flying back to New York, I found some favorites on repeat.
I love the energy of 1990s music, and “Volcano Girls” by ’90s Chicago alt rockers Veruca Salt has a spunk to it that just hits me in the face unapologetically, giving permission to really feel and embrace my angst. It’s also in the superbly unhinged 1999 movie Jawbreaker. California band the Aqua Dolls do an amazing pop-punk cover of Australian band Lash’s “Take Me Away,” which has a killer riff that makes me feel empowered and alive. The song is my kind of perfect raw emotion, and the subject matter is right up my alley—perceptions of the female image and society’s many unfair standards.
“Here and Now” by Boston’s Letters to Cleo has lyrics that move so fast that when I hear it I don’t have time to think about the past, and that gives me wonderful moments of freedom. Bully are a modern band, but are ’90s-influenced, for sure. Their song “Days Move Slow,” which was released on Sub Pop Records, feels like it takes me back to a time before I lived; nostalgic but also familiar. This one is a good song to make me think about everything in my life, reflect, and then look forward.
Roxy Bolle is the lead singer of Woodstock punk band Mona Freaka; the group also includes drummer Shea DeLisio, bassist Jill Sofro, and guitarist Gemma Holstein. Pucker & Pout, Mona Freaka’s debut EP, is out now.
This article appears in May 2026.
