taken from: Spinner
Being a frontwoman for a rock band can be both a blessing and a curse, according to Maja Ivarsson of Swedish rockers the Sounds. “It’s hard sometimes,” she tells Spinner. “You need to be twice as good to be appreciated. But I get a lot more attention from being a girl in a band.”
One of the worst parts, Ivarsson says, is a violating experience shared by many female concertgoers. “I get sick of when I go into the crowd and people think they can grab you in places you don’t want to be grabbed,” she says. “But most of the time people are very cool and it doesn’t happen. I appreciate that.” Rather than let one terrible fan ruin the concert for everyone, Ivarsson shrugs it off. “I just forget it and continue doing the show. But yeah, it hurts my feelings. I hate that they take advantage of you because they think they can.”
When asked if she has a message to these abusive concertgoers, she laughs and bluntly says, “Don’t touch my p—-, guys. It’s not cool.”
There’s another thing that irks Ivarsson: the press attention around her bisexuality. “It gets old,” she says. “Now, we’ve been talking mostly about the music and that’s what I want to talk about most of the time. If it takes too much focus away from the music, then it gets tiring and boring. But that’s who I am and I’m not ashamed of it. I can’t be.”
Meanwhile, the Sounds are currently opening for the reunited No Doubt, along with pop punks Paramore. “It’s the coolest thing ever,” Ivarsson says of the tour. “We’re honored to be a part of it I think there was a purpose why Gwen chose two opening acts with female vocalists, but I’m not going to put any words in her mouth. There aren’t many women in this business anyway, so it’s cool when we can get together and you can pay it forward like that.”