[music playing] Hi I’m Natalie.

My name is Nnenna.

Hi, I’m Megan.

Hi I’m Elle.

Hi, everyone.

I’m Aisha.

I’m Savage.

Nichole Savage.

Whatever you want to call me.

Uh, she, her, hers.

I’m here because I feel like my life is kind of a wreck, and I and I just need, like, an outlet.

Hi, y’all.

My name is Gracen.

I use they/them pronouns.

I like scary hobbies.

I’ve never really aside from a year when I was nine, touched an instrument.

And I have a little bit of stage fright.

But if I can do other things, I can do this.

Yeah you can!

So my goals going into this camp, were definitely to do a scary thing.

In front of you is your snare drum.

That’s the drum you’re going to keep the beat on the most.

One, two, three, four.

[drumming] Band A. We have Gracen on drums.

Malika on guitar.

Mandy on vox.

Meghan Lewis on keys.

Savage on bass.

[cheering] Is there anything we really want to include?

Uh, call and response.

Uh, uh, yelling.

Uh.

You know, I like having those kind of things, too.

Like getting the crowd involved.

Yeah.

That first band practice was a little all over the place, and I think an expected way.

We were all kind of showing off our instruments by what we learned and kind of getting a sense of what generally what we want to do.

But we also kind of went full speed ahead and didn’t have full alignment.

Drums are sort of foundational to a song.

I am the backing that the others need to be able to rely on.

I feel inconsistent.

I want to be consistent.

I want to deliver for my bandmates.

[tuning bass] That’s the main problem.

Yesterday we started the songwriting process, and I feel like we were all so nervous.

When we all separated, we all individually kind of reflected on like, this isn’t what we set out to do.

And so it was really cool because we were really worried that, like, we might step on some toes being like, hey, what if we just, like, started all the way over?

But everyone was like, yeah, let’s start over.

Noel writes super wicked fast.

Can you just remind me of what we’re doing?

We’re generating song topics, I think.

So maybe like, word, you know, word brainstorm, what you want and then, I’m feeling silly.

- Silly?

- Silly.

Goofy.

I would say that today’s song definitely hits the beat of silly.

Also hits the beat of fun and high tempo, which are things that we said we wanted yesterday and then somehow didn’t land on.

Well, we’re just doing literally anything?

Yeah.

Just what vibes.

Werewolf girlfriend.

Yes!

The stakes are so high.

But the silliness is also just so high.

Like, we know it’s so important, but we’re still going to write songs about, like, potatoes, you know, or our song Dance Party in Hell, like, it’s about balancing kind of the seriousness of like, holy shit, the world is so bad.

And girls are constantly broken down.

Here’s how we can give them a place.

Here’s how we can give them a voice.

And they can kind of like pull their autonomy back from wherever it went.

I learned things that I’m excited to do, but I flub and then I get nervous because it’s a little nerve wracking to do that in front of just my bandmates and wanting to, like, be a full contributor and all that.

Gracen seems like someone who’s a lot more withdrawn, but what’s great is like today they’re like, "do you mind if I take the lead on this?"

Like, seeing that makes me so amped.

It makes me want to just, like, scream in their face, like, yes, of course.

Take the lead.

Also, just like Gracen’s soul is beautiful.

Just a caring, loving person.

And I’m so thankful that we get to be in a band together.

It’s really fun watching them, like, kind of just gain that confidence that I feel like this gave me years ago.

and to And to see it in someone else while I’m also still gaining it like it’s wildly satisfying.

I feel like I’m watching someone’s life change in a way that I have experienced.

We need a change because we noticed that an issue in dress.

Honestly, I think having a problem to solve is maybe helping me because then I can focus up on it instead of thinking about, uh, which of my friends are here and all the people who are going to see me and all of that.

It’s been like a really, really quick turnaround to like, learning basics and having vocab and being able to like, do things that I had never done before.

And tonight I’m going to be doing that in front of all the people I invited and all the other people that my friends, the other campers invited.

I would say the summary is nervous.

Coming up to the stage is Witch Please!

Witch Please!

The hard part of this the letting go of perfectionism and the going up and being seen to fail.

As long as I remember that that is like the goal.

The intent is actually to be like surviving in a situation where I witnessed failing.

We are Witch Please.

Going up and not nailing it actually is better for my growth, and I can just kind of focus on that and let a little bit of the fear recede.

I’m practicing my pep talk for when I get off the stage.

If I mess up, really is what I’m saying.

[song starts] ♪ Dance party, dance party, party in hell.

♪ ♪ We didn’t choose the venue, but hey might as well!

♪ ♪ Dance party, dance party, party in hell.

♪ ♪ We didn’t choose the venue, but hey might as well!

♪ There were flubs, yeah.

But the piece that I was worried about that I asked us to include, that I dropped in at last minute, like, went off without a hitch.

Thank you.

Thank you.

[cheering] I felt great.

I feel great.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I want to do that again.

So the thing about We Rock that I think is really important is that it gives an opportunity to kind of find our childhood selves, and it gives you an opportunity to be like, hey, it doesn’t matter that you’re a grown up.

You can yell into the microphone.

You can learn bass poorly when like, that’s okay as an adult.

♪ We are Girls Rock DC and we’re ready to rock!

♪ ♪ We are Girls Rock DC and the beats gonna drop!

♪ ♪ We are Girls Rock DC and we’re not gonna stop!

♪ ♪ Whoa.

Oh.

♪ I have worked hard to show up in the world the way that I would like to.

Even if it is not always on stage or dancing in a little dance circle.

I feel like I contributed and am a part of something in a way that I was hoping to.

And yeah, I had a great time.

Thank you everyone for coming out tonight.

Yeah!

♪ Dance party, dance party, party in hell.

♪ ♪ We didn’t choose the venue, but hey might as well!

♪ ♪ Dance party, dance party, party in hell.

♪ ♪ We didn’t choose the venue, but hey might as well!

♪