Community and Music Come Together at Ladies Rock MKE This Spring

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Finding community through music is something that Amy Upthagrove has become very familiar with. Their journey through the punk-rock scene led them to Girls Rock MKE, a program dedicated to getting women and gender-expansive people of all ages involved with the creative process, and ready to rock out. As Program Director, Upthagrove gets to pass along the lessons they’ve learned from working in music, on the power and importance of having the courage to make noise. This year’s Ladies Rock MKE promises a weekend full of learning, engagement, energy, and fun. 

This year’s Ladies Rock MKE runs from April 4-7. The weekend starts with a kick-off party on April 4 at Sugar Maple in Bay View, 441 E. Lincoln Ave. April 5 and 6 will feature the main programming at Mount Mary University, 2900 N. Menomonee River Pkwy. The final showcase will take place on April 7 at Company Brewing in Riverwest, 735 E. Center St. Registration for event participation and volunteering is open. For more information, visit https://girlsrockmke.org/ladies-rock.

Through their years in the Milwaukee music scene, Upthagrove knows all too well the power of collaborative music. The exploration of a genre called “riot grrrl” led them to learn of an international organization that encouraged women to get involved with music in any way. “I wondered if there was anything like that in Wisconsin. And sure enough, there’s a very active Girls Rock organization in Milwaukee. I signed up, I volunteered, and I was a camp counselor and audio engineer,” says Upthagrove. “This will be my first year as the program director, I’ve been in a lot of different roles over the past nine years.”

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Ladies Rock MKE is a program for adults to have a chance to create something exciting. “Ladies Rock is a long weekend program for adults who are looking to find empowerment and creative collaboration. Basically, campers choose any instrument they want to play, they pick their band, and over the weekend they get instrument instruction, band practice, and a bunch of different workshops, both music skills based and values based,” says Upthagrove. “At the end of the weekend, all of the bands perform an original song that they wrote together at our showcase.”

Supported and Celebrated

Girls Rock MKE works to cultivate spaces where people of all identities feel supported and celebrated. “It’s been really awesome. The Girls Rock MKE community is super tight and really supportive. We’re a very empowering organization, not just for campers, but also for the people involved,” says Upthagrove. “It’s been a really cool collaborative effort with our volunteers. Really good positive vibes and a really good community to be a part of.” 

As a musician, Upthagrove has been a part of many different projects. The latest, an indie-rock band called Breakup Tour, features Upthagrove on bass and shared vocals. “When I started in Milwaukee, I formed a hardcore riot girl punk band with two other Girls Rock volunteers. It was a really good introduction to the punk scene in Milwaukee,” says Upthagrove. “Milwaukee is an incredible place for DIY music in general. It’s a very exciting scene to be a part of.” 

Inclusivity, and excitement over music, is the end goal of the Girls Rock MKE mission. Programs like Ladies Rock help encourage pride coming from the joy of creation, and all are welcomed to get involved and understand what makes musicianship so important. 

“I’m most excited to get to experience the creative process our campers go through. It’s such a cool thing to watch people come in on the first day and over the course of the program, all these creative minds come together and come out of their shells to create something awesome that they get to share,” says Upthagrove. “I hope that my legacy will be that I have been able to empower other musicians in my community in the same way other musicians have empowered me. The people that I’ve worked with have been very welcoming and inclusive, and I hope that I can pass that along to the next generation.”

To learn more about Breakup Tour, visit @breakuptour_mke on Instagram. You can also find them on Spotify.