By Heidi Hardman-Welsh
When Thalia’s Grace got up on stage at the Kazimier Garden, you couldn’t help but notice how much they adore each other. They tease like sisters, and then, almost without warning, hit you with a wave of sound that’s equal parts delicate and furious. Vulnerable one minute, raging the next, they’re a reminder that an all-women rock band doesn’t have to fit into anyone’s box but their own.
“A lot of people think our name is a Percy Jackson reference,” bassist and supporting vocalist Reese O’Neill, 22, said. “There’s a character called Thalia Grace in those books, and we get loads of comments asking if that’s us. But no… none of us have even read them,” she laughed.
Instead, the band drew inspiration from the Greek Muse Thalia, one of the three Graces. “She represents comedy, music, art, divinity… all the things we want to give people,” Reese explained. “And we want to do it gracefully.”
The turning point for the band came when their debut single ‘If You Think It’s Too Late’ passed 20,000 streams on Spotify. “Numbers aren’t everything, but that felt big,” Reese admitted. “It was the moment I thought, people actually want to hear us.”
So What Do They Sound Like?
“We’re not grunge,” Lauren Louise, lead vocalist and guitarist, 23, said quickly.
“Definitely alternative rock,” Katie Slater, 23, the lead guitarist, added.
Reese laughed: “We’re a mix of soft, melodic, vulnerable music… and then screamy, angry noise.”
“Each track has its own world,” Gracia Baines, the drummer, 23, explained. “We don’t try to force it into a genre; it just becomes what it is.”
Liverpool Roots
The band came together in Liverpool, and they are quick to credit the city’s grassroots venues for their survival. They’ve played at the Jacaranda, Future Yard, the Quarry, Heebie Jeebies, and more.
“Grassroots are everything,” said Gracia. “Without small stages where you can mess up, grow, and meet people, bands like us don’t exist.”
Although three members originally hail from Bradford in Yorkshire, they feel deeply connected to Liverpool. “It’s the city of music,” Reese said. “I grew up seeing huge acts at the arena but also going to tiny gigs at The Cavern Club. Eventually playing there later on felt unreal.”
Lauren agreed: “Even when I’m writing about personal stuff, the city creeps in. Without Liverpool, the songs wouldn’t exist, because the experiences wouldn’t.”
Women in the Rock Scene
Being an all-female rock band gets them noticed, but sometimes in ways that feel limiting. “It’s brilliant to be recognised as women in rock,” Katie said. “But we want to be booked because we fit the lineup musically, not just to tick a diversity box.”
Reese agreed: “We supported a band called Death Crash recently, and it was so refreshing to be there for the music, not our gender. That shouldn’t feel surprising; but it still does.”
Still, they know how much representation matters. “At gigs, women come up to us and say it’s the first time they’ve seen women playing heavy music together,” Lauren said. “If someone looks at us and thinks, ‘I could do that too’, that’s worth everything.”
Writing with Honesty
Most songs start with Katie or Lauren, before being fleshed out by the whole band. Their writing is both personal and instinctive. “I’ll write a line, and three weeks later realise what it’s really about,” Lauren laughed. “The songs know before we do.”
Each release comes with its own aesthetic world. Moody, watery visuals for ‘If You Think It’s Too Late’; bright, natural imagery for ‘Comfort’. But they resist locking into one brand.
Gracia said: “We’ve done the dark feminine thing, the Greek imagery… but right now, we want the music to lead.”
Even on heavy nights, they let their personalities shine. “We smile at each other, we laugh,” Reese said. “We want to be endearing. You can see how much we care about each other on stage.”
What’s Next?
Looking ahead, the band hopes to release an EP, write more songs, and hopefully perform in Manchester or Leeds in the future. But they’re realistic too: “Funding an EP is hard,” Katie said. “That’s our biggest challenge, just being able to afford it.”
But they stay optimistic: “We’re always evolving,” Lauren said. “If people hear us and think, that sounds like Thalia’s Grace, then we’re doing it right.”
Listen to Thalia’s Grace on Spotify:
Heidi Hardman-Welsh 