Party like a housewife with The Ironing Maidens - Blank GC Interview

BY SAMANTHA MORRIS  ART & CULTURE, MUSIC, NEWS 11/02/2020

Full of references to dirty dishes, laundry, home-makers and bread-winners, The Ironing Maiden’s new track takes pride of place in this week’s high rotation playlist.

‘Party Like a Housewife’ is an anthemic banger for disaffected women burdened by domestic drudgery. Fusing electro beats, with poignant and tongue-in-cheek (maybe, I mean feminism is serious stuff) lyrics, the brand new single sees the North Queensland pair bring flair and colour to household chores. And let’s face it, we all need a break when it comes to getting it all done.

The track unashamedly combines pressed house beats with old school electro trash. But, throw in samples from 1950’s ads, as well as the musical irons and all of your other favourite white goods and ‘Party Like A Housewife’, like most of the band’s work, redefines our ideas around housework.

When it comes to work in the home, it’s time for everyone to do their fair share – Singer and songwriter, Melania Jack.

“We want to celebrate the work,” she said. “And invite the guys to the party.”

This desire is amplified in ‘Party Like a Housewife’ with one of my favourite lyrics being “the dishes are done, they were done yesterday… you just gotta put ’em away, boy.”

The Ironing Maiden’s signature musical construction is through activating inanimate objects to embody and operate music functionality. That’s what their bio says. What that means in practice is that they’re actually making music out of things like irons and ironing boards. You have to see this to believe it.

2020 is shaping up to be a cracker for the Ironing Maidens. On the back of this single release, they’re launching ‘The Soap Opera’ at the Adelaide Caberet Festival, which runs 18 – 29 February. The show is an experimental electro explosion of instruments and it promises to be unique. The new work draws inspiration from the life of electronic music pioneer Daphne Oram. While the housewives of the 1950s were struggling with newfangled washing machines and vacuum cleaners, Daphne was busy building and immersing herself in her own world of invention.

Listen to ‘Party like a Housewife’ via Spotify and if you’re lucky enough to be in Adelaide for the Fringe Festival, you can grab tickets to ‘The Soap Opera’ via The Adelaide Fringe Festival website.

This is the time to iron out the wrinkles in the krinkly old patriarchy! #domesticspherelastfrontier