Camp Cope is an all-female Australian indie rock trio. “The Opener” is the opening track from their upcoming sophomore album How To Socialize & Make Friends (slated to be released March 2).
The tune is a scathing response to lack of representation and tokenism within the music industry (“Yeah, just get a female opener, that’ll fill the quota.”) In an interview with LNWY Magazine, lead singer Georgia Maq made the following statement about the lyrical intent: “‘The Opener’ is our big diss song. Literally the whole end is just quotes of what men have told us. On our first album tour we were like ‘Oh, let’s book Newtown Social in Sydney’, and this man, who will remain unnamed was like, ‘Oh nah, you should do Black Wire [Records]. You don’t want to have a half empty room, then Black Wire sold out in 20 minutes.” After selling out the Sydney Opera House and other venues that were supposedly too big for them, the defiant trio proved the critics wrong.
Even though the tune is specifically dealing with issues of being an all female trio within the music industry, the song also takes on a wider scope. There is a number of industries where women are fighting for equal representation and battling for equal pay for equal work. Camp Cope are playing their part in overthrowing the patriarchy.