Q&A with Jessica Hopper, author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking

Who didn’t want to be a rock star high school? For girls like Jessica Hopper, rock camp didn’t exist—only this “secret boys club” of dudes who seemed to know everything about playing guitar or drums. Hopper, a Chicago-based music critic and former rock musician who started dreaming of rock-and-roll stardom in the ‘80s, wants to change that. Her new book, The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, is filled with countless tips, advice and guidance to give aspiring rocker girls confidence and chops. GRGR’s ROCK HOTSHEET Editor in Chief Marisa Torrieri chatted with the author, whose book hits store shelves June 4th. 

MT: What inspired you to write this book? 

JH: When I was about 15 or 16, I wished for something like this. It was a book that I always wanted to write. When I was younger—this seems to be the case for a lot of women I know—they didn’t feel like they had permission to be in a band. I grew up going to shows in Minneapolis, but it didn’t occur to me to start a band until I saw women playing. I saw Babes in Toyland play and four days later I had a guitar. That was an ‘aha’ moment. Also, when I was younger, I always felt that there was this secret world of rock and roll that boys knew, and many of the boys I played with had this idea that there was this one right way of doing everything. As I got older, I got more experience playing in bands and realized that wasn’t true at all. This book is all the secrets, all the information and all the encouragement a girl needs to start playing.

MT: Why did you decide to do a book like this for girls rather than boys AND girls? 

JH: I wanted something specifically for girls. It’s not that boys don’t need the book, but I think a lot of girls, we grow up, thinking that rock-and-roll is the property of men. My goal is to be that extra encouragement, to be more than a fan and to give girls the idea that rock belongs to them as much as any boy. 

MT: Do you think girls get a lot of those messages [that rock is for boys], even today?

JH: When I was growing up the boys that I knew were socialized in a way where sitting in their room for 5 or 6 hours playing guitar everyday was totally OK. Girls were socialized differently; we were encouraged to be more ‘social,’ to do things like babysitting, or something that wasn’t so introverted after school. Also, girls tended to play more things like a violin or a chamber instrument. Now, Fender has Hello Kitty guitars after seeing that Daisy Rock does six million a year. Rock camps are springing up everywhere. It’s much more of an accepted idea that girls start rock bands.

MT: What are some of the main things you wish you knew when you were starting out? 

JH: The main thing in the book that I try to instill is that ‘you have permission to do this’ and ‘there is no one right way.’ When I started out, I felt that there really was only one right way, and I didn’t know that right way. When I got a little older, started playing with different people, I found that the weird way I played gave the bands I was in a distinct style. I wish I’d know how fun going on tour was, I would have started that a lot sooner.

MT: What do you think about some of the books about rock touring by guys like [former Black Flag singer] Henry Rollins?

JH: A lot of people who have been compiling these histories are men, so they only see it through their eyes. Keith Morris and Henry Rollins didn’t mean shit to me. I’m looking forward to when a generation of women start putting out their accounts of it all.

Buy a copy of Jessica’s book, The Girls Guide to Rocking, visit http://girlsguidetorocking.com/