By AMANDA KRAUSE
As students spill in and out of Ramapo’s Linden Coffee House for the bi-weekly Ramapo Music Club Open Mic Night, indie rock band, Third Floor, sit in the vestibule. The band members squeeze onto a small, beat up couch once meant probably for two people, but after years of student use is looking more like a single chair.
Guitarist Zachary Manno takes the far right, amiably smiling or nodding to his friends that pass by, waving to just about every musician that strolls into Open Mic. Drummer Zach Stavros sits relaxed in the middle. The quietest of the group, Stavros reads serious, but is more casually cool. Singer Jenn O’Hagen sits on the left, shushing her bandmates, who are having a little too much fun making fun of her outfit.
But it’s not the brotherly mocking of her bandmates that makes O’Hagen finally freak out.
“Oh my god. Is that a puppy?” exclaims O’Hagen before jumping off the couch to chase after a student carrying a small, sleepy pug. Before her bandmates can respond, the singer is heading up the elevator with her newfound canine friend and owner.
“I’m sorry, but I swear I love puppies more than people,” explains O’Hagen as she returns from her trip upstairs. “I don’t even know [the owner], but I was like ‘I’m Jen, by the way. I hope you don’t find me creepy!”
The animated, fun personalities that make up Third Floor came together during their freshman year at Ramapo College after they literally met on the third floor of their residence hall. The trio has been together ever since, spending the past few months performing at on-campus concerts, opening a large show for headlining band AJR, and even releasing their first album, Messages(1).
VIDEO: Third Floor featured on Tune In, a collaborative project between Ramapo Music Club, WRPR-FM, and Ramapo College Television to better expose the musicians at Ramapo College of New Jersey.
But despite Third Floor’s numerous accomplishments and their rapidly growing popularity on campus, the inclusion of a female lead singer seems to be one of the most unique aspects of their band.
Female student performers are frequent at Open Mic nights; many of the Ramapo Chorale and Concert Band are comprised of female musicians. Just as many, if not more, women attend music-related events on campus, such as the award ceremony The Rammy’s. But the representation of female musicians in the Rammy’s compared to the actual number of female musicians on campus is minimal.
Out of 58 “Rammy” nominations, less than 20 nominated student performers or groups were women. And while the Rammy’s coincide with the final Open Mic Night of the semester giving female musicians a chance to perform, not a single group out of six featured performers for the event includes a female performer.
“Females aren’t represented enough in rock music specifically,” says Manno. “Then you take a Ramapo event; for example we have the Rammy’s coming up. There’s not a single female performer thats going to be there. So in terms of our group, it’s thanks to Jenn that we have that representation.”
“If there’s any effect [on our band], I think having a female in our group is an asset,” adds Manno. “It’s something that makes us stronger as a band.”
But not every musical group featuring a female member as Third Floor does can say that having a girl in the group is easy. Search “Misery Business” by rock group Paramore on Youtube and you’ll find a music video of over 110 million views. Scroll down a little farther and immediately troll-like comments such as “the lead singer’s bottom row of teeth are in misery,” and “she looks like she hasn’t brushed her hair in weeks…” attack vocalist Hayley Williams, completely ignoring her performance in the video and diminishing the music she created.
Social media does, in some ways, provide a platform for musicians such as Paramore to defend themselves against this blatant sexism, but the accessibility of anonymous comment sections and the common grounds they lay for hate comments can overpower any positive messages.
Last November, pop artist Sky Ferreira took to Instagram to fight back against online sexist comments. When critics fought back stating that hate comments come with the territory of being a celebrity, Ferreira argued, this time on her Twitter page, stating that females “shouldn’t have to be “okay” with it & should be able to remind people to respect them without it being deemed as complaining.”
Absence of Sexism in Local Band
And this is where Third Floor lucks out. As a band still in its early stages that performs mostly on campus to familiar faces, Third Floor never has to worry about receiving comments such as the ones found under Paramore’s music videos. The sexism faced and online hate comments received by Third Floor is reduced tremendously by their lack of a large, online following.
“Having a girl in our band isn’t very different [from an all male band],” says Stavros. “We’re not a famous band or have any online social media coverage. We don’t have that much of an online following, so there’s not any effects of sexism or anything like that from fans and we absolutely don’t treat her any different than [Zach] and I treat each other.”
As the singer steps away to speak to a roommate, Manno impressively jumps over the arm of the blue couch, landing in the spot O’Hagen left. Manno begins imitating O’Hagen by speaking of music industry-related sexism in a high pitched voice, but is interrupted by a contemplating Stavros.
VIDEO: Members of Third Floor discuss sexism in the music industry.
“This story is important. Spreading the word of [music industry sexism] starts small. It starts here,” says Stavros.
“Yeah, this interview ended sexism! We did it!” Manno continues to joke.
Jokes aside, O’Hagan’s bandmates are clearly supportive. And though their appreciation is welcomed and appreciated, O’Hagen is just fine on her own. The singer speaks with a quiet tone of voice, but her laugh is loud, and her words are spiked with a confidence as bold as her short, orange hair.
O’Hagen’s confidence in herself is most likely the result of her spending four years at an all girls high school.
“I went to Academy of Holy Angels in Demarest, and my sister and I joke that it breeds feminists,” laughs O’Hagen. “They’re very big on nurturing the sense that a woman can do whatever she wants. You can do anything you put your mind to, and it’s a whole environment filled with incredibly intelligent women who are not afraid to speak their minds.”
Despite her confidence, O’Hagen is not completely immune to the pressures of society to fit stereotypical ideas of how a female musician should look, sound, or act.
“When I pick out an outfit for a performance, I don’t want to perpetuate that idea that women have to dress half naked onstage,” explains O’Hagen. “But sometimes there’s an outfit I want to wear thats a little revealing, but its not for anyone else. I wear it because I feel good. Onstage, I want to have a presence and I feel like I constantly have to think about what I’m doing more [than the guys have to.]”
The two Zach’s of Third Floor see their female lead as a positive, crucial aspect of their band, sound, and image. The difference in gender between singer and instrumentalists is almost entirely irrelevant. But Stavros and Manno aren’t the only male musicians O’Hagen works with, and not everyone is as supportive as they are.
“It’s not like people have overtly made me feel bad because I’m a woman, but especially taking some of the [music] production classes at Ramapo, there have been times where I’m literally the only female in the class,” says O’Hagen. “As a woman, people don’t typically think you know what you’re talking about as much, and that’s always bothered me.
“I’ve always been an intelligent person, I’ve always done well in school or what I apply myself to, and it just kind of sucks to have people think that you’re less worthy because you’re a female,” she adds. “Sometimes [being the only girl in class] is cool, but at the same time it does feel like there’s a bit of a barrier for how I can creatively express myself.”
Creative expression is a key element to creating music. Without it, the world may have never seen the likes of the late David Bowie or Prince. Most recently, major music industry executives and United States judges have taken a unique stand on not only how artists can express creative freedom, but whether or not they truly have this freedom at all.
Back in 2014, pop star Ke$ha sued her producer, the famous Sony executive Dr. Luke, after claiming years of sexual assault. After months of trials and questionings, a New York State judge rejected Kesha’s claims, forcing her to remain in contract with Dr. Luke, according to the New York Times.
Female celebrities and everyday women alike immediately took to social media. Recording artist Adele posted the #FreeKesha hashtag on her twitter page, and popstar Taylor Swift donated $250,000 to Kesha to help pay her legal fees. Still, Kesha lost the case and her claims continue to be challenged by the public.
“It’s easy to struggle as a woman to find your self worth, so to go through experiences like [Kesha’s], to have someone literally push aside a situation where you’ve been violated, its disgusting.” says O’Hagen. “It was great how everyone rallied around her and she got a lot of female support. Still, you can have a million women band together, but unless theres a man there, it doesn’t mean anything.”
The lack of male support and the media’s failure to showcase any existing support from major male icons may have had a profound effect on the public’s opinion of Kesha’s claims, if not on her actual case.
“I don’t think I’ve seen any male stand or advocate for [Kesha] and I think men are key to advocating equal rights for women,” says Stavros. “Men have to do more.”
“Right now, [men] have all of the representation in the music industry. It’s such a male dominated business,” Manno says.
A study conducted by the Creative and Cultural Skills group found that 67.8 percent of music industry jobs are held by males. Even more shocking is a study done by PRS for Music, which states that despite songwriting and producing being the most common job for females in the industry, only 13 percent of songwriting and producing positions are held by women.
This is where O’Hagen plans to take matters into her own hands. Returning to her high school this summer, O’Hagen will teach two summer courses during their Summer Fair camp for fifth to eighth grade female students, both of which focus on women in the music industry.
“It started with me just wanting money, but then I thought, ‘What can I teach? What am I passionate about? What could I possibly bring to the table?” says O’Hagen. “I’m teaching one course that incorporates performance, and one that’s more historical, but they’re all about women in the music industry.
“I want to use [the courses] as a platform to speak to these younger girls that think they may need to use their bodies to gain attention in the music industry,” adds O’Hagen. “I want to point out that there are actually people that don’t do that. I want to talk about all the different ways women can be successful in the industry, and how they can be more than just a pretty face.”
I like how you show the story instead of just relaying what the band said when you interviewed them. It’s very detailed and provides a lot of background for the bigger issue you talk about. I didn’t know about Third Floor until reading your article. I also wasn’t aware of how sexist and male dominated the music industry actually was, so reading your article was very interesting. I guess I would want to know more about what Third Floor would do to end sexism in the industry.