Pale Waves Splash Down at S.B. Bowl

Many a man has put Manchester, England, on the musical map — but women have been largely left out of the picture. Pale Waves is changing that. Fronted by the singer/guitarist/lyricist Heather Baron-Gracie and drummer/songwriter Ciara Doran, they’re pushing the scene forward in bold, exciting ways. They open for fellow Manchester music-makers The 1975 at the Santa Barbara Bowl, April 21, at 6 p.m., along with No Rome, from Manila.

Pale Waves makes music for the now while still building on and furthering the legacy of their predecessors. A four-piece rounded out by Hugo Silvani (guitar, keyboard) and Charlie Wood (bass, keyboard), singer Baron-Gracie said the band is “doing something different. We’re a mixed-gender band that plays pop music and is somewhat dressed up like vampires — but we’re making room for that. We inspire people to just be themselves.”

For Baron-Gracie, it’s especially important to be a visibly empowered woman in the man’s world of the music industry. “We’re all about seeing our power, and doing it for the girls, and we do sort of try and preach about that as much as we can,” she said. “We just want to inspire young female artists to pick up an instrument, to show you can do it. So many come up to us and said they were intimidated to pick up an instrument. Music is very dominated by the male gender, and it sometimes is intimidating; I’ve been talked down to because I’m a girl. A lot of men talk to Hugo a lot more about guitar stuff — I’m just as interested in guitars.”