Video premiere: The Damed, ‘We Are the Proof’

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The Damed (Photo by Melissa Yu)

L.A.-based riot grrrl rockers The Damed (guitarist-vocalist Heather Hellskiss, bassist Suzanne Slade and drummer Watts Yoshizawa) share a video today, “We Are the Proof,” to spotlight October being a recognition of horrors of a different kind: National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. 

The song is off their self-titled debut album released earlier this year via A Diamond Heart Production/Symphonic. Produced by Hellskiss (formerly of synth-punk-post-riot grrrl projects NAPS, Addicted2Fiction, Crowns on 45 and Redhot Secret) with the band, recorded by Manny Nieto (The Chavez Ravine) at Total Annihilation Studios, and mixed and mastered by Vanessa Silberman, the song begins with a woozy, dazed intro layering echos of recent trigger phrases exposing the abuse of women in the entertainment industry (#MeToo, #TimesUp) and Hellskiss’ response to them, “I believe you… No more!”

The pace of the song and video, directed by Slade, then picks up with scenes from rallies interspersed with clips from shows as the band gets more confrontational with bleak statistics of the epidemic levels of domestic violence and “the code of silence” in workplace abuse “starting to fray.” They begin to snarl when then exposing how perpetrators use the mental health system to avoid responsibility and consequences for their actions. There’s enough anger there to turn this into a death metal song, yet the band chooses instead to pivot into an ebullient punk-pop celebration that women today “are the proof” that change is coming. The chorus’ fresh positivity redeems the spirit of resistance.

In a statement, the band says: “This song was written to help expose this issue on a larger level and to show solidarity and encouragement to speak out about assault.” Hellskiss further explains, “Every single woman I know (including myself) has been physically harassed by a man in some way in their life. I started writing this song right after the Harvey Weinstein story first broke. … In one of the articles I was reading, a survivor was asked for proof of her assault. She replied, ‘We are the proof.’ This statement gave me the shivers and felt so liberating, like a wall was starting to come down…”

For resources and support against domestic and workplace abuse, watch through to the end.

||| Watch: The video for “We Are the Proof”