Many view punk as a male-dominated genre, but many women have made names for themselves in the field. Trailblazers like Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde and Siouxsie Sioux broke down the gates of punk, inspiring a generation of women to embrace the genre.
Among those following in these large footsteps is Ava Robertson. She is a singer-songwriter based in New Haven, Conn. who is the frontwoman of Psycho Brat, a four-piece punk band that has been on the rise in the local music scene with their hardcore-influenced sound and Robertson’s vibrant stage energy.
Robertson first started singing when she was 10 years old and took classical voice lessons until she was 17. From there, she decided to teach herself how to do punk and metal-style vocals, a big change from what she was doing before. She credits her parents for introducing her to punk and other hard-edge styles of music.
“I grew up in a very alternative household,” she said. “My mom was an original punk from the ‘70s, and my dad’s always been into metal and other harder genres as well. I grew up being surrounded by punk, metal and hard rock, and I decided that’s what I wanted to do because it’s what resonated with me the most.”
Punk stood out to Robertson as a vehicle of self-expression and emotion. She also added that “punk is more relevant now than it has been in a very long time,” due to the current political climate in the country.
Robertson first started writing songs at 14 years old, when she would sit down with a ukelele, find words that rhymed and put some chords underneath it. It started as a way for her to deal with what was going on in her life and hasn’t looked back since.
She brought her songs to the world for the first time in January 2024 with the extended play “Crying Over Spilled Milk.” The four-song release was recorded in a single 12-hour marathon session, similar to how The Beatles recorded “Please Please Me” in 1963.
The record was a solo project, though she did recruit her friend, Holden Newton, to play guitar and help round out the arrangements. She noted that the project is “something that I’m proud of that came out of a very dark time in my life,” using these songs as a way to work through everything.
“I was going through a lot at that time and I needed to deal with it and cope with it,” she explained. “And the only way I knew how to was through music and writing.”
After the EP came out, Robertson got the desire to perform live, and she put together a lineup to bring her songs to life on stage. She brought in Newton, along with bassist Al Rebeiro and drummer Brady Gingell, all of whom she had known for years at the University of New Haven.
With the lineup set, the group made their live debut at South Whitney Pizza in Hartford in October 2024. She recalled being quite nervous leading up to the show, noting that “I get a lot of nerves performing sometimes, especially when it comes to being a girl in an alternative scene, especially punk and metal-adjacent genres.”
Robertson explained that women in punk scenes often face more scrutiny than their male counterparts. She spoke about how, after one of her earlier bands performed on UNH’s campus, she saw multiple negative comments posted about her on social media.
“When we performed on UNH’s quad, a bunch of people started talking horribly about me on YikYak, and that set me back a lot mentally with my confidence about being a performer,” she said.
Though shaken by this, she used it as a source of motivation to keep going as a punk singer, taking inspiration from female punk heroes who came before her.
“I talked myself through it by remembering that women in metal and punk are at a huge disadvantage because nobody wants to see us there, but we have to be there,” she said with resolve.
Since their debut show, Robertson and the band have made their way to DIY venues across Connecticut, including Best Video in Hamden and Cafe Nine in New Haven. She spoke glowingly of her experience playing shows in the scene, emphasizing how it’s helped her grow.
“I’m having an absolute blast with it; it’s been so much fun meeting so many people performing,” she said. “It’s been a huge confidence booster; I’ve learned a lot about myself as a performer, as well as a person.”
She referred to the scene as “kind of like a big family where everyone’s willing to meet everyone” and has had an overall positive experience as someone playing shows and frequenting punk shows.
While she was nervous to get into the scene at first, Robertson encouraged other women with musical ambitions to do the same, saying that “it’s scary but you just have to start.” She also shared a piece of advice from a professor that she’s adopted as a motto.
“One of my professors told me ‘Make shit happen’ and that really stuck with me,” she said. “I think that’s a good piece of advice for anyone, but especially for women in music and harder genres because you just have to go out there and make it happen for yourself.”