Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1482987
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 OCTOBER 2022 6 MUSIC Maltese Brighton-based ĠENN supporting anti-Putin band Pussy Riot A right riot is on the horizon for ĠENN – formerly known as Cryptic Street – whose Brighton sojourn will propel the Maltese post- punk band to support Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot A right riot is on the horizon for ĠENN whose Brighton so- journ will propel the Maltese post-punk band to support Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot for the UK leg of their tour. Janelle Borg, Leona Farrugia, Leanne Zammit and drum- mer Sofia Rosa Cooper got the news last week they will be supporting the anti-Putin punk band, whose music plat- form has been used to vocif- erously defend LGBTIQ+ and womens' rights. Since moving to the UK some four years ago, ĠENN have released debut LP 'Titty Monster' and EP 'Liminal', and only recently released single Rohmeresse. Paying homage to both their small-island roots but in full swing of what they call a "cra- zy" life, Ġenn's supporting act for the notorious Pussy Riot is the highlight of the band's ca- reer so far. The tour is set to take place around the UK this coming November. Balaclava-wearing, anti-Pu- tin, feminist, guerrilla punk rockers Pussy Riot was found- ed in 2011, earning global notoriety when two of their members were arrested and sentenced to two years' im- prisonment for singing their son 'Punk Prayer' inside Mos- cow' s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, admonishing the Russian head of state's close relations with the Russian Or- thodox Church. Most recently the band has come back into the limelight after band member Maria Alyokhina es- caped Russia earlier this year in April to evade arrest, by dress- ing as a food courier and being escorted by a friend to the Belaru- sian border. In an interview with The Guardian, she said: "I was arrest- ed, many times – and not just arrests. I was under a travel ban, I had a red flag on the border for two years, I had to find a way to tour. The heads of the political Moscow police were quite of- ten trying to go to my house, speak with my mother, catch me there." Leanne Zammit, Sofia Rosa Cooper, Janelle Borg, Leona Farrugia Busy Riot earned global notoriety when two of their members were arrested and sentenced to two years' imprisonment for singing their song 'Punk Prayer' inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour