Loving the double-life, warts and all

Tishien’s shift is about to end on this average, gloomy Thursday evening. It would’ve ended ten minutes ago, but the nurse she’s waiting to handover to is running late. She drives home, removes her pure white clothes for a shower, then dressed up in long striped pants, big boots, and tank top; the night has begun.

Tishien Flower still manages to pursue her rock dreams from Hughesdale, Victoria, outside normal work hours. Tishien, who usually goes by Tish, is bothered by how her band, snotty and the snot grubs, is often labelled as a feminist rights group.

“There's such a juxtaposition between doing nursing and being able to exist in society, and like, follow the rules of being able to go do a nine to five job, and then come home … you know those like secret agents, where they like come home and fight crime at night?”

The video chat rings, a very excited and bubbly Tish pops up in a bright orange beanie, with her golden ringlets resting on her shoulders. She’s dressed in a red and orange jumper, which matches both her hat and bag of Maltesers.

Laidback is an understatement.

“I want like my stomach to be able to eat other people’s stomachs, that’s how chubby I wanna go -

human beanbag ... You know, um, did you ever watch Austin Powers? Where it’s like fat bastard and he’s just like, he’s fuckin, yeah. It’s what I want,” Tish laughs with a big chocolatey grin.

Tish’s secret power is her rock and roll persona, alongside a deep-rooted passion for local band girls.

“I’m obsessed with Jate! (from Dicklord) I think she’s so cool like I’ll stalk her Instagram. But I met her, and I was like ‘omg I fuckin love this chick!’”

When Tish was 14, turning 15, she travelled up to Brunswick where she attended her first gig.

“The Sydney Road Street music festival … there was a band … called Camp Cope, and they’re amazing! And I was just boogying out so hard to them, and I was just like, I didn’t know you could like, have such a fun time seeing live music and actually like music…“

That was the birth of her dream for forming a band; snotty and the snot grubs wasn’t her first attempt. “I had a band in year 12, but we didn’t do anything with it,” explains Tish.

“I don’t think people would fangirl over us, maybe Hunter, because I think Hunter is really cool … I think I fangirl over my friends more than anyone else, Hunter and Becky are just way too cool

and I'm just like omg, ‘I'm your biggest fan!’”

“They honestly shouldn’t have given me their addresses. I’ll just go over and be like ‘I'm your biggest fan’ and they’re like, ‘Tish wtf are you doing here?’”

“We never have wanted to be a voice for feminism or anything like that. And like bands consisting mainly of women have to get put into that, like box. ‘You're a feminist band?’ Like nah, we just wanna fuckin rock out.”

Tish voices how they can’t be an all-women band, even if they wanted to be. This is because one of the members is non-binary.

“I think some of the stuff (female bands have) done is amazing, and they’ve also, they had to like pull out a lot of industry and stuff, just because that they were women making music, and like it just kinda sucks they get put up as the feminist band like that. Well no, they just wanted to talk about shit that was happening.”

Unlike most superheroes, Tish doesn’t try to separate her normal life from her band life. She actually finds it more difficult to keep them together.

“I more so stress about my ability to find work, because I started doing the band stuff. It’s kinda one of those things where if I’m in a workplace and they don’t see the value in being able to do creative stuff, like separate from work, then um, that’s not really a place I could work with anyways, coz they

wouldn’t have that respect.”

When asked if she prefers day-life or nightlife, Tish explains she couldn’t give up one for the other. And she doesn’t have to handle it all completely by herself.

“Yeah, I think they're rewarding in different ways. … I’ve like certain needs that need to be satisfied, being able to go help people with nursing, is like a need. … Doing something that’s like not properly altruistic like, just being there for people who need it, or are less fortunate, that kinda jazz.”

“And then doing band stuff makes me, it’s like a space where I can be creative. Gives me joy in a different way,” Tish eagerly explains.

“my mum is super supportive of everything I do, and she helps me organize all the stuff. (Her parents are) just like, chill. Sometimes I’ll make them listen to a new song, and they’ll just be like ‘cool,’” continues Tish.

“And then they’ll come to our shows and (They’re) like oh that cool you’re on stage! I love my folks, they're not like really jazzed up about it or anything,” Tish says with her staple laugh.

After resting her bass against the wall, with her tired and calloused fingers, Tish makes sure tomorrow’s day will start like any other. In the same way Clark Kent with fit his big thick glasses on, Tish makes sure her washed uniform is ready, and all make-up has been removed; it’s time for this rock chick to call it a day.