Maatkare is a female deathmetal band from the Netherlands and the UK. We had the chance to meet these lovely ladies right before their gig in DB’s, Utrecht this summer. We spoke with them about feminism, songwriting and powerful Egyptian rulers. Oh, and if you don’t now how to pronunciate Maatkare – check out the YouTube version of this interview instead. Scroll down for a shorter, written version of the interview.
Janneke, if I’m correct, you started this band. And I think it was always the intention of starting an all-female band. Why was that?
Janneke: I’m just going to be blunt and Dutch about it—I was a little bit tired of men, and I felt there was something missing in the death metal scene. I felt, and I still feel, that women aren’t as well represented as they should be. It’s harder to find female band members, but it was time to raise those voices and really fight for the fact that we can make death metal as well.
You’re from the Netherlands, you’re all from the UK, how did you guys meet?
Amy: Janneke slid into our DMs and recruited us. T
Georgia: the timing was strange because I’d been missing being in a band, and Janneke messaged me saying she wanted to start an all-female death metal band. I was like, “Hell yeah!”. We eventually recruited Amy, and then Nat joined in August last year.
Nat: My friend sent me an Instagram ad needing a drummer—it was a video of a laptop with a wig on! She said, “Is this you?” and I was like, “This could be me”. And now they’re stuck with me
What’s it like playing in an all-female metal band?
Amy: It’s fucking awesome. There’s no drama, there’s no stress, and it’s very supportive. We empower each other, and it’s completely different from being in an all-male band.
What’s the meaning behind your band’s name, “Maatkare”?
Janneke: It’s an ancient Egyptian word or title that pharaohs used. Our band focuses on one of the first female pharaohs, Hatshepsut. The pronunciation is “Ma’atkare” with a little hiccup between the two A’s. It means “the truth is the soul of the sun god”
Why the focus on powerful women?
Janneke: It started because I grew up abroad as a child and lived in Arabic countries, where I absolutely fell in love with the culture and the language. I always hoped I could implement some of those Arabic influences into music. When I started this all-female band, I wanted a powerful message to go along with it. For me at the time, the most powerful person in history was Hatshepsut. She still is, I think. But there are so many more stories of powerful women that have not yet been told, which we will be telling in our next album.
Speaking of powerful women, do you experience sexism as a female musician?
Amy: This is my first all-female band, and I was concerned about the backlash we might get, but so far there haven’t been as many comments as I thought. However, I have been a female musician for nearly 15 years in other projects, and I experience sexism pretty much every day. It happens on stage, off stage, in online messages, and when crew members talk to me like I don’t know what I’m doing. People have even asked if I’m the backing dancer. It’s something I’ve had to live with, and it’s really shit. There’s still a lot of work to do in the metal community to be accepting of people that don’t fit into the cis male demographic.
What needs to happen to change the field?
Amy: I think we need more representation in general. Not just females, but also non-binary and transgender people need to be accepted in metal where it’s not seen as a gimmick or a novelty. We use the term “all-female band” to appeal to other people like us so they can find us and know that we exist, not as a genre. We are seeing more females and others joining bands and becoming part of the community now compared to 15 years ago.
Are you a feminist band?
Janneke: Absolutely, 100%. I feel like the word “feminist” has a bad reputation now, but because of that, people miss what we’re fighting for. It hasn’t been that long since we got the right to vote. In 2025, you still see us having to fight for our rights just to exist. I’m a proud feminist in that sense.
What’s the inspiration for your lyrics? Is it just historical figures?
Janneke: “Yeah, so especially for this band, I really do deep dive into research.” “For the first album, Rise to Power, I heavily relied on the book of Kara Cooney. She’s an Egyptologist and she wrote a book about Hatshepsut.”
And in terms of musical inspiration, what has been some of your inspiration for either Rise to Power or the next one coming up?
Amy: “I’m a big, like, conceptual fan, so concept albums, that kind of stuff, but I really love orchestral elements as well. So bands like Septic Flesh and Behemoth and even bands like Nevermore and Symphony X, where you’ve got huge cinematic soundscapes, like really, really kind of do it for me.”
Georgia: “I love a really into the Elden Ring soundtrack at the moment., but also bands like Bleed From Within.I love writing kind of chunky gnarly riffs.”
How have the reactions to your debut album, “Rise to Power,” been?
Amy: Overall, they’ve been really great. It’s hard to break into a scene as a completely new band in 2025 with so much music out there, but we’ve amassed over 100,000 streams on digital platforms. We also sold out of a lot of our merch and had to restock, so we went from being nervous to building a really great community
What is your writing process like?
Amy: A lot of the material is written by us (Amy and Georgia). We work really well together, and we’ve been writing together for a long time. We’ve got a really good system. We usually start with a riff that Georgia comes up with, and then we build on that. We then send it to Nat and Janneke to get their feedback.
Janneke: Usually the vocals and the lyrics come last. Amy and Georgia send us an instrumental track, and then Nat and I figure out the drums and vocals.
You’re playing some pretty awesome gigs this summer. How did you guys manage to get those awesome gigs being just a fairly new band?
Amy: “I work in the music industry full time, so I’m very fortunate to have built up a network of contacts. I do a lot of events in the UK, I run my own festival there called Questfest. I run the Metal to the Masses events for Bloodstock Open Air in Birmingham too. While we are a new band, we’re not new to the music scene. We know how the game is played.
For the full interview, head over to YouTube.
Also, if you want to know more about Maatkare, check out their website!
