Hannah Wicklund and Starfox Make Rock Feel Like Home
Brooklyn, New York - April 3rd, 2026
Even though there are so many iconic female rock stars we know and love, female rock musicians and fans are often shut out of rooms and forced to the outside of conversations. To stick it to the man and create a more equitable community within music, femme rockers Hannah Wicklund and Starfox welcomed guests into their corner of the rock world during their intimate popup show in Brooklyn.
The gathering was hosted at the groovy, 60s-inspired YouTooCanWoo studios in Williamsburg. The space’s cozy rugs, mood lighting, and living room setup created a house show feel. Guests were greeted by a gallery of Wicklund’s paintings and a cup of tea made by Wicklund herself, who floated around like a rock n’ roll fairy in a voluminous pink robe.
The night kicked off with an interview with Wicklund and a special preview of her upcoming album War on Women, Calling All Good Men. Wicklund is currently on tour for her latest album The Living Vault, an album of re-recorded songs she wrote between the ages of twelve and seventeen plus an unreleased demo from her previous album The Prize. While the gathered guests sipped tea, Wicklund spilled some tea about her path into music at a young age, the dark side of the music industry, why she’s reclaimed her autonomy as an independent artist, and the disillusionment and betrayal that culminated in her upcoming deeply personal album.
The Living Vault is a testament to Wicklund’s belief that “who we are at eight years old is who we really are.” The Ghanaian concept of sankofa—meaning “go back and get it,” or revisiting the past to bring its knowledge into the future—is represented by the symbol of a heart curling into itself. The symbol is often hidden in iron fences and gates, and it’s synchronistic that Wicklund wore red hearts on her cheeks during this liminal moment between looking back at her early songwriting and crossing into her latest album.
The first twelve tracks are all rage-fueled hymns textured by Wicklund’s characteristic swampy reverb and her unflinching songwriting struck home by her powerhouse vocals. The opening track “War on Women” is nothing short of an anthem, and “Evil is a Corporation” is a much-needed call out. To reinforce the power behind this album, Wicklund opened her songwriting to collaboration with other female musicians. Erin Clare contributed an epic rock flute solo. (Move over, Jethro Tull!) There’s also a co-written track with Mina Roth, whose real-life mishap with glass in her finger before a house show with Wicklund inspired their songwriting. “Cowards and Kings” boasts Wicklund’s favorite guitar solo she’s ever recorded. It really, truly is scorching, the kind of tight shredding that steals oxygen like fire—so much so that the audience released a collective breath afterwards.
The album ends with the titular bookend “Calling All Good Men,” a track Wicklund explained is an olive branch that offers empathy to men for how our patriarchal hellscape hurts everyone. It’s never too late to climb out of this mess together, and Wicklund hopes her music can be a bridge for communication and understanding.
After the taste of War on Women, Calling All Good Men, the guests moved downstairs to a groovy sunken living room setup for Starfox’s solo set. The glam frontwoman of the art rock band Starfox and the Fleet is a disco ball personified both in appearance and personality with her silver, sequined outfit (featuring stellar winged shoulder pads) and diamond-sharp artistic vision.
Starfox’s unconventional path to music began with a career as a cancer researcher. Although she’s been playing music as a hobby since childhood, Starfox never thought she’d find her way to actually being a musician. Lucky for us, music came knocking, lasered her with a ray-gun of rock, and beamed her up on a psychedelic journey. For someone who came to music “late” by industry standards, Starfox has a fully embodied artistic persona. Even without her backing band Starfox is a powerful performer on her own, armed with just a keyboard and voice that can turn any space into a Broadway stage. Her campy songs juxtapose humor with emotional depth for a truly unforgettable, fever-dream experience—
Odes to cream soda! Running from man-eating tigers that are incarnations of toxic mental health! Religious cults and con artist psychics! Sexual tension in space! All wrapped up in a healthy dose of swanky keyboard solos to appease our benevolent extraterrestrial overlords. Watching Starfox perform is the closest you can get to feeling like you’re Han Solo hanging out at the Mos Eisley Cantina.
Starfox is on an impressive flight trajectory to stardom. Within a handful of years, she went from not knowing she was a musician to collaborating with her favorite artist Bryan Scary, who has produced twelve songs for the band including their latest release “Karma Cuts Like a Knife.” At the end of her set, Starfox powered down and collapsed onto the floor, conserving her battery until she rocks again.
Armed with three guitars in her arsenal, Wicklund opened her set with “Versus the Villain,” a track from The Living Vault she wrote long ago but has grown alongside the contours of her voice. For a scalding instrumental solo, Wicklund picked up her newest guitar made by Myooz, which she used in the recording for upcoming album. Not only does the guitar share a production date with her birthday (which was the day before the show), but its craftsman was one of the guests watching her wield it live. The stunning instrument has a wood inlay design on the body and an incredibly rich tone that Wicklund manipulated until it sang like an organ, and the guitar gave an extra sinister edge to “Bomb Through the Breeze.” A singalong cover of Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart” ended the night, a fitting tribute to an empowering experience that broke down the boundaries between artist and audience.
In an era of record-breaking stadium tours and fighting over price-gouged tickets, the truly rock n’ roll attitude is supporting each other. Wicklund and Starfox made rock feel like a conversation instead of a one-sided transaction. There was still the power and glam and artistry of rock, but it was relatable, humanized, less of a performance and more of a communal celebration. The music industry might not always feel welcoming, but all songs begin like this, shared in a circle of friends where there’s room for everyone.
