Maltese band ĠENN will be joining the anti-Putin Russian punk group Pussy Riot on tour as their opening act. 

The all-femme musical act, made up of Janelle Borg, Sofia Rosa Cooper, Leona Farrugia, and Leanne Zammit, announced that they would be embarking with Pussy Riot on tour for a number of dates in October and November in the United Kingdom. 

“To be honest this is an opportunity that came up for us only last weekend,” guitarist Janelle Borg told Times of Malta. 

“Our management is always looking for new opportunities for us and we felt like we were up for the challenge.” 

The group has been based in Brighton for the past three-and-a-half years and have released a new single, Rohmeresse. They will be playing in Malta again for the first time since 2019 in December. 

Despite the short turn-around time, with ĠENN expected to begin their tour with Pussy Riot this weekend, Borg said that a full-time touring/gig schedule has been par for the course for the majority of their time since moving to the UK. 

“We play gigs and tour almost constantly, so this is a busy time for us. We’re excited for this new opportunity and to be able to play in Malta again in the near future,” Borg continued. 

“We’ve just released our new single and we’re working on an album as well, there’s a lot of new and exciting work that we’ve never played in Malta that we’re very eager to share.” 

As a band, Borg said they were eager to meet Pussy Riot and to watch the new material they’ve been working on. 

“They are of course very well known and I think with the war in Ukraine and the situation in Russia, their work has become even more relevant,” Borg said. 

“Only recently did one of their members flee Russia because she was going to be imprisoned and they have been punished and imprisoned for their work on other occasions.” 

“While we certainly cannot relate to that experience and our music is much less political than theirs, we nonetheless support their message very strongly.” 

“As a band, we certainly look forward to meeting them and seeing them perform, as what they do is not just music but is more of a multi-disciplinary performance art.” 

“On a personal level, we will also be playing in some new venues and cities that we have never been to before and while we have played festivals and tours before, so far this is definitely the biggest act we’ve been with.”

Photo: Justine Ellul

A balaclava-wearing feminist protest group, Pussy Riot formed in 2011 partially in opposition to Vladimir Putin’s re-election campaign, Putin’s social and economic policy for Russia as well as his ties to the Russian Orthodox Church. 

The group found global attention when they staged a protest performance inside the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, which resulted in the arrest of three members.

Two women, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina served a two-year prison sentence after they were convicted of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred”. 

Alyokhina was arrested last year for attending protests in support of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned by Novichok nerve agent in 2020 and is currently recognised as a prisoner of conscience due to his ongoing detainment by Russian authorities. 

She remained under house arrest until February, after which Russian officials announced she would be sent to a penal colony. Alyokhina subsequently fled Russia in April with her partner and fellow band member Lucy Shtein, who dressed up as a food delivery driver to fool the police surveilling her house.

Having come a long way since a break-in that saw all of their equipment stolen, Borg said that ĠENN has stuck together over the years to persevere through the challenges. 

“I think that when you suffer a big setback like that you can either choose to give up or suck it up and move past it,” she said. 

“We’ve been through a move, a name-change and survived a global pandemic. We’re going to keep going.”