A firm fixture in Australian independent music, Anna Laverty has worked with everyone from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and Screamfeeder to Pinch Points and Camp Cope. She got her start in London studying under top producers Paul Epworth (Adele, Foster the People) and Ben Hillier (Blur, U2), before making a name for herself on records like The Peep Tempel’s 2014 breakthrough album, Tales, which features the enduring Aussie punk anthem “Carol”. Laverty has made a point of foregrounding women and female-identifying figures in the music industry, taking inspiration from role models like her manager, Cath Haridy. “She just gets on and does the work without asking for or taking much credit for it,” Laverty tells Apple Music. “She held so many people up during COVID and continues to support and nurture other managers and up-and-coming musicians.” In 2019, Laverty helmed the compilation Milk on Milk for Courtney Barnett and Jen Cloher’s Milk! Records while she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant. Recording eight bands in eight days, she cites it as one of the most challenging projects of her career. “I was proud that I didn’t have a baby in the studio,” she jokes, “but also that it turned out sounding great. I mixed it while breastfeeding over the next few weeks.” Prior to that, she worked with eight First Nations women for the 2017 compilation Desert Divas Volume 2, with many songs performed in language. “I had to trust that the people delivering the vocals had the emotion and inflections right,” she says. “It was an honour to be invited in the room.” Laverty also featured on the 2019 TV series The Recording Studio—which won an ARIA Award for Best Original Soundtrack or Musical Theatre Cast Album—and led a recording session with US singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer. Whoever she’s working with, Laverty consistently advocates for a level playing field. “I don’t like the idea that women can’t headline a festival or fill a big hall or sell as many records as their male counterparts,” she says. “Their work is no less than anyone else’s. I just wish the people in positions of power would take a chance.” Laverty’s work doesn’t stop at production. She’s a songwriter, too, having collaborated with Stella Donnelly, Kav Temperley (Eskimo Joe), Dallas Woods and Jade McInally (Jade Imagine). Inspired by Phoebe Bridgers’ 2017 song “Motion Sickness”—which detailed Bridgers’ experiences with musician Ryan Adams, ahead of multiple allegations of abuse levelled at Adams—Laverty plans to release “my own ‘Motion Sickness’.” “I’m sick of the creepy dynamic that can exist in the studio for some women,” she says, noting one of the many issues women in music still face all too often. Elsewhere, she points out still-existing misconceptions about women headlining festivals and the ongoing gender disparity in music production and engineering roles. Looking at the effects of the #MeToo movement on women in the TV and film industry, she’s hopeful that similar opportunities will continue to grow for those in her own industry. “I would love to see some women in Australian music be given those huge opportunities,” she says, referring to the increase in women directing major films and leading other crucial behind-the-scenes roles. “Their work is no less than anyone else’s. I just wish the people in positions of power would take a chance.” And when it comes to music production and engineering specifically, she’s optimistic about what’s to come: “The good news is there are so many local initiatives popping up all over the country that the sad statistic that 2 per cent of producers are female is being dragged to a more equitable number,” says Laverty. “We’re still nowhere near where it needs to be, but we’re getting better.”