LISTEN: GIHE on Soho Radio with Sing It Pink (22.07.2024)

For the July edition of Get In Her Ears’ Soho Radio show, Tash and Mari were in the studio spinning loads of new music from some of their favourite female, non-binary and LGBTQIA+ artists.

In addition to shout outs to festival highlights from Glastonbury and bands to look out for at Deer Shed festival, Tash spoke to The Pink Singers – Europe’s longest running LGBTQ+ choir – ahead of the release of a brand new podcast about them, Sing It Pink, which is out on Friday 26th April via Aunt Nell Productions. Plus, there’s some major gushing about Shania Twain…

Artists featured on the eclectic playlist included Planningtorock, Happy Accidents, Katy J Pearson, Los Bitchos, Ae Mak, Lex Amor, Sharon Van Etten, ARXX, Breymer, Little Simz, The Go! Team, John Glacier and more!

Listen to the show below:

 

We’ll be back on Soho Radio on Monday 19th August from 12-2pm
 Make sure you tune in via www.sohoradiolondon.com

 

Tracklist

Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy (Planningtorock Rework)

The Pink Singers – Leaping Lesbians

Jamie XX (feat. Robyn) – Life

Catbear – Rush

Jasmine.4.t – Skin On Skin

Katy J Pearson – Sky

pink suits – Are You Gay Yet?

Los Bitchos – Kiki, You Complete Me

AE Mak – Low Down

Kelly Lee Owens – Love You Got

Tom Rasmussen – Shugs (Live Wire)

Lex Amor – A7X

John Glacier – 2 Hot 4 This

Loose Articles – Are You A Welder?

Sharon Van Etten – Every Time The Sun Comes Up

Roller Derby – Silver Jet

Squirrel Flower – Full Time Job

Billie Eilish – Lunch

Happy Accidents – Infinite Possibilities

Little Simz – Woman

ARXX – Good Boy

The Go! Team – Ladyflash

Nana Benz Du Togo – To Be Free

Breymer – Darkness

Shania Twain – That Don’t Impress Me Much

Get In Her EarsLeave a comment

LISTEN: pink suits – ‘Be Good To Yourself’

A distinctly pink suits take on the self care anthem, ‘Be Good To Yourself‘ combines the fierce drums, screaming guitars and passionate vocals the band are known for with an unmissable wholesome message. It’s easy to ignore empty platitudes telling you to live, laugh, love, but pink suits take a more insightful and defiant approach to self-care.

The track acknowledges how hard an instruction as simple as “be good to yourself” can be in a world where everyone is struggling for one reason or another with support increasingly difficult to access in the rare places it is available. A world where people feel more isolated than ever, despite the tools we have for connection, because of the dog-eat-dog nature of contemporary society; where you are made to feel guilty for not being on the grind every waking moment of your day; where the controlling elite profit when you feel bad about taking the time out to practice even the slightest moment of genuine self care (assuming, that is, you ever manage to practice genuine self-care, and not the self-care defined by capitalists involving spending money you don’t have on things that only really offer short time comforts). 

pink suits point directly at the cause of the problems likely to be weighing on you and make it impossible to argue with them when they tell you to find a way to be kind to yourself anyway. Every reference to the issues making self-care a struggle comes as a comfort. ‘Be Good To Yourself’ is a track designed to make you feel seen; the rage integral to pink suits’ energy echoes the frustration of self-care feeling so elusive. That energy makes you want to be good to yourself in spite of all the elements of the world around you seemingly designed to make you feel awful.

In a world that is cruel, and makes a particular target out of people who are already marginalised, this song redefines self-care as an act of rebellion and defiance. It hammers home how truly vital it is to ensure that, when there is no guarantee of compassion or kindness from anywhere else, you, at the very least, will be good to yourself.

‘Be Good To Yourself’ is taken from pink suits’ immense new album Dystopian Hellscape. Listen / buy on bandcamp now!

Kirstie Summers
@ActuallyKurt

Kirstie SummersLeave a comment

Five Favourites: Brennan Wedl

Following 2019 album Holy Water Branch, New York artist Brennan Wedl has now signed with legendary label Kill Rock Stars and has recently shared a series of glistening new singles, including latest offering ‘Fake Cowboy’. A heartfelt ode to the infamous Nashville Honky Tonk bar, the track showcases the raw emotion of Wedl’s luscious vocals as Americana-tinged stripped-back strumming builds to a gritty, fuzz-filled anthem. I’m quite late to the Brennan Wedl party, but this track prompted me to delve deeper into their rich lyrical storytelling and silky smooth alternative country musicality. A new favourite for sure, I can’t wait to hear more from this exquisite raconteur.

We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspires them. So, to celebrate the release of ‘Fake Cowboy’, I caught up with Brennan to find out about the music that inspires her the most. Read about her five favourite albums and watch the beautiful video for ‘Fake Cowboy‘ below! 

Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto – Getz/Gilberto
This album is delightful drama – it is romance, it is night-time, and it is what falling in love sounds like to me. So straight-ahead but has layers, twists and turns of red and orange. I love to play this album on vinyl while making romantic dinners, and it still hits through phone speakers. This album makes me think long-term. It makes me feel domestic bliss. It makes me want to get married. I hope to have the first dance at my wedding to ‘Para Machuchar Meu Coracao’, so hopefully my future spouse will be down. This song is pure love, hope, joy, delight. Favourite album of all time. 

King Woman – Celestial Blues
I was first introduced to King Woman by someone posting a story on Instagram from their show and tagging them. We see hundreds of these clips, but I’m pretty sure King Woman is the only band that has stopped me in my mindless story scroll enough to listen to their records. Celestial Blues quickly became an album that defined a season of my life. I am a sucker for religious references and imagery, and this album has it. It’s got scary hell, it’s got sexy hell; it’s got original sin, it’s got flames. Favourite track from this album is ‘Boghz’.

Rufus Wainwright – Wants Two
A super dreamy, dripping, cinematic album. It’s horny, it’s tragic and it is gay af. My favourite track is ‘The Art Teacher’, which inspired my song ‘Fake Cowboy’. So many juicy details in this album; it has a comedic edge, on the edge of being a bit bratty. The longing is there. “Here I am in this uniform-ish pantsuit sorta thing” – I can see this character he’s describing so vividly, which is something I strive for in my own lyrics. I want the visuals to be undeniable. 

Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska
You can tell a lot about someone by their favourite Boss record. I am a die-hard Nebraska-head and I am NOT ALONE. This album makes me hold my hand over my heart. Not in a patriotic way, maybe though? I feel like I have a cock when I listen to this album. When I meet another Nebraska-head in the wild, they often agree that it’s The Boss’ best. Having to pick my favourite song from this record feels like damnation, but like the true masochist, manic-depressive freak that I am, I choose ‘My Father’s House’. Listening makes me shake my head back and forth laughing because it is so effed up. Exceptional use of the tambourine.

Tom Waits – Real Gone
Whenever something really inconvenient happens on tour, it is required according to BW law that we play ‘Hoist That Rag’ to shake off the bad energy and move on. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of anyone having a neutral opinion to Tom Waits. Either you worship him, or you despise him. His range inspires me, we don’t need to stick to one sound. Also, he’s got the craziest song titles in the game – ‘Don’t Go into That Barn’, ‘The Earth Died Screaming’, ‘Chick A Boom’ to name a few. Real Gone is an album that’s kind of like being on a haunted hayride. You see the terrors, but they legally can’t touch you.

Huge thanks to Brennan for sharing her five favourites with us! Watch the beautiful video for ‘Fake Cowboy’ here:

‘Scorpio’, the upcoming new single from Brennan Wedl, is set for release on 9th May via Kill Rock Stars.

Photo Credit: Blaire Beamer

mariangelicalaneLeave a comment

Five Favourites: pink suits

Having released their blazing debut, Political Child, back in 2021, Margate duo pink suits have now just released their second album. Inspired by the relentless over saturation of bleak news cycles, Dystopian Hellscape may be a little more self-reflective, silly and sexy than its predecessor, but loses none of the band’s politically aggressive, anti-Tory, anti-Fascist, Feminist Queer Energy. Inspired by a newspaper article entitled The News Comes So Often, It Makes You Sick, Dystopian Hellscape explores the effects of modern society and neoliberal politics on our mental health with pinks suits’ trademark tenacious spirit and raw musicality. Reflecting on the sense of confusion and frustration that comes with the over-saturation of scandal and disaster within mainstream media, the album also discusses themes of self-care, grief, gender identity, sexuality, queer joy and – of course – coffee. From the riotous power of searing rallying cry ‘Refuse The Rules’, and the fiercely uncompromising reclamation of being confident in who you are, ‘Are You Gay Yet?’, the album showcases pink suits’ ability to channel frustration into a perfect raging catharsis. 

We think one of the best ways to get to know a band is by asking what music inspires them. So, to celebrate the release of the Dystopian Hellscape, I caught up with Ray and Lennie to find out about the music that inspires them the most. Read about their five favourite albums, watch the video for recent single ‘C.O.F.F.E.E‘ and make sure you check out the full album on bandcamp now!

The Runaways – The Runaways
The Runaways’ debut album, which was released in 1976, is one of my fave albums of all time, as well as being a huge influence on the kind of music I (Ray) wanted to make when we started pink suits. I think I discovered The Runaways when I was about 14 and got completely obsessed with them. I think the fact that they were so young on this record, and when I found them I was also so young, it gave me a radical feeling of possibility. Which when you’re 14 feels pretty wild! I think I immediately assembled a band of misfits and people I thought could kick-off pretty well given the chance, which we were all extremely excited about and equally I think all knew it was never actually gonna happen. I loved the uninhibited energy they had, and I’m still waiting for my front-man moment – out from behind the drums! I wanna be front and centre, swinging the mic around and working the crowd.

** Sadly and disappointedly, it turns out Cherie Currie is a massive terf! But Joan Jett is still an icon, so we can breathe easy for that! Although this album and The Runaways will always be a big influence on us as a band we cannot support anyone with transphobic views. We have played ‘Cherry Bomb’ for the last time…

Amyl and The Sniffers – Big Attraction and Giddy Up
This album was one of the biggest references of sound for Dystopian Hellscape. Everyone went mad for Comfort To Me, which is a great album, but we think Big Attraction and Giddy Up is the most exciting LP. It is 2 EPs – Giddy Up was written and released all in a 12 hour time span, and then Big Attraction was written later that year. You can get the LP of both of these EPs together (though it has just disappeared from Spotify?). We love this LP, it feels so rough and ready. Amy is such a force as a front person and we love the energy they bring every time; you can feel it through the record just as much as you do live, which is definitely something we strive for as well. We find recording hard because of the challenge of getting the live feel and energy across. Not that many bands manage it, but we think Big Attraction and Giddy Up really feels like the live band.

Allison Russell – Outside Child
This debut album from Allison Russell came out in 2021, and is probably our most listened to album of all time. I think we listened to it a few times a day everyday for over a year – the best thing that we did during lockdown! It’s just incredible. It is a very personal and heart wrenching album about trauma, childhood, love, loss, growth, and her voice is just amazing. We have had the chance to see her live a couple times and wept throughout the whole show; honestly one of the most stunning humans to see. The content of the music is often quite heavy, but she is able to bring a joy and lightness to it. We love her so much!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=RNJgwj8d9eo%3Fsi%3DW4cXc3dZz6viy_b7

Orville Peck – Pony
As some of you probably know, when we aren’t being a punk band we are full country babes – we run a night called Queer Cuntry, and we owe a lot of that to Orville Peck. We got immediately obsessed with him as soon as we heard this debut album of his, he really brought back a sort of old country sound which is the style of country music we love. He is also just very camp and queer and theatrical, which we relate to in a lot of ways. This album and the music videos and performances we saw from him were pretty incredible; he combines a sort of cinematic storytelling with camp aesthetics in a way that just works. There’s no fighting it! He also used to be in a punk band and trained in ballet, so really we are kindred spirits in so many ways. We saw him four times in 2019, and the live shows are so much fun. Queer Cuntry has taken off in a big way for us (we are bringing it to Chaka Khan’s Meltdown Festival in June!), and Pony was the album that gave us a kick up the ass and made us start doing country.
(You can catch pink suits in their country guise supporting Dolly Parton tribute band The Dumb Blondes on 19th July at Sebright Arms – tickets are already moving quick, so don’t miss out!)

Bob Vylan – We Live Here
This is another album that we absolutely rinsed when it came out. As soon as we heard the title track we were obsessed, and then we got the whole album and every song is fucking killer. This was such an inspiring album as we were putting together our debut album political child and were thinking about how aggressively violent and political it was; we were not worried about saying what we wanted to say, but we were curious how it would land as we were not hearing that much new music that was so full of rage. Then we heard We Live Here and we were like YES! Let’s fucking go with this angry and violent protest album! I used to go running and listen to political child straight into We Live Here to see if our album stood up next to the Bobbys… We think it does, and we got to support Bob Vylan in Ramsgate a year later, and the live show is just so so good! These guys give it absolutely everything and deserve all the success they are having.

We just realised we have a kink for debut albums! I guess that makes sense, it is so exciting to see how a new artist chooses to burst into the world. All of the subsequent material from these artists is amazing too, but clearly we love that first fresh taste. 

Massive thanks to pink suits for sharing their Five Favourites with us! Make sure you check out their full new album, Dystopian Hellscape, now. And catch them live across the country over the next few months, including at Cro Cro Land in South London this Saturday, 13th April.



mariangelicalaneLeave a comment