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!

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

New Track: pink suits – ‘Are You Gay Yet?’

One of the first songs written for their much anticipated upcoming album Dystopian Hellscape, pink suits have released their fourth and final single release ‘Are You Gay Yet?’. Described as “a seething celebration of queerness”, it captures the duo’s distinct, definitive essence perfectly. An anthem dedicated to reclaiming your identity and sense of self, the track takes their trademark angst and channels it into a fierce salute to individuality.

The track begins with clattering, fast paced drumming that teases the riotous energy integral to pink suits’ signature sound. Fuzzy guitars begin slowly and simply, giving the vocals plenty of space to belt out the track’s central question: “Are you gay yet?” It hangs in the relative quiet of those opening lines, forcing you to confront the discomfort inherent in such an invasive and personal question, and consider the mindset of someone who thinks that’s an appropriate thing to say out loud.

Guitar, drums and vocals pick up for furious, fast paced verses that delve deeper. They depict moments that any visibly queer person will recognise, when people go out of their way to make a point of letting you know that they have noticed, in a way that evidently isn’t designed to be kind. A way that might be delivered gently, but still feels like a slap in the face.

The track alternates between the intrusive questions and the visceral emotional reaction to being asked them. The abrupt shifts between the two perspectives create a sense of whiplash that evokes the dizzy sense of disorientation that often hits when someone has caught you off-guard with such a pernicious approach to asking about your life.

‘Are You Gay Yet?’ is quintessentially pink suits. It aches with rage at the micro-aggressions that queer people are routinely expected to tolerate, yet is simultaneously infused with an infectious joy born of rejecting that expectation. With this song, pink suits are clapping back with all the frustration they are made to feel in that moment and revelling in the satisfaction of taking the power back.

Dystopian Hellscape, the upcoming second album from pink suits, is set for release on 1st April. Catch pink suits on tour over the next couple of months, including 29th March at Manchester Punk Festival and 13th April at Cro Cro Land. Dates and tickets here.

Kirstie Summers
@ActuallyKurt

Kirstie SummersLeave a comment

LIVE (Photos): Cherym @ Paper Dress Vintage, 24.02.2024

Having just released their debut album, Take It Or Leave It, last month via Alcopop! Records, Northern Irish trio Cherym have been big faves of ours since I first fell in love with them playing Paper Dress Vintage back in 2021. And I was lucky enough to re-live this experience last Saturday as they returned to the venue, delivering an even more wonderful set to an even bigger and adoring crowd. Fizzing with all the colourful punk-pop energy we’ve come to know and love, whilst offering fierce reflections on gender inequality and violence against women, as well as their own lived experiences as Gen Z queer folk, both the album and their live set continue to cement Cherym as one of the most exciting bands around at the moment. And I fully expect to be seeing and hearing lots more of them throughout 2024 – find out more here.

As well as immersing ourselves in their captivating raging joy at the gig last week, we were lucky enough to have a quick chat with Hannah and Alannah from the band about the tour and the new album. See our photos of the night, including excellent support from new faves Brutalligators and Hamburg’s Get Jealous, and snippets from the interview below…

Hannah: “The tour has been really, really good – we sold out our first ever Manchester headline show which was really exciting, and we also sold out our London show which is incredible. For me, it just sort of confirmed there has been a growth for the band and that more people are starting to hear our music which is amazing, and it’s a really exciting thing that’s starting to happen. We’re currently just back from the Netherlands which was really cool, there were loads of people we got to see that we haven’t met before that we’ve seen online and stuff. It was just really exciting.”

Hannah: “We wanted this album to be our truth. We wanted to be unapologetically ourselves, and I feel like that’s what we stuck by. People always used to label us as being a political band based primarily off the fact that we were all femme presenting people. We were all women and non-binary people within the band, and we were all also queer, but we never outwardly said we were a political band, we just got labelled as such. So I think with this record we were like, ‘you know what, we’ll give you political’. We have songs like ‘Alpha Beta Sigma‘ that’s very reflective of everything that’s been happening, like the atrocities of the church back home, and songs like ‘The Thing About Them’ which is about Nyree’s experience as a non-binary person, and we just wanted to speak our truth on a lot of issues.”

Alannah: “The fans have been really supportive. The new fans especially have really grasped onto the album and it’s been really lovely to see that we’ve connected with so many people. The fans that have stuck by us for a really long time have really resonated with it as well. A lot of our fans tend to be one of two people – old punk rockers who feel nostalgic about the new punk scene, and then the other side is younger fans who can relate to the lyricism and style of music that we play. When we were teenagers we really had nobody to look up to, or if there were they would be hidden between all the mainstream artists who were white men. It’s kind of nice that we’ve been able to showcase queer punk because we all come from different backgrounds, and it’s nice to see younger fans identify with that.”

Alannah: “I think our festival season is going to be really interesting this year with the new album out in the world. We’re hoping to go abroad this time again when it comes to festivals, some bigger and better things — climbing up that ladder -, which we’re really excited for. There may be some announcements coming soon too…

Hannah: “Yeah new adventures in new territories! Next for us is the Enter Shikari shows in Ireland, so we’ve got two shows in Dublin and we’ve got a show in Belfast as well, which is just insane because we’ve all been fans of this band from when we were teenagers, so to be selected to be one of the support acts for this tour is incredible. And we’re playing with Meryl Streek as well, which is going to be amazing – we love Meryl and we love his music and everything he stands for, so it’s going to be really cool.”

Alannah: “We also have something exciting in the bag that we recently announced… Our cover of Doja Cat’s ‘Boss Bitch’ which is coming out on International Women’s Day, so we’re really excited to see the reception for that! We’re also doing German dates with Get Jealous and we’re also playing again in Germany later this year with The Undertones – I think that’s all we can say without getting in trouble for now!”

Get Jealous:

Brutalligators:

Massive thanks to Hannah and Alannah from Cherym for chatting to us, and putting on such a wonderful show at Paper Dress Vintage last weekend! Take It Or Leave It, the new debut album from Cherym, is out now via Alcopop! Records – order here.

Photo Credit: Paul Dawes / @GRNDglass

mariangelicalaneLeave a comment