Legendary pioneers of American grunge punk, L7 have released their electrifying onslaught of a new single “I Came Back To Bitch” on Don Giovanni Records today. The track is the result of Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner’s first writing collaboration in 18 years. A raucous, bombastic party rock anthem for the sinking Titanic, it is a sardonic yet joyous middle finger of a track that sits somewhere between “Anarchy in the U.K.” and “Springtime for Hitler”.
“We knew we wanted to make some new L7 music, but also didn’t want the pressure or expectation of that First Track weightiness so we went for pure fun and absurdity.” explains Sparks.
Formed in 2016 by guitarist/singer Betsy Wright (Ex Hex) and drummer Betsy Wright (Flesh Wounds, Speed Stick), the duo specialize in prescription-strength shred and churn meant to stiffen the upper lip and crack the third-eye. Slick and sick visions channeled from the midnight mirror world. Acid-soaked hard-rock to thrill the living and raise dead. first pressing of Bat Fangs is already running low in our web-store!! 🦇 All the more reason to go find it IRL
The band began just as Wright’s other gig, Ex Hex, settled down for an extended breather. After two years touring as a bassist, she was eager to reconnect with the electric guitar and to push her pop-songwriting skills toward a slightly darker zone. She sent a few demos to King, who signed on to play drums. Together, they pushed the music into a deeper and more otherworldly place.
Screaming Females’ new release, “Deeply,” is a restrained and slightly wistful outing for the celebrated NewJersey punk band. The snare that largely marks time in the song cuts in sporadically, giving the track a stark and fractured quality that is similar to the band’s fiercer recent single “Glass House.”
However, “Deeply” never culminates into a mess of distortion or a consistent backbeat. The track comes complete with a video featuring the Females’ lead singer, Marissa Paternoster, spray-painting its lyrics onto a wall. The song, propelled by a droning organ-like sound, encourages the listen to “get high and quiet” and “get high for entry.”
Screaming Females’ new double album, “All at Once”, is out on February 23rd on Don Giovanni Records. The band pressed a 24-copy limited edition 7″ of its first single, “Black Moon,” in September, which was later released digitally.
Halloween might be over, but Bat Fangs’ “Wolfbite” packs the kind of spirited, ferocious wallop that makes it perfect for scaring away any bad days or for late night listening while walking alone on dimly lit streets. It instills a sense of fearlessness in you, with a raging attitude that’s unrelenting from its outset. The duo of Betsy Wright and Laura King will release their full length debut on February. 2nd through Don Giovanni Records and this first taste is more than enough to convince you that this album is a can’t miss. The howling, tenacious vocals paired with a midway guitar breakdown that’s impressive and razor-sharp is a biting, perfect introduction.
There’s no other way to say it: This album kicks so much ass. Instead of rattling around your brain, the hooks on this thing punch right through your skull. Screaming Females sound less ragged and more polished, and to some, the sanding down of their punk edges could be a disappointment. But that polishing leaves them a towering rock machine, every one of Marissa Paternoster’s guitar heroics and defiant wails perfectly calibrated to make you want to go stomp a dragon in the teeth. And if that makeover paves the way for something like “Wishing Well,” a downright pretty alt-pop song that still manages to shred, I’m all for it.
L7 The legendary pioneers of American grunge punk have released their first new song in 18 years. The band’s new single is titled “Dispatch from Mar-a-Lago,” and it was released via Don Giovanni Records. As one might expect, it’s a snotty punk song about Donald Trump.
“We knew we wanted to make some new L7 music, but also didn’t want the pressure or expectation of that First Track weightiness so we went for pure fun and absurdity.” says L7 frontwoman Donita Sparks. “The lyrical musicality of the word Mar-a-Lago just lent itself to an inspired song of these crazy assed times”.
L7 will release another new single later this fall. In the meantime, the band’s upcoming documentary film, L7: Pretend We’re Dead, will be released worldwide on October 13th,
The track is the result of Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner’s first writing collaboration in 18 years. A raucous, bombastic party rock anthem .
New Brunswick New Jersey powerhouse Screaming Females have cranked out the first single since their 2015 album Rose Mountain, and it’s exactly as punchy and blistering as you would expect from this band. “Black Moon” is just another testament to how the trio have built their devoted fanbase in their decade-plus of being a unit with commanding vocals, and thundering Sabbath styled guitar and bass riffs.
The band previously released the single in physical format last week. The super-limited, ultra-exclusive 7” single was available in only 24 copies at only one store, Spina Records in their hometown of New Brunswick, N.J.
The Screaming Females head out on tour next week until the start of November—check out their dates and listen to “Black Moon” below.
Band Members
Jarrett Dougherty-Drums
King Mike-Bass
Marissa Paternoster-Guitar/Vocals
Erica Freas is an Olympia, Washington-based musician, founder of Rumbletowne Records, She’s highly-regarded for her involvement punk bands RVIVR and Somnia as well as her acoustic solo projects. “I am in love with the way that a song feels different when it’s bare and stripped down and when it’s driving and loud. It can be more accessible and allow the beautiful parts of the lyrics or guitar melodies to stand out better. It’s exciting to play around with variation,” she said.
Though the sounds may vary, even when she is writing an intimate ballad, Freas’ punk roots are never totally out of the picture. “I’m playing to a drummer that’s not there and often writing that percussion into the guitar parts. Punk rock taught me how to sing loud with confidence and loads of my solo songs are down-picking the whole time. I’m a rocker even when I’m fingerpicking a lullaby, it’s just in there.”
Freas released her latest solo album on Don Giovanni Records, titled “Patient Ones”. A prolific songwriter, the album’s songs are a from collection of material she’s been steadily building on since her 2012 album Belly, and an EP titled “Tether” she released the following year. “I’ve got these songs coming through, and every now and then the basin gets full and there’s enough material to make a collection,” she said.
Production on the record is minimal, but with Freas’ smooth voice and the luscious, warm tones of her Martin 0015M (which she sometimes runs through a Fender Deville 4×10 combo), you wouldn’t want it any other way. Cellist Jen Grady provides accompaniment on some tracks otherwise Freas is completely on her own.
Voice & Guitar : Erica Freas
Cello : Jen Grady
Choral Arrangement : Lindsay Scheif The Patient Ones Choir : Colin Ashante, Don Freas, Ethan Camp, Jack Gray, Jemmy Joe, Julian Gomes, Matt Buscher, M Sather, Paris McClusky, River Nason, Sam Kates-Goldman
From the Laura Stevenson record “Cocksure” which came out late October on Don Giovanni Records. The first thing that comes to mind when you think of a jellyfish is their sting. Scary, right? But these perceptively “dangerous” creatures fall apart the more you think about them — they’re flabby, gelatinous blobs with no structure or shape. They’re pretty useless, really. So when Laura Stevenson compares herself to one on her new song, it’s easy to conjure up an image of what she’s talking about: sprawled out in bed, arms and legs out in whatever direction, unable and unwilling to move. Underneath all that laziness and fear, there’s potential for a spark, a jolt, but it doesn’t manage to come through. “I’ll be home indoors because I’m wasting away my life and gifts on being a piece of shit,” she sings in the way-catchy chorus. Stevenson embraces her self-destructive tendencies because it’s easy. Staying in and not facing the world requires no effort at all. Why bother to grow a backbone at all? The act of not doing feels as natural as floating
There’s self-deprecation, and then there’s what Laura Stevenson does. While some songwriters have playfully toyed with their own ineptitudes in love, friendships, or life in general throughout their music, Stevenson full-on lives in it. If you ever catch her live show—and you should—make a drinking game out of every time she introduces a song by saying, “This next song is a sad one.” You’ll be lucky to be able to walk out of the venue of your own accord.
On her last album, the under-appreciated Wheel, Stevenson mused in one song about being content to sit in a room while the building burned around her: “I wouldn’t mind if you left me here, standing on the other side of a locked door in a big, big fire.” Tragic, fucked up, and even oddly beautiful, but not a new thing for her. Over three albums now, LauraStevenson has been spinning this gift for dark poetics.
But “Jellyfish,” her new single from her forthcoming fourth album, Cocksure, is next-level self-loathing. Stevenson goes right for her own gut from the very first line: “I’m fucking hideous and spiteful when I’m left to my devices.” And it doesn’t get much brighter from there. She goes on to call herself lazy and a loser before ending with “I’m wasting away my life and gifts on being a piece of shit.” Jesus Christ, what a dark line. What a dark song.
While the inward jabs are cutting, Stevenson’s true gift is taking this melancholy and making it sound upbeat and fun. She is the undisputed champion of writing feel-good feel-bad songs.
Laura Stevenson’s “Torch Song” is just that, and now it’s got a similarly rousing video to go along with it. Stevenson and her merry band of glittery and colorful teens make their way into an empty high school and transform a hapless teacher and a bored janitor into shining ’80s stars, giving them a makeover and coupling worthy of any coming-of-age movie. The clip was co-directed by Stevenson and Kate Sweeney. From the Laura Stevenson album Cocksure on Don Giovanni Records
The Fat Angel Sings 