“Cut Thru Yr Lies” gets repeated until it’s a chant on the new single from Boston queercore band bratlash. The verses go after ICE, political propaganda and the way people in power talk about Hispanic and trans communities. There are noisy guitar parts, gang vocals and an ending the band have since turned into a bigger breakdown at their shows.
Then Jett Hexx stops shouting at the people they’re angry with and speaks directly to the people they want to reassure. During rehearsals, Jett called that part a lullaby.
“YR LIES” is the first punk song Jett wrote entirely on their own, recorded with producer and engineer Sarah Tudzin of illuminati hotties and released on 30 October. The accompanying video, scheduled for 2 November, introduces the current five-piece line-up just ahead of the US midterm elections. The record has already gone through a few changes onstage, and two of the musicians playing it now weren’t involved in the original session.
Jett wrote the song in May and June 2025, when they were trying to get better at finishing their ideas. They had plenty of unfinished songs sitting around and had begun making a conscious effort to follow through, even when another round of changes seemed tempting.
“I have a lot of songs that I’ve started but not finished. Sometimes it comes quickly, sometimes it takes years. Back in 2025 when I wrote this, I had been working on being intentional with my follow throughs. It’s sometimes tough to finish things as an artist, but I think at some point you just have to decide to get it done.”
The chorus came first, followed by the lyrics and the rhythmic guitar part. Jett was already angry about immigration enforcement and the political climate in the United States, and had been wondering why more musicians weren’t addressing ICE directly. They showed the words to one of their production and engineering mentors, asking for an opinion without any sugar-coating. He told them the writing was honest and encouraged them to continue. The finished recording remains very close to that first completed version.
The lyrics are full of pointed little details. “HIStory” is written with the first three letters capitalised, followed by a reference to history repeating itself. “Benedict Donald” takes aim at Donald Trump, while the stuttering, repeated “Cut Thru Yr Lies” gives the chorus its main hook. The second verse mentions ICE and moves into a refusal to be treated as somebody else’s obedient, harmless figure.
Jett’s anger has a personal history. They’re Hispanic and genderqueer, with Mexican and Colombian ancestry. They’ve also spoken about being adopted across racial lines and the complicated experience of being perceived as white while knowing where their family background comes from. Their politics have grown out of those experiences, along with years spent questioning the versions of American history they were taught.
“The lies are the propaganda coming from people in positions of power that do not have the greatest good as their driving force. It’s in the false narrative that ICE is here to protect our children, it’s also the lies being told about trans people, in a similar fashion to the same types of lies being told about hispanic people.”
There is an equally personal refusal underneath those accusations.
“I am hispanic and I’m genderqueer. I also know how toxicity works and that there is a tendency to project onto others in order to gain control. I don’t have anything to prove because I know who I am, so people can think whatever they want about people like me.”
The song was finished in 2025, and its references belong to that period of Jett’s writing. Events that followed during 2026 have made the subject even more immediate for the band, although they couldn’t have been part of the original inspiration.
bratlash have been talking about these issues since their self-titled debut EP arrived in June. When IDIOTEQ spoke with Jett and Nadia Lee in July, the conversation covered the band’s origins, religious upbringing, political power, queer identity and the decision to stay off Spotify. Jett had founded bratlash in 2025 after years of frustration with American institutions and the treatment of marginalised people. They wanted a band where anger could be expressed openly, with enough humour and joy to keep people coming back.
“YR LIES” takes that anger directly to the people Jett believes are responsible. Still, the words turn somewhere gentler during the bridge. The reassurance in “Pretty baby, it’ll be alright” comes out of Jett’s affection for the queer and Hispanic communities they’re addressing.
“I’d like to highlight the bridge, particularly the line “Be as it may, be as it might. Thunder’s rollin’ day and night. Pretty baby, it’ll be alright…” this line in particular and this whole section of the song is meant to instill hope and togetherness, and it’s me speaking directly to my queer and hispanic community.”
They also want people to question the way political fear is used to turn communities against one another.
“I really believe the only way we are going to get through whats happening in America is by finding a way to have common ground. We will not accomplish anything demonizing one another. I do not subscribe to this fear based programming, and, I believe we will remain powerless as a country if we continue to operate how we currently are.”
There’s a musical reason the bridge sounds different as well. Jett grew up hearing the soul records their mother played, and that early exposure shaped their singing. They’ve talked before about bringing those influences into bratlash’s heavier music, with the bridge of “YR LIES” becoming one of the clearest places where that background comes through.
The recorded version had to come together quickly. Sarah Tudzin travelled to the Boston session with only one day available to get the essential parts down. She had already heard the demo and liked what Jett and the band were doing. Her priority was to keep the performances immediate and avoid polishing away the character of a punk song written with so much anger behind it.
“The energy in the demo is tangible! It was important to me to leave a lot of realness and energy in the recording, to not overthink or overproduce as that would be out of character for the genre and out of character for the message of the song. When I heard it, the vision was clear.”
Guitar, keys, bass, drums and the main vocal were the priority that day. Before tracking began, the band ran through the tune several times while the engineers finished getting everything ready. There was some discussion about vocal delivery and the way the drum rhythm should change as the song progressed.
At one point they even played it acoustically in the control room, chatting through possible ideas before moving back into the full-band recording. Jett liked the pace and the freedom of making decisions together on the spot. They’ve since carried that approach into later writing sessions.
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After the Boston recordings, Jett and Julian Hoot added more parts remotely, including extra vocals and percussion. There were gang vocals and guitar overdubs to work into the arrangement. Jett recorded much of their singing while ill, which left their voice squeakier than normal. As they recalled in the earlier interview, they were able to hit some unusually high notes during the final choruses. Nadia also took a straightforward eighth-note percussion pattern Jett had recorded and chopped it into something with a different movement.
Sarah’s job was to bring all of that together without losing what had worked in the demo. She’s comfortable letting bands try things out and sees herself as another person in the room who can offer ideas, listen closely and help settle a decision when needed.
“I love to let a band try stuff!! The more I can play the part of an extra band member who’s there to listen and jam some ideas, the better. As an objective ear, I can also be a sounding board for parts, performance, energy, accuracy, things of that nature that you may not be listening for when you’re out there expressing and executing.”
The bass took a few rounds to get right. Once Sarah was back in her Los Angeles mix room, she tried several approaches and sent different versions back and forth before everybody settled on the one they liked.
“It took a while to lock in the bass sound! Which became apparent once I got back in my mix room in LA. There were a lot of ways that part could’ve turned out and we bounced back a few different versions before we settled on a keeper.”
Working with Sarah was also a chance for Jett to continue something they’ve been trying to do with bratlash from the beginning. They want women, queer people and other musicians who often get overlooked in recording studios to have a real say in the music they’re making. That has shaped who they hire and who they trust with their songs.
The debut EP was largely recorded and produced by Jett and Nadia, with Natalie Bibby on mastering and several other engineers contributing to individual sessions. Sarah’s work on “YR LIES” is separate from that EP. She produced, engineered and mixed the single, with additional engineering handled remotely by Jett and Julian.
Sarah has spent years working in studios, and she’s familiar with how quickly people make assumptions about a producer before they’ve heard what that person can do.
“I’ve been underestimated over and over again just because of the way I present when I walk into a room. I see it happening constantly to other women, and pretty much to anyone who isn’t a straight white male.”
She has also worked with artists who arrived carrying unpleasant memories of recording sessions where they were ignored or pushed around. For some, being able to try an idea without somebody immediately shutting it down can take time to get used to.
“My only job in a session is to facilitate an artist’s vision and add collaborative input where needed. Folks walk into my studio with serious trauma from sessions they’ve had where they felt like they didn’t have any control or even consideration from a producer running the session and if I can make space for that person to feel comfortable in their artistry and in the studio, then I can feel proud of what I’ve done that day.”
Sarah spends much of her working life recording bands. She knows the musicians coming into her room might have saved money and planned for months to get there. They might also be nervous, especially if they’ve had bad experiences elsewhere.
“I try to remember that even though I’m in the studio everyday, bands and artists aren’t. A session is a sacred time for them to own the space and play in the sandbox.”
It’s a good description of what Jett and Nadia have been trying to build around bratlash, including the way they work with each other. Nadia has spoken about being able to work freely with Jett, without censoring herself or worrying about how an idea might be received. Jett had previously experienced sessions dominated by men who made decisions about their songs for them. Both wanted a different kind of working environment.
Sarah encourages women, femmes, trans and queer musicians interested in engineering to trust their instincts, even when the industry gives them plenty of reasons to doubt themselves.
“Be yourself! Be brave! Try to drown out the noise that’s giving you reasons “not to” by thinking of reasons why you SHOULD go for it. When the cards are historically stacked against you, that’s easier said than done but being true to yourself, knowing your strengths, and trusting your gut will never lead you down the wrong path.”
“YR LIES” has changed quite a bit since Sarah finished mixing it. The version bratlash play at gigs now includes ideas from bassist Johnny Levine and guitarist Zachary Hunhoff, both of whom joined after the original recording. Johnny wasn’t involved in the single or the debut EP sessions, while Zach first encountered this particular song during the band’s rehearsals.
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Johnny had barely worked with “YR LIES” before it was time to shoot the video. They immediately liked the intensity the song allowed, especially compared with some of the band’s earlier tunes. There’s enough room to play around without losing the basic structure.
They’ve started slapping the bass during the verses, trying different octaves in the choruses and pushing the ending further when the band play live. The short closing section on the recording has become a breakdown, with Johnny using a simple slap groove and letting loose.
“To me, that would be the outro at the end of the song. It’s usually a pretty short section, but that’s where I feel that I can release all the pent-up anger that this song (and our music in general) is meant to highlight. When we play it live we play it as a breakdown, and I slap a pretty simple groove in which I can just go crazy and that just feels so liberating, it’s always such a fun time.”
Zach has his own little variations. He often harmonises the bass in the second verse and adds driving octaves against the vocal lines in the choruses. He’s especially fond of the noisy, slightly messy guitar parts, and he enjoys having room to work out different things at rehearsals and shows.
The bridge has stayed with him since the first time he learnt the song. The verses and choruses are confrontational, but he hears the middle section as a message from somebody who understands the fear and frustration around them.
“After the verses and the chorus paint an unflinchingly honest picture of what is taking place in our country, the bridge comes in as sort of a comfort. Not a comfort that excuses hatred and injustice but one that sees what is going on and says “hey, there are so many people doing horrible things in this world but we are going to stand and fight for what is right, and it’s going to be ok”.”
That was the part Jett had called a lullaby during rehearsal.
“I remember during one of our rehearsals Jett described this section as sort of a lullaby, which I think is spot on. A lullaby that reminds us of hope even within dire circumstances.”
The current band also appear together in the video. The original plan had been quite different. Jett and Nadia had discussed being the main people shown in bratlash’s visual work, especially while the drummer situation was still unsettled. The drummer on the debut EP had been away for the summer, and Julian initially came in to be the visible drummer before taking on the role temporarily at gigs.
By the time they were ready to film “YR LIES”, everybody could attend, so the band decided to make the video an introduction to the full group. Jett wanted people to see their personalities as well as the political side of their music.
“We are really just a bunch of silly geese who like to shred, and I think that’s clear in the video.”
The story running underneath the performance is intentionally abstract, drawing connections between American history and current politics without giving viewers a single prescribed interpretation. Jett wanted people to think about the images themselves.
One major reference was Ministry’s video for “New World Order”, which Jett saw as a teenager. Discovering Bad Religion and Bikini Kill around the same period also helped introduce them to counterculture and intersectional feminism. Those experiences have stayed with them, and the Ministry video was an especially strong influence on how they approached “YR LIES”.
The release had originally been planned for summer, well before its eventual election-week date was settled. Jett says the timing did nothing to determine the visuals. The single arrived on 30 October, with the video set for 2 November, one day before the US midterms on 3 November.
Asher Thomas handled the video work and photographs from the shoot, including the non-performance footage. The cover artwork came from WormFoodRottenBones, also known as SnugglDungeon, with inspiration taken from the video itself, Jett’s drawings from their younger years and punk record sleeves by bands such as Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion and 7 Seconds. Artie Universe supplied separate concert photography.
Jett has also spoken about the difficulty of getting political posts seen online and their preference for commissioning independent, queer and local artists where possible. Those decisions sit alongside the band’s continuing refusal to release music on Spotify. They’ve previously acknowledged that other streaming platforms have their own problems, but they’ve chosen to direct people towards Bandcamp first.
bratlash aren’t setting a fixed schedule for everything that comes next. Jett wants to take some time away from gigs in the new year, work with a new drummer and write more collectively. The Boston-themed project they discussed in July has changed quite a bit since then, and they’re still working out what it will become.
They’re also considering how to handle the growing use of AI in music and art. Jett remains opposed to AI-generated art, although the exact decisions for future bratlash releases are still being discussed. Johnny, Zach and Nadia are all contributing ideas as the band grow more comfortable writing together.
“Either way, I’m grateful for the insight that Johnny, Zach and Nadia offer, because music is made better together.”
“YR LIES” was released on 30 October 2026 and is available through bratlash’s Bandcamp and streaming services other than Spotify. The official video follows on 2 November through the band’s YouTube channel. Jett Lea Garrett wrote the song, Sarah Tudzin produced, engineered and mixed it, and Jett and Julian Hoot handled additional engineering. For a song that began with Jett trying to finish something on their own, it’s already picked up quite a few other people’s ideas.
