UK feminist post-hardcore band PETROL GIRLS has announced their first ever North American headlining tour. Kicking off in March with appearances at this year’s New Colossus Fest in NYC and SXSW in Austin, the band is set to hit the Midwest and East coast in clubs and DIY spaces through early April – full dates below, with tickets on sale now – click here.
For a taste of their high-energy shows, they’ve released the video for “Monstrous,” a track off of their internationally acclaimed LP Cut & Stitch. Filmed by Martyna Wisniewska (@gingerdope) over tours with Refused and Thrice and La Dispute, the clip is an intimate portrait of Petrol Girls on tour, both on stage and off. It resonates with the theme of the track, as vocalist Ren Aldridge says that “Monstrous” “is about feeling mined and drained and too much and not enough and, ultimately, monstrous. It’s also about how I sometimes feel on stage or on social media. Sometimes I find fronting a feminist band too much pressure from too many different directions.”
Released on May 24th, 2019, Cut & Stitch marked the band’s sophomore release and quickly gained international acclaim with everyone from The New York Times (“… ‘Cut & Stitch’ is a paean to speaking up and breaking out.”) to The FADER (“…sizable riffs, fist-pumping sing-alongs, and a firebomb of social commentary.”) lauding both the band’s indelible brand of punk rock and their fiery political and social message. The record appeared on several year’s best lists, including that of NPR’s Lars Gotrich, who writes,
“In 2019, it was crucial — life-affirming and -saving, even — to make your own noise. ‘This is the sound / It moves in our bodies / It passes through time / Brings what came before us,’ Petrol Girls’ Ren Aldridge screamed at the top of a turbulent punk record filled with compassion. That boundless philosophy resonated with me this year — to listen and absorb more deeply, to excavate the traces of memory in music.”
Along with the album, a companion Rough Trade Publishing “Edition,” written by Ren is also available now. It’s a collection of “some of the in-betweens and the afterthoughts of our latest record ‘Cut & Stitch,’ from my perspective,” she says. “It’s a chance for me to think about where some of the lyrics have come from, to write in and out of them and make links between them. It’s set out as a series of mini-essays, using cutting and stitching as a way of thinking about topics such as community, building solidarity, resisting perfectionism, emotional labour, gender & craft.”
Since the release of Cut & Stitch, the band has been busy on the road in Europe and the UK, supporting Thrice and Refused last fall, La Dispute in the summer, and War on Women last spring plus appearing at festivals like The Great Escape, 2000trees, and Roskilde. The North American tour follows headline runs throughout the UK & Ireland – kicking off tonight in Newport – and mainland Europe over the next two months.
UK & Ireland Headlining Dates
January 14 @ Le Pub in Newport, UK
January 15 @ The Green Door Store in Brighton, UK
January 16 @ Oslo Hackney in London, UK
January 17 @ The Bodega in Nottingham, UK
January 18 @ The Deaf Institute in Manchester, UK
January 19 @ Nice N Sleazy in Glasgow, UK
January 21 @ McHugh’s Basement Bar in Belfast, UK
January 22 @ Upstairs at Whelan’s in Dublin, Ireland
January 23 @ Kasbah Social Club in Limerick, Ireland
European Headline Tour
February 5-7 @ MENT Ljubljana 2020 in Ljubljana, Slovenia
February 12 @ Folks! Club in Munich, Germany
February 13 @ Tsunami Club in Cologne, Germany
February 14 @ Point Ephemere in Paris, France
February 15 @ Botanique in Brussels, Belgium
February 16 @ Melkweg (Upstairs) in Amsterdam, NL
February 18 @ Hafenklang in Hamburg, Germany
February 19 @ Loppen in Copenhagen, Denmark
February 20 @ Krosset in Oslo, Norway
February 21 @ Kafe 44 in Stockholm, Sweden
February 22 @ Enskiftet in Malmo, Sweden
February 23 @ Katine am Berghain in Berlin, Germany
North American Tour Dates
March 11-14 @ New Colossus Fest in New York, NY
March 17-22 @ SXSW in Austin, TX
March 23 @ Sleeping Village in Chicago, IL
March 24 @ Shakespeare’s Lower Level in Kalamazoo, MI
March 25 @ The Loving Touch in Ferndale, MI
March 26 @ Blind Bob’s in Dayton, OH
March 28 @ The Government Center in Pittsburgh, PA
March 29 @ Bovine Sex Club in Toronto, ON
March 31 @ The Trefle Noir in Rouyn Noran, QC
April 1 @ Turbo Haus in Montreal, QC
April 2 @ Hong Kong in Boston, MA
April 3 @ Gutter in Brooklyn, NY
April 4 @ Ortliebs in Philadelphia, PA
