Philadelphia, Pennsylvania heavy, melodic, noisenik punk quartet RID OF ME teamed with Brooklyn Vegan for the premiere of the second single from their forthcoming LP. Listen to “Traveling” below.
“We wanted to make a heavy anchor point a few songs into the record,” band member Mike McGinnis says. “The song and album having the same name with a different spelling sort of represents how we were thinking about the way the song portrays the band and album as a whole and how the song’s meaning relates to our experience writing it.”
Brooklyn Vegan adds, “You can hear the influence of the loud, raw, bare-bones album that Rid of Me are named after, but they channel that influence through more of a straight-up punk lens, and the results are very satisfying.”
Rid of Me, comprised of members of Fight Amp, Anxiety Spiral, Low Dose, Legendary Divorce, and Soul Glo, recently announced the release of their first LP, Travelling, via Knife Hits Records (digital/cassette/CD) and The Ghost Is Clear Records (vinyl) on December 3.
Prior to sharing “Traveling,” the band premiered a video for the album’s first single, “Myself,” (Watch it here) which was featured by Stereogum as one of the five best songs of the week saying:
“PJ Harvey was never a punk, but her 1993 sophomore LP Rid Of Me was the closest thing she ever made to a punk album. Working with Steve Albini, Harvey tapped into the scraped-raw sensibilities of ’90s noise rock and supercharged her own guttural goth-blues. The members of Rid Of Me, the Philadelphia band presumably named after the Harvey album, are punks; they come from Philly bands like Soul Glo, Fight Amp, and Low Dose. On “Myself,” though, they tap into the same intense, feverish swagger as PJ Harvey did 28 years ago. “Myself” is raw and clangorous and operatic, and bandleader Itarya Rosenberg has the kind of gale-force howl that might make you reach for a PJ Harvey comparison even if she didn’t spell it out for you.”
Travelling follows Last (June 2021), Summer (April 2020) and Broke Shit Demos (October 2020). It was recorded at The Gradewell House with Steve Poponi and The Bummer Basement with Mike McGinnis. Poponi mixed it and it was mastered by Dave Downham.
Pre-order vinyl via The Ghost Is Clear Records. Pre-order digital / cassette / CD via Knife Hits Records.
Catch the band live here:
Dec 2 – Philadelphia, PA at Silk City (LP release)
Dec 3 – Washington, DC at Pie Shop
Dec 4 – Boston, MA at O’Briens
Dec 5 – NYC at Mercury Lounge
