track taken from their debut album, PRANG, set for release on 30th August via Big Scary Monsters.
Packed with infectious hooks, uplifting melodies and a hint of the trio’s quirky sense of humour, ‘You Look Like Death’ serves as a great introduction to PRANG.
The band comment on the song: “’You Look Like Death’ is the story of leaving home told through everyone else’s words. It’s anxiousness we feel, thinking we have let loved ones down and what they might say if they could see us now. This song is the interpretation of how it must feel on the other side, to watch someone grow up, fly the nest, make bad decisions and find their way in this crazy world. It’s thinking of the first day you can remember on the day you leave.”
Directed by Ben Pollard, the accompanying video is a clever interpretation of the song’s theme. The band explain: “The video is centred around a character that is stuck in their own head – they’ve shut themselves away for too long and are now petrified of the world outside. You could say they look like death (smug face). FEAR NOT FRIEND! GR are here to wake you the fuck up, give you a lil pep talk and send you into the world to GET IT.”
GENDER ROLES have also announced their ‘PRANG’ UK headline tour, check them out on the following dates:
02/10 – Norwich, Open
03/10 – London, Boston Music Room
04/10 – Southampton, Heartbreakers
05/10 – Bristol, Rough Trade
06/10 – Nottingham, Rough Trade
07/10 – Glasgow, Attic
08/10 – Sheffield, Record Junkee
09/10 – Liverpool, Kazimier
10/10 – Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
11/10 – Portsmouth, The Wave Maiden
14/10 – Guildford, Boileroom
Purchase tickets here: http://genderrolesuk.com
The band are also confirmed for the following dates this summer:
21/06 – London, Old Blue Last
22/06 – Oxford, Summer in the City
23/06 – Middlesbrough, Heelapalooza
30/06 – Wintergrun Fest, Germany
19/07 – Cardiff, The Big Top
20/07 – Birmingham, Flapper Fest
17/08 – ArcTangent Festival
Forming after a chance initial meeting at drummer Jordan Lilford’s Brighton Pride party in 2015, GENDER ROLES, also consisting of guitarist/vocalist Tom Bennett and bassist Jared Tomkins, found that Brighton’s DIY scene was the ideal hub to cut their teeth and allow themselves to grow as a band. The inspiration and ethos they could draw on in those early days has been integral to the act they’ve become.
While the coastal city remains the band’s home, it cannot be said to have contained them. Gigging throughout Europe and the States, packing out tents at festivals such as 2000 Trees, and sharing the stage with heroes from Jamie Lenman to Touche Amore and Pup, GENDER ROLES have built on those early foundations to amass a growing fanbase, drawn to their melodic grunge/punk and dry, candid sense of humour.
Documenting that growth have been the band’s two EPs released so far, 2017’s Planet X-Ray and 2018’s Lazer Rush. While the theme for those EPs was “overcoming the past and looking forward to the future together”, the new, debut album, PRANG, focuses on much more immediate issues, even if it did come from a particularly happy place for GENDER ROLES.
“There was never really a concept discussed until we really started stockpiling a lot of new material. It’s really hard to try and express any other thought other than ‘everything is great’ when everything is actually going great. We were in such a good place as a new band throughout 2017 and 2018 and you can’t just sing about being stoked all the time, because it’s boring. One of the first songs we wrote for the album, “Always”, is about losing someone very close and it sort of occurred that it’s difficult, no matter when it happens in your life. Most problems we face in life are at home, either growing up, raising a family, trying to become one, being alone, whatever it is. The idea grew from there and became the theme of the whole album”.