Pisces baby born 1997, Lauren Tate is a singer-songwriter, producer, director and artist from South Yorkshire, England. Growing up the eldest of three, Tate was a secondary school dropout, writing and self producing music from her bedroom from the age of 15. Delving into many musical genres, singing both hard-rock/grunge-punk in her current band Hands Off Gretel, Tate most recently stripped back to a softer, raw Americana sad-pop sound with her first solo album in 5 years, ‘Songs for Sad Girls’.
Available through her own label Trash Queen Records (UK), Tate recorded and self-produced 11 of the 14 tracks in her home studio.
“I planned to get my album produced by someone when I could afford it, but there was a certain magic and honesty captured in my recordings that I knew would really move people. My lyrics are honest and brutal with songs about domestic abuse, body image, feminism and fear of dying. I wanted it to sound like a girl writing in her diary, unapologetic and imperfect like real girls are.”
“It was important for me to keep the album unapologetic and blunt, with lyrics addressing hard to swallow subjects such as self harm, gun violence and abusive relationships in a real way like something I’d write in a diary,” continues Lauren. “I was inspired a lot by 1950s era love songs especially those that mostly painted an image of sad lonely women in a patriarchal society. ‘Can’t Keep My Hands Off You’ and ‘He Loves Me’ are songs written about mental and physical abuse within a relationship were the woman is unaware that she is being mistreated. Most lyrics I write are from my own experiences but not all of them, the ones that aren’t my own experiences are experiences of my friends and fans who’ve wrote to me about mental health and relationships with kids in my generation feeling voiceless in a world that is too busy and chaotic to listen to them.”
Lauren not only self-produced and recorded all instruments on her debut album she designed all the album artwork and merchandise too. Described by BBC Introducing presenter Christian Carlisle as a ‘One Woman Record label’.
Lauren has now confirmed that she will be heading out on a UK tour in November with Wildhearts legend Ginger and his band The Sinners, allowing Tate the chance to present her solo songs in the live setting, accompanied by Hands Off Gretel’s own Seán Bon on guitar.
Catch Lauren Tate on tour with Ginger Wildheart & The Sinners at the following dates in November:
Thu 7 London, 229 Club (Tickets)
Fri 8 Cardiff, St Johns Church (Tickets)
Sun 10 Leicester, Y Theatre (Tickets)
Thu 14 Glasgow, Cottiers (Tickets)
Fri 15 Aberdeen, The Lemon Tree (Tickets)
Sat 16 Newcastle, Assembly Rooms (Tickets)
Sun 17 Manchester, Dance House (Tickets)