Petrol Girls take their song "No Love For A Nation" to radio in the UK on October 31st, the Brexit deadline date. This powerful anti-nationalist anthem is welcome at a time when the world is deeply divided and encourages the listener to question the nation state and seek a more inclusive future.
Prior to "No Love For A Nation" impacting radio,
Petrol Girls will hit the Loud Women Festivalin London on
September 14th and embark on a two week headline tour of the UK before joiningThrice and
Refused in the EU on
November 3rd for another two weeks.
"No Love For A Nation" is the fourth single from the band's critically acclaimed sophomore LPCut & Stitch. Released by Hassle Records on May 24th, 2019, the album earned a "First Listen" from NPR who wrote, "These are songs that rip through time, across borders and into psyches with feminist post-hardcore that engages as it rampages." The New York Times included single "Big Mouth" in their weekly Playlist feature and added, "...'Cut & Stitch' is a paean to speaking up and breaking out" and The Fader featured the band describing the album as having, "...sizable riffs, fist-pumping sing-alongs, and a firebomb of social commentary."
When asked about the single,
Petrol Girls lead singer and songwriter Ren Aldridge shared...
This track is our anti-nationalist anthem. As a band, we come from three different nation states - Austria,
Lithuania and the UK - and hold no love for any of them. The nation is a bizarre and often cruel way of organising societies on the basis of where people happen to have been born. It is those on the edge of this way of defining ourselves that suffer its harshest consequences - refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. Populist nationalism takes aim at these people, and uses them as a scapegoat for the failings of capitalism and neoliberalism. If history has taught us anything, it's that we must resist the rise of populist nationalism that is sweeping the planet.
We stand in opposition to Fortress Europe but mourn Brexit as the result of populist nationalist politics and a xenophobic, dishonest and at times overtly racist campaign. We are not proud of Britain - we are embarrassed. Above all we are angered by the rise in racism and xenophobia since the Brexit result. We are deeply troubled and angered by the way in which populist nationalism has emboldened racists and fascists across the world. f the FPÖ, AfD, Pegida, Le Front National, Bolsonaro, Putin, Trump, UKIP and Brexit.
Populist nationalism is the weaponisation of the Nation State - the bizarre and often cruel way that societies are organised on the basis of where people happen to have been born. Obviously the Nation State has material outcomes, manifested in reality as physical borders, passports, governments and armies. But at its core, the Nation State is just an idea - a notion - something that exists in our collective imagination and is consolidated through culture - through monuments and museums, through football and flags. The lyrics to this track grew from an art project I've been doing for a while, where people are invited to cut up flags and stitch them into new forms. This is also where the album title Cut & Stitch came from.
This song aims to question, and contribute to destabilising the idea of nations. Can we collectively imagine ourselves in a different way? The nation rose from the decline of the monarchy - what will rise from the decline of nations? Can't we find better and more inclusive ways of collectively understanding ourselves?
Since the release of Cut & Stitch the band has been getting a lot of support from BBC 6Music andRadio 1. Dan P Carter from Radio 1 has been a big supporter. He aired a live session fromMaida Vale and chatted with Ren at length for a "Getting To Know You" feature. Steve Lamacq at 6Music has been featuring the band heavily on his "Recommends" show, they won an episode of Steve's "Round Table," and he did a "60sec CV" feature with Ren. In addition, Lamacq has said of the album, "They've made one of the most thought-provoking records I've come across in quite some time...A band that display what rock n roll music can do, and what a great communicator it can be." Plus, they've had support from Radio X who will be airing a session with John Kennedy.
Petrol Girls have so far this year toured the UK and EU with War on Women followed by
La Dispute and hit several major festivals throughout Europe, including Roskilde and2000Trees. With the headline tour this month and Thrice and
Refused dates in November,
Petrol Girls have their sights set on the US in 2020.
Listen to "No Love for a Nation" below.
CONFIRMED TOUR DATES:
September 14th: LONDON (UK), LOUD WOMEN Fest 4
September 15th: NORWICH (UK), The Waterfront Studio #
September 17th: LEEDS (UK), Hyde Park Book Club #
September 18th: EDINBURGH (UK), Sneaky Pete's #
September 19th: BIRMINGHAM (UK), The Asylum 2 #
September 20th: BRISTOL (UK), Exchange #
September 21st: SOUTHAMPTON (UK), Joiners #
November 3rd: AMSTERDAM (NL), Melkweg *
November 4th: COLOGNE (DE), Carlswerk *
November 5th: HAMBURG (DE), Grosse Freiheit *
November 7th: BRUSSELS (BE), Ancienne Belgique *
November 8th: PARIS (FR), Elysee Montmartre *
November 10th: MILAN (IT), Alcatraz *
November 11th: MUNICH (DE), Tonhalle *
November 12th: BERLIN (DE), Huxleys *
November 14th: SOLOTHURN (CH), Kofmehl ^
November 16th: BARCELONA (ES), La2 ^
November 17th: MADRID (ES), Chango ^
# HEADLINE | * w/ THRICE & REFUSED | ^w/ THRICE
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