Upcoming Releases

09/15/2023

Worriers

Trust Your Gut

Tuesday, June 27, 2023 - 18:04

submitted by

Thomas

http://www.facebook.com/worriersmusic

Ernest Jenning Record Co

On September 15, Worriers will release their new album Trust Your Gut on Ernest Jenning Record Co. (pre-order). Trust Your Gut is the band's first studio album in years and features band members Atom Willard (Against Me!, Social Distortion), Franz Nicolay (The Hold Steady), Frank Piegaro and Cayetana’s Allegra Anka. The album follows the band's acclaimed home-recorded album Warm Blanket which was released earlier this year.

Today the band is pleased to share the album's title track and its accompanying video, which was directed by Chelsea Christer. The video was inspired by Empire Records, but instead of saving a record store the community works to save their beloved local queer bar. "Trust Your Gut" debuted today at Brooklyn Vegan and the song is on all streaming platforms now for any playlist shares.

On the song and video Worriers' Lauren Denitzio says:

This is some of the most fun I've ever had writing and recording a song, so I wanted the video to come from an equally fun and joyous place. The song is meant to celebrate learning to trust your intuition and advocate for yourself and your own time, even in the face of being told that everything is fine. I thought it would be a good match for the video to be an interpretation of Empire Records where we're saving a queer bar instead of a record store - just a fun way to claim space and community and see yourself in something when outside forces are working against you. Queer interpretations are some of my favorite things to talk about, and I'll never turn down a chance to incorporate queer joy into our work!

For the better part of a decade, Worriers have used their own brand of punk-adjacent indie rock to tell stories of heartbreak, gender expression, identity, and love. 2023 started with the release of their home-recorded project Warm Blanket, a clean slate of ten songs that set the stage for a more significant shift to come. Now, on their first studio album in three years, Trust Your Gut, songwriter Lauren Denitzio returns with a self-produced and pivotal release demonstrating the true depth and complexity of their career with the band.

Worriers became Denitzio’s main focus after the wake-up call of open-heart surgery at just 25 years old. The event shook them into leaving a toxic creative partnership and starting a band that could evolve along with them. That priority takes center stage on Trust Your Gut, as Denitzio’s 2019 move from the East Coast to Los Angeles found them collaborating with Atom Willard (Against Me!, Social Distortion) as a fun exercise, only to realize they had started writing the next album together.

The sonic goals for the album led to the addition of Denitzio’s friend Franz Nicolay (The Hold Steady) after tweeting that they were trying to write in his style. His response was “Send me demos!” and the results are now foundational melodies layered throughout the album.

With Frank Piegaro (whose signature guitar style was featured on 2020’s You Or Someone You Know) returning to the lineup, the final addition was Cayetana’s Allegra Anka on bass. It’s not every day an artist gets to share the stage with bands like the above, but Denitzio’s remarkable talent lies in their ability to turn admiration into meaningful collaborations. They credit these partnerships as a springboard to showcase their personal development as a songwriter.

The band’s moniker, Worriers, is a homonym. When introducing someone new to the band, it’s important to specify “Worriers, as in to fret, not to fight.” But Worriers have finally done plenty of fighting on Trust Your Gut. Lest anyone thinks they’ve forgotten the political-punk roots of their debut album Imaginary Life, it wouldn’t be a Worriers record without referencing things like dystopian robot security dogs, dancing on the grave of a fascist, or a nod to the activist-themed novel Stay and Fight.

In a time when people were desperate for connection and leaning into relationships, Denitzio was scrawling a cathartic manifesto denouncing the things that no longer served them. But this is not a record of angst and scorekeeping. Trust Your Gut is an honest and often witty journey through heartbreak on its way to strength. In a way, Denitzio was also starting a new and incredibly vital relationship: one with themself.

While Denitzio penned their most-listened track “They/Them/Theirs” years before pronouns entered the national stage, the unfolding of their gender identity has certainly shaped not only the band but the journey to writing Trust Your Gut. Eschewing the classification of “women-in-music” while paying their dues in a male-dominated scene has been nothing if not an exercise in resilience.

While each song is part of this unapologetic journey to self-acceptance, each has a distinctive sound all its own. To get where you’re going, you have to get away from where you’ve been. Coming up in the DIY scene, Worriers have earned the mark of a seasoned traveler, ready to demonstrate all they’ve learned along the way. Come for the biting self-empowerment and stay for the nods to pop, rock, indie, and folk. On Trust Your Gut, Denitzio emerges from the ashes, not as a phoenix reborn per se, but rather fortified by their past to build a more resilient future.

Trust Your Gut track list: