Stafford gig for Petrol Girls alongside War On Women
Punk rockers Petrol Girls have announced a European tour alongside War On Women to promote the release of their forthcoming second record - including a date in Stafford.
The Londoners will release Cut & Stitch on May 24, while in the middle of a spring and summer co-headline tour that includes dates at some of the country's biggest festivals like The Great Escape and 2000Trees.
The tour also stops off at Stafford's RedRum, on Crabbery Street, on June 2. The show alongside War On Women will be one of the few British dates on the tour, before they head off again later in the year with La Dispute.
The band have always been openly feminist and that theme still runs deep through the material they wrote for the new release. But there's more strings to their bow than just that. And alongside one previous LP - Talk of Violence in 2016 - there have also been three EPs.
“Cut & Stitch is a patchwork of different sounds, ideas and feelings," said vocalist and co-founder Ren Aldrige. "It’s the most experimental record we’ve made, both musically and lyrically.
"Cutting and stitching is a process that can go on indefinitely - stitches are easily unpicked, new shapes can be cut, everything can be rearranged. We cut our patches off of old clothes and sew them onto something else. Continuity is an idea that underpins the record.
"This follows on from the sentiment of our last EP The Future is Dark. Political change is a slow, complicated process that’s often only partly visible with hindsight. Making change is a constant collective process that never stops. It’s probably impossible for us to see our place within it or to know what consequences our actions will have. It isn’t as simple or hopeless as straightforward victories and failures."
Ren added: "Feminism has become more of an overall approach than an obvious topic, seeping into the way we think about everything from the environment to mental health. We’ve also started to think more about what feminism means for men, given that half of the band are men.
"The majority of the lyrics were written in the studio. I was having a difficult time, unsure about where to live after we finished the record, and burnt out from a tough year of personal and legal challenges. Something that I’ve reluctantly allowed feminism to teach me is that we have to tend to our own wounds, and that sometimes being vulnerable is just as radical as being angry. Rage on its own isn’t sustainable. We hope this is a more honest and human record.”
To hear it played live, fans can get tickets for the Redrum show - priced at £11- here.
