It feels so good to hear a huge rock chorus, a band that's just going for it. That's what Portland, Maine's Weakened Friends bring on "Tough Luck (Bleed Me Out)," the lead single and opening track from Feels Like Hell, the new LP that they'll release this fall. The last time we heard from Weakened Friends, they had a huge chorus, too. That was in March, when they released their cover of Ednaswap's "Torn," the '90s banger made famous by Natalie Imbruglia. The "Torn" cover is on the new album, too -- another sign that this band is going for something big.
Weakened Friends have been around for a while, bashing out sincere pop-punk with force and emphasis. Feels Like Hell follows their 2021 album Quitter and "Awkward," the one-off single that they released in 2021. Today, bandleader Sonia Sturino is married to bassist Annie Hoffman, who produced the new record, and it's the first album that Sturino has recorded as a gender nonconforming person. In a press release, Sturino says, "It was really important to me, and it makes me feel so much better about this record because I feel like I hear me. I’m not scared to hear myself; I’m not judging myself anymore." They also call the new record "unequivocally the best thing this band has ever done."
I believe it. "Tough Luck (Bleed Me Out)" is a tough, crunchy, larger-than-life rocker with a tremulous, passionate lead vocal from Sturino. They sing about numbing themselves as a way to keep working, but they don't sound the tiniest bit numb. They sound like they feel everything. Weakened Friends might be a DIY band, but they sound like they're ready for the biggest stages. Here's what they say about it:
After years of bouncing between underpaid, dead-end part-time jobs and being treated like a cog in a machine, we channeled that frustration into a rallying cry against toxic capitalism. It’s both a personal exorcism and a collective anthem for anyone who's ever felt burned out, used up, and still told to be grateful for the privilege. It’s a reminder that there's power in stepping back, speaking out, and saying no to a system that was never built to care about us in the first place.
Below, check out the Jim Gilbert-directed video, the Feels Like Hell tracklist, and Weakened Friends' upcoming tour dates. One song features Buckethead? I don't know, man! That's what it says!
TRACKLIST:
01 "Tough Luck (Bleed Me Out)"
02 "Lightspeed"
03 "Nosebleed"
04 "Weightless"
05 "Interlude 1"
06 "NPC" (feat. Buckethead)
07 "Smoke And Mirrors"
08 "Queen Of Town"
09 "Not For Nothing"
10 "Interlude 2"
11 "Great Expectations"
12 "Torn"
TOUR DATES:
8/02 - Portland, ME @ Back Cove Festival
9/21 - Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest
10/16 - Troy, NY @ No Fun
10/17 - Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
10/18 - Toronto, ON @ The Sound Garage
10/22 - Cincinnati, OH @ Radio Artifact
10/23 - Chattanooga, TN @ The Boneyard
10/25 - Gainesville, FL @ The Fest
10/29 - Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor
10/30 - Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
10/31 - Atlanta, GA @ Altar at the Masquerade
11/01 - Greenville, SC @ Swanson’s Warehouse
11/05 - Cudahy, WI @ X-Ray Arcade
11/07 - Detroit, MI @ Lager House
11/08 - Cleveland, OH @ Grog House
11/09 - Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
11/12 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Bottlerocket Social Hall
11/13 - Washington, DC @ Comet Ping Pong
11/14 - Philadelphia, PA @ Nikki Lopez
11/15 - Brooklyn, NY @ The Sultan Room
11/16 - Amherst, MA @ The Drake
11/20 - Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
11/21 - Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Showcase Lounge
Feels Like Hell is out 10/10 on Don Giovanni.
