Brutalligators - Still Here [12”]

Artist: Brutalligators
Title: Still Here
Format: 12” Vinyl LP | Digital
Cat#: Fika112LP
Release date: 21 Nov 2025
Bandcamp | Spotify

BRUTALLIGATORS RETURN WITH RAW AND RESILIENT SECOND ALBUM “STILL HERE

A queer indie-punk love letter to learning to accept all that life throws at you, with big sing-along choruses and heart-on-sleeve lyrics about relationships, friendship and gender.

Hitchin-based indie-punk four-piece Brutalligators are back with their second album, Still Here, a powerful, cathartic, and joyously loud collection of songs about survival, identity, and moving forward. From shout-along anthems to intimate confessions, the album explores grief, friendship, queer identity, aging, and that ever-complicated feeling of simply trying to exist.

Following 2021’s This House is Too Big, This House is Too Small, the new record marks a sonic and emotional evolution for the band — trading heartbreak and endings for resilience, and healing, bringing the raw energy of Brutalligators debut with more melodic moments, blending the indie punk of PUP and Menzingers with the cleaner indie sound of Future Teens and Weezer.

Still Here is an album with the mantra of “I’m still here, and I’m alive” says vocalist/guitarist Luke Murphy (they/them). “Looking at how me and my identity hasn’t been accepted in the past, and focusing on the attitude of ‘fuck you, I am who I am, this is what makes me me’”. 

There’s plenty of positivity on Still Here too, ‘Safe Haven’ and ‘Giving Up’ are both completely heart-on-sleeve love letters to the life that we have now – kind of spiritual sequels to ‘Josie’ from the first record – whereas ‘Wrong Words’ is a similar vein to ‘November 4, 2016’ from the first EP, revelling in how awesome it is to have solid friendships.

The breadth of Still Here showcases the progression of Brutalligators as artists who have been grafting in the DIY scene for the past eight years. ‘Still Here’ and ‘Get Better’ are flagbearers for the typical sound of the band, blending lyrics about queer acceptance with the energy and shout-along choruses that wear their influences of bands like Los Campesinos! and Iron Chic on their collective sleeve. However, ‘Nice Try’ showcases the more restrained side of Brutalligators – an ode to feeling stuck, that brings in influences like The Beths and Aarron West And The Roaring Twenties. Meanwhile, ‘Wrong Words’ almost feels like an old Deftones track, with soaring screamed vocals and heavy, chunky rhythms driving the song forward and closing out the album. 

Still Here is a proudly DIY project, largely recorded, produced, and mixed by drummer Rhys Kirkman - a return to the homegrown feel of early EP Animals I Wish I’d Seen. Rich Mandell (Happy Accidents, Me Rex) recorded Hold Fast, allowing the light and shade to shine through with lush layers of synths, piano and organ, while What’s Next was engineered by Tom Hill (Modern Rituals, Muttering), who’s got a real knack for capturing the energy of a track; Tom had recorded the debut Brutalligators album.

Brutalligators are:
Luke Murphy - they/them (vocals/guitar)
Paul Wade - he/him (guitar/backing vocals)
Simo Lee - they/them (bass/backing vocals)
Rhys Kirkman - he/him (drums/backing vocals)

Brutalligators started in late 2016 when Paul and Luke met for a coffee and discovered a mutual love of 90s and 00s emo and hardcore. Having been in various hardcore and emo bands throughout the 00s and 10s, they decided to try and write some songs together and Brutalligators was born. Simo and Rhys joined soon after, before they debuted at The Good Ship in Kilburn in 2017. They self-released their first EP Animals I Wish I’d Seen in 2017, following with the second EP Friends I Wish I’d Had in 2019 via Real Ghost Records. Their debut album This House is Too Big, This House is Too Small was released in 2021 on Beth Shalom Records, which Noizze commented that the album “presents the band in their greatest, most intimate and most cathartic form.” Since releasing This House is Too Big… Brutalligators have been tearing up stages across the UK and Europe, supporting bands such as Fresh, Michael Cera Palin, Dikembe, Johnny Foreigner and Martha. 

Luke and Paul also run the vinyl subscription server Nothing Sounds Good, spreading the word of DIY punk and indie around the UK. Luke is also a contributor to How To Make Friends, a DIY promotion collective that runs gigs across the UK, and hosts the How To Make Friends podcast, which interviews DIY bands about what it is to be a musician today. Paul also plays in the party-metal collective Needle in the Cross, and makes award-winning short films under Wade Bros Productions. Rhys performs solo folk-punk as Rhys Kirkman. We think Simo might be a fey creature that sustains themself on glitter and multi-sided dice, but we are unsure…

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adults - the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless [12"]

Artist: adults
Title: the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless
Format: 12” green vinyl album & digital
Cat#: Fika110LP
Release date: 31st October 2025
Bandcamp | Spotify

adults’ new record is a pocketful of seeds, ideas, loves, fears and hopes which have sprouted, grown, and intertwined over the past two years. It's a jumble of indie pop, jangle, shoegaze, emo and country songs made in those moments in between. They say that the new album “gathers together echoes of the songs and bands we love into deeply personal songs about growth, change, loss and love, set to the background hum of a world which wants to crush all hope.”

The songs are patchworks of riffs, loops and overdubs stitched together by long time co-conspirator Rich Mandell over the course of 3 months recording on rooftops and warehouses in South London. This is the longest they’ve ever spent recording, (they did their first record in a day in a garage!) and have tried to put together a much more coherent, intentional record as well as just messing around with loud amps and gear they don’t have access to in their bedrooms! 

dead red was always going to be the opening track, slowly building up from a wiggly synth stolen from early The World Is a Beautiful Place… songs and building and building and building. Although lots of their songs aren’t overtly political, each track has an undercurrent driving at radical change. There’s a lot to see red about at the moment, and growing up, many of us have been conditioned to snap, lash out and hurt those closest to us. According to the band: “over time, we’ve learnt from people around us that it’s possible to grow and change. People aren’t disposable, and working on how we respond to harm is vital for building a better world.” 

The singles from the album show adults at their frenetic, hook-filled and optimistic best: flag (flailing wildly somewhere between Fugazi and Supermilk, being silly with time signatures whilst despairing about late stage capitalism), crying (a simple indie pop song about trying to manage conflict with someone you love, but really just getting into arguments with the other person in your head) and patterns (a shoegazy, dream pop song about death and the aftermath). The fast and scrappy side of adults are on display on chest pains and partner song pest chains, complete with a glam-rock solo harmony at the end.

FFO: los campesinos!, martha, breeders, radiator hospital, nana grizol, sleater-kinney, joanna gruesome, the beths, the pains of being pure at heart.

adults are a fast silly indie punk band of four long term pals (carl, joe, joely and tom) who love indie-pop, diy and burgess park. Containing members from various UK diy bands (Fresh, New Starts, Wolf Girl, Tomboy Grandpa, Top Deck) they write noisy awkward pop songs with crunching guitars, speedy drums and yelping dual vocals. Based in south London and firmly established in the UKs indie-pop scene, adults released their debut single ‘MSN’ with Art is Hard records (Bristol, UK), an EP with Caballito Records (Madrid, Spain) and their debut album ‘for everything, always’ came out in 2022 on Fika Recordings (London, UK). Collaborating on splits with much-loved Bitch Hunt ‘Space Armadillo EP’ and recently with Oxford’s Spank Hair titled ‘…in the big league’.

Influenced by the kindness and community of the UK diy scene, adults continue the fight to write one song as good as the world’s best band, Martha (Durham). 

They have a new album ‘the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless’ coming out on Fika on 31/10/2025 and will be playing shows around the UK with mates Felicette in October.

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Oct 28: Withered Hand + Firestations at The Victoria

Withered Hand is the pseudonym of Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter Dan Willson. Since the release of his debut album ‘Good News’ in 2009, Dan has become a celebrated figure in the Scottish music scene and further afield. A well-travelled touring singer-songwriter, he has quietly amassed a devoted cult fanbase while staying true to a singular artistic vision.

A strident second album ‘New Gods’ in 2014 propelled Withered Hand into the charts, featuring appearances by friends, luminaries and supporters from the Scottish music scene, from Belle & Sebastian to Frightened Rabbit to The Vaselines and beyond. A long-awaited third Withered Hand album, ‘How To Love’, was released in 2023, again to widespread critical acclaim.

Dan’s subsequent collaboration with Mercury Prize nominated English singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams resulted in last year’s album “Willson Williams” - shortlisted for both Scottish Album of the Year and UK Americana Album of the Year 2024.

Dan is currently working on a 4th Withered Hand LP with his friend and mentor King Creosote, due for release in late 2025.

Dan has been guest tutor on Songwriting Workshops at Moniack Mhor - Scotland’s Centre of Creative Writing, Arvon Writing Foundation at Totleigh Barton and Arvon Lumb Bank and is an advocate of the power of music and creativity in recovery, healing and growth.

“Beautifully constructed lyrical frameworks … Caledonian gospel” - MOJO
“Killer melodies … wobbly folk grooves … tunes full of warm, woozy sing-song charm”- Artist to Watch - Rolling Stone USA
“One of the greatest Alt-folkies” - The Scotsman
“As life-affirming as music gets” - The Herald

Firestations

Firestations are Mike Cranny, Laura Copsey, Martin Thompson (aka Bit Cloudy), Tom Hargreaves and Neil Walsh. Their music spans genres from shoegaze to alt-pop and harmony-driven psychedelia. Their second album and their debut for Lost Map, The Year Dot, released in 2018, was followed by sonic collage album Dream Home in 2020 and the Automatic Tendencies EP project in 2020-21. The latter took the form of three EPs over a six-month period, each including alternative “sunken” versions by the band as well as covers and remixes of the band’s tracks by other artists. Thick Terrain, released in 2023, saw Firestations return to album format with ten tracks ranging from hypnotic sci-fi landscapes to addictive dream-pop jangles, exploring ideas around identity, conflict, progress and sanity.

Many White Horses is the brand-new album by eclectic London art-pop ensemble Firestations. Released on Lost Map Records on limited-edition 12” vinyl and via digital services on April 25, 2025, the album is a collection of sea-soaked acoustic songs and instrumentals, interwoven with field recordings and lyrics drawn from the immediate surroundings of a sailing expedition, all brought together with warm, textured production..

Tickets from WeGotTickets and from Dice. £15 adv, £8 adv for those on low- or no-incomes (no questions asked).

OCT 24: The Ballet + Evripidis and His Tragedies + Panic Pocket at The Betsey Trotwood

THE BALLET

The Ballet is the musical alter ego of the NYC-based musician and writer Greg Goldberg. The Ballet combines a wry poetic style with pop romanticism and a queer DIY spirit to create literary and infectious pop gems. In addition to citing Stephin Merritt as a formative influence, Goldberg draws inspiration from a variety of pop artists and periods; from 60s bubblegum to 80s synthpop and 90s indiepop, fusing these genres in sophisticated and original ways. Formed in 2005, Goldberg has been joined by several friends over the years: Craig Willse, Marina Miranda (La Pequeña Suiza), Ginger Brooks Takahashi (MEN), and Michael O’Neill (MEN). The Ballet self-released their first two albums: Mattachine! (2006) and Bear Life (2009). These records caught the attention of indie label legends Fortuna Pop!, who released their third album, I Blame Society (2013). After FortunaPop! closed shop, The Ballet partnered with Fika Recordings, who released their fourth and fifth albums: Matchy Matchy (2019) and Daddy Issues (2023). Goldberg is currently working on Ballet’s sixth album, arranged entirely on the Roland Jupiter Xm synthesizer, titled “Nothing Straight.”

EVRIPIDIS AND HIS TRAGEDIES

Evripidis and His Tragedies is the alter-ego of Evripidis Sabatis, a multi-disciplinary artist from Athens living in Barcelona. The "Tragedies" are the devastating, confessional, self-sarcastic and often darkly humorous pop songs that draw on his classical piano training, queer sensibility and storytelling skills, to examine and ultimately own up to the vicissitudes of life. Evripidis' pop inclinations take us for a bumpy, dancey ride across the fine line between tragedy and joie de vivre. 

In 2021, Evripidis released his fifth album Neos Kosmos, combining his love of Doo Wop, Girl Groups, New Wave, Indie Pop and Bedroom Pop with richly textured electronic soundscapes, followed by a handful of singles, with Just a Little Wiser being the latest. Evripidis is currently working on new music.

Evripidis and His Tragedies has performed at international festivals like Primavera Sound, FIB, Indietracks, Eurosonic Noordeslag, etc, and in a plethora of venues in Spain, Greece, UK, Germany, France, Portugal, USA and Mexico.

PANIC POCKET

Panic Pocket are recognised for their cathartic musical storytelling about shaking off bad relationships, the life-changing nature of female-friendship and the perils of online dating, "delivered with a wry sense of humour and an undeniable charm” – For the Rabbits.

Tickets from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings

Brutalligators - Train Wreck [Digital]

Artist: Brutalligators
Title: Train Wreck
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika112SG2
Release date: 22nd October 2025
Bandcamp | Spotify

BRUTALLIGATORS JOIN FIKA RECORDINGS WITH RAW AND RESILIENT SECOND ALBUM “STILL HERE”. NEW SINGLE “TRAIN WRECK” IS OUT NOW.

A queer indie-punk love letter to learning to accept all that life throws at you, with big sing-along choruses and heart-on-sleeve lyrics about relationships, friendship and gender.

Hitchin-based indie-punk four-piece Brutalligators are back with their second album, Still Here, a powerful, cathartic, and joyously loud collection of songs about survival, identity, and moving forward. From shout-along anthems to intimate confessions, the album explores grief, friendship, queer identity, aging, and that ever-complicated feeling of simply trying to exist.

“Sometimes you just need to write a banger” says Luke Murphy about the latest single ‘Train Wreck’. “We wanted to write a big, gang-vocals-driven, chanty, fun punk song, with big singalong choruses. I think this is one of our dumbest songs lyrically, in the best possible way. In saying that, “my life’s a punchline that I didn’t get – just keep on laughing and it might make sense in the end” feels like the perfect summary of the last ten years of my life.”

Following 2021’s This House is Too Big, This House is Too Small, the new record marks a sonic and emotional evolution for the band — trading heartbreak and endings for resilience, and healing, bringing the raw energy of Brutalligators debut with more melodic moments, blending the indie punk of PUP and Menzingers with the cleaner indie sound of Future Teens and Weezer.

Still Here is an album with the mantra of “I’m still here, and I’m alive” says vocalist/guitarist Luke Murphy (they/them). “Looking at how me and my identity hasn’t been accepted in the past, and focusing on the attitude of ‘fuck you, I am who I am, this is what makes me me’”. 

Still Here is a proudly DIY project, largely recorded, produced, and mixed by drummer Rhys Kirkman - a return to the homegrown feel of early EP Animals I Wish I’d Seen. Rich Mandell (Happy Accidents, Me Rex) recorded Hold Fast, allowing the light and shade to shine through with lush layers of synths, piano and organ, while What’s Next was engineered by Tom Hill (Modern Rituals, Muttering), who’s got a real knack for capturing the energy of a track; Tom had recorded the debut Brutalligators album.

Brutalligators are:
Luke Murphy - they/them (vocals/guitar)
Paul Wade - he/him (guitar/backing vocals)
Simo Lee - they/them (bass/backing vocals)
Rhys Kirkman - he/him (drums/backing vocals)

Brutalligators started in late 2016 when Paul and Luke met for a coffee and discovered a mutual love of 90s and 00s emo and hardcore. Having been in various hardcore and emo bands throughout the 00s and 10s, they decided to try and write some songs together and Brutalligators was born. Simo and Rhys joined soon after, before they debuted at The Good Ship in Kilburn in 2017. They self-released their first EP Animals I Wish I’d Seen in 2017, following with the second EP Friends I Wish I’d Had in 2019 via Real Ghost Records. Their debut album This House is Too Big, This House is Too Small was released in 2021 on Beth Shalom Records, which Noizze commented that the album “presents the band in their greatest, most intimate and most cathartic form.” Since releasing This House is Too Big… Brutalligators have been tearing up stages across the UK and Europe, supporting bands such as Fresh, Michael Cera Palin, Dikembe, Johnny Foreigner and Martha. 

Luke and Paul also run the vinyl subscription server Nothing Sounds Good, spreading the word of DIY punk and indie around the UK. Luke is also a contributor to How To Make Friends, a DIY promotion collective that runs gigs across the UK, and hosts the How To Make Friends podcast, which interviews DIY bands about what it is to be a musician today. Paul also plays in the party-metal collective Needle in the Cross, and makes award-winning short films under Wade Bros Productions. Rhys performs solo folk-punk as Rhys Kirkman. We think Simo might be a fey creature that sustains themself on glitter and multi-sided dice, but we are unsure…

Oct 21: Darren Hayman at The Theatreship

Darren Hayman performs his 2012 album The Ship's Piano. On a ship. On a ship's piano.

With support from Lila Tristram.

Tickets from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings

"In November 2009 I had this thing happen to me, where I ended up in hospital with a fractured skull. For a few months I felt constantly dizzy and was diagnosed with some deafness in one ear. Sharp loud noises bothered me greatly. I was told to rest and do nothing, but who knows how to do that?

Music always helps when I'm ill, so I started to make the simplest, quietest music to help me recuperate. I tried to make the music that I wanted to hear, which is perhaps what we should always doing, but in this case there was a direct therapeutic need.

I avoided any jagged edges. I kept imagining the sounds I wanted as round and smooth, like well-worn pebbles.

Lyrically I also found myself eschewing conceptual and metaphoric character led songs. I started to write the simplest and most direct words in the first person, something I have avoided for a few years.

If you are a songwriter and something bad happens to you, people say, "You can write a song about it at least." They mean well, but the big events in life have to seap out gradually with me and not in urgent, confessional bursts. The songs on this record are pleas for calm. As I get older I find I prefer small, quiet things.

All the songs were written on my ships's piano. 'Ship's Piano' is a colloquial term given to small-scale pianos that were used on boats. Mine was built in France in 1933 and folds away to resemble a sideboard. I wrote a song where I imagine its history. It's called 'The Ship's Piano'. "

Darren Hayman, 2012.

adults - flag [Digital]

Artist: adults
Title: flag
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika110SG
Release date: 14th Oct 2025
Bandcamp | Spotify

Just a couple of weeks ahead of the release of adults’ second album, the band share “flag”, the final track to be previewed from “the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless”.

adults’ final single, flag, is a clash of voices, side-eyes at nostalgia, despair at gentrification and the hauntology of urban decay. Inspired by Fugazi’s Cashout, this song was reworked as many times as Elephant and Castle has been ‘regenerated’. It exudes anger at the estate agents, council leaders and landlords who decimate local communities for a quick profit, and then try to remake the ‘culture’ which they have evicted. 

adults’ new record is a pocketful of seeds, ideas, loves, fears and hopes which have sprouted, grown, and intertwined over the past two years. It's a jumble of indie pop, jangle, shoegaze, emo and country songs made in those moments in between. They say that the new album “gathers together echoes of the songs and bands we love into deeply personal songs about growth, change, loss and love, set to the background hum of a world which wants to crush all hope.”

The songs are patchworks of riffs, loops and overdubs stitched together by long time co-conspirator Rich Mandell over the course of 3 months recording on rooftops and warehouses in South London. This is the longest they’ve ever spent recording, (they did their first record in a day in a garage!) and have tried to put together a much more coherent, intentional record as well as just messing around with loud amps and gear they don’t have access to in their bedrooms!

FFO: los campesinos!, martha, breeders, radiator hospital, nana grizol, sleater-kinney, joanna gruesome, the beths, the pains of being pure at heart.

adults are a fast silly indie punk band of four long term pals (carl, joe, joely and tom) who love indie-pop, diy and burgess park. Containing members from various UK diy bands (Fresh, New Starts, Wolf Girl, Tomboy Grandpa, Top Deck) they write noisy awkward pop songs with crunching guitars, speedy drums and yelping dual vocals. Based in south London and firmly established in the UKs indie-pop scene, adults released their debut single ‘MSN’ with Art is Hard records (Bristol, UK), an EP with Caballito Records (Madrid, Spain) and their debut album ‘for everything, always’ came out in 2022 on Fika Recordings (London, UK). Collaborating on splits with much-loved Bitch Hunt ‘Space Armadillo EP’ and recently with Oxford’s Spank Hair titled ‘…in the big league’.

Influenced by the kindness and community of the UK diy scene, adults continue the fight to write one song as good as the world’s best band, Martha (Durham). 

They have a new album ‘the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless’ coming out on Fika on 31/10/2025 and will be playing shows around the UK with mates Felicette in October.

Oct 9: Allo Darlin' + The Wave Pictures at EartH Hall

Anglo-Australian indiepop heroes Allo Darlin’ are back with their first new music in a decade. We’re delighted to host them for the London leg of their UK tour - and there’ll be some very special guests joining them on stage.

Support comes from The Wave Pictures.

Face value tickets include a £1.50 venue restoration levy.

No questions asked concessions are available for anyone that can't afford a full price ticket, for whatever reason. No eligibility requirements - we trust you.

Tickets on general sale 10am April 9th.

Pre-sale exclusively via the Allo Darlin' mailing list from 10am April 7th - sign up here in advance to get the pre-sale link: allodarlin.com

adults - crying [Digital]

Artist: adults
Title: crying
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika110SG2
Release date: 23rd Sep 2025
Bandcamp | Spotify

South-London indie-punks adults are back with their second full length album in October. The new single, crying, is the second track to be taken from the forthcoming LP “the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless”.

According to the band, crying, is some “bouncy, fuzzy junk about miscommunication in love”. Flailing somewhere between Trust Fund and Martha they sing about arguing in your head with someone you love about completely different things and learning that sometimes it’s better to just lay things out on the table. Featuring some excellent noodling by Fresh’s Joely it’s one of the album’s more straight up indie-pop tracks.

adults’ new record is a pocketful of seeds, ideas, loves, fears and hopes which have sprouted, grown, and intertwined over the past two years. It's a jumble of indie pop, jangle, shoegaze, emo and country songs made in those moments in between. They say that the new album “gathers together echoes of the songs and bands we love into deeply personal songs about growth, change, loss and love, set to the background hum of a world which wants to crush all hope.”

The songs are patchworks of riffs, loops and overdubs stitched together by long time co-conspirator Rich Mandell over the course of 3 months recording on rooftops and warehouses in South London. This is the longest they’ve ever spent recording, (they did their first record in a day in a garage!) and have tried to put together a much more coherent, intentional record as well as just messing around with loud amps and gear they don’t have access to in their bedrooms!

FFO: los campesinos!, martha, breeders, radiator hospital, nana grizol, sleater-kinney, joanna gruesome, the beths, the pains of being pure at heart.

adults are a fast silly indie punk band of four long term pals (carl, joe, joely and tom) who love indie-pop, diy and burgess park. Containing members from various UK diy bands (Fresh, New Starts, Wolf Girl, Tomboy Grandpa, Top Deck) they write noisy awkward pop songs with crunching guitars, speedy drums and yelping dual vocals. Based in south London and firmly established in the UKs indie-pop scene, adults released their debut single ‘MSN’ with Art is Hard records (Bristol, UK), an EP with Caballito Records (Madrid, Spain) and their debut album ‘for everything, always’ came out in 2022 on Fika Recordings (London, UK). Collaborating on splits with much-loved Bitch Hunt ‘Space Armadillo EP’ and recently with Oxford’s Spank Hair titled ‘…in the big league’.

Influenced by the kindness and community of the UK diy scene, adults continue the fight to write one song as good as the world’s best band, Martha (Durham). 

They have a new album ‘the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless’ coming out on Fika on 31/10/2025 and will be playing shows around the UK with mates Felicette in October.

Brutalligators - Hold Fast [Digital]

Artist: Brutalligators
Title: Hold Fast
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika112SG1
Release date: 17th Sep 2025
Bandcamp | Spotify

BRUTALLIGATORS JOIN FIKA RECORDINGS WITH RAW AND RESILIENT SECOND ALBUM “STILL HERE”. NEW SINGLE “HOLD FAST” IS OUT NOW.

A queer indie-punk love letter to learning to accept all that life throws at you, with big sing-along choruses and heart-on-sleeve lyrics about relationships, friendship and gender.

Hitchin-based indie-punk four-piece Brutalligators are back with their second album, Still Here, a powerful, cathartic, and joyously loud collection of songs about survival, identity, and moving forward. From shout-along anthems to intimate confessions, the album explores grief, friendship, queer identity, aging, and that ever-complicated feeling of simply trying to exist.

New single “Hold Fast” was an early track for the record, says vocalist Luke Murphy. “It’s a song about that feeling of grief, and rebuilding through changing the space around you, but we wanted it not to be a straight-up sad song. We didn’t really succeed with that! Lyrically, I was listening to a lot of Sly Withers’ Overgrown when I was writing this track, and loved the garden metaphors they use. Paul gave me the line ‘I think you would be proud of the garden’ and it slotted straight in.” There’s a balance of light and shade to Hold Fast, pulling from both indiepop influences and an emo-adjacent landscape.

Following 2021’s This House is Too Big, This House is Too Small, the new record marks a sonic and emotional evolution for the band — trading heartbreak and endings for resilience, and healing, bringing the raw energy of Brutalligators debut with more melodic moments, blending the indie punk of PUP and Menzingers with the cleaner indie sound of Future Teens and Weezer.

Still Here is an album with the mantra of “I’m still here, and I’m alive” says vocalist/guitarist Luke Murphy (they/them). “Looking at how me and my identity hasn’t been accepted in the past, and focusing on the attitude of ‘fuck you, I am who I am, this is what makes me me’”. 

Still Here is a proudly DIY project, largely recorded, produced, and mixed by drummer Rhys Kirkman - a return to the homegrown feel of early EP Animals I Wish I’d Seen. Rich Mandell (Happy Accidents, Me Rex) recorded Hold Fast, allowing the light and shade to shine through with lush layers of synths, piano and organ, while What’s Next was engineered by Tom Hill (Modern Rituals, Muttering), who’s got a real knack for capturing the energy of a track; Tom had recorded the debut Brutalligators album.

Brutalligators are:
Luke Murphy - they/them (vocals/guitar)
Paul Wade - he/him (guitar/backing vocals)
Simo Lee - they/them (bass/backing vocals)
Rhys Kirkman - he/him (drums/backing vocals)

Brutalligators started in late 2016 when Paul and Luke met for a coffee and discovered a mutual love of 90s and 00s emo and hardcore. Having been in various hardcore and emo bands throughout the 00s and 10s, they decided to try and write some songs together and Brutalligators was born. Simo and Rhys joined soon after, before they debuted at The Good Ship in Kilburn in 2017. They self-released their first EP Animals I Wish I’d Seen in 2017, following with the second EP Friends I Wish I’d Had in 2019 via Real Ghost Records. Their debut album This House is Too Big, This House is Too Small was released in 2021 on Beth Shalom Records, which Noizze commented that the album “presents the band in their greatest, most intimate and most cathartic form.” Since releasing This House is Too Big… Brutalligators have been tearing up stages across the UK and Europe, supporting bands such as Fresh, Michael Cera Palin, Dikembe, Johnny Foreigner and Martha. 

Luke and Paul also run the vinyl subscription server Nothing Sounds Good, spreading the word of DIY punk and indie around the UK. Luke is also a contributor to How To Make Friends, a DIY promotion collective that runs gigs across the UK, and hosts the How To Make Friends podcast, which interviews DIY bands about what it is to be a musician today. Paul also plays in the party-metal collective Needle in the Cross, and makes award-winning short films under Wade Bros Productions. Rhys performs solo folk-punk as Rhys Kirkman. We think Simo might be a fey creature that sustains themself on glitter and multi-sided dice, but we are unsure…