When we last heard from Portland, Maine punk trio Weakened Friends, they were struggling with the concept of being quitters—that is, leaving behind their dream of making things work as a band and instead pursuing quote-unquote real work. After a four-year absence it’s not only exciting to hear new music from the band, but it’s invigorating to hear them railing against these jobs in their new single “Tough Luck (Bleed Me Out),” a defiant pop-punk anthem that’s particularly cathartic if you share vocalist Sonia Sturino’s recent work history.
“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,” Sturino shares. “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.”
Following in the wake of this past March’s “Torn” single, both tracks will appear on the band’s newly announced third album Feels Like Hell LP, arriving October 10 via their longtime label home of Don Giovanni. Beyond miserable working conditions, the project sees Sturino stepping into their identity as a gender-nonconforming person while continuing to gel with their bandmates—the unlikely duo of Sturino’s wife Annie Hoffman and Hoffman’s ex, Adam Hand.
Check out the video for the album-opener below, and pre-order Feels Like Hell here. Additionally, you can catch the band on tour this fall—kicking off with stops at their hometown Back Cove Festival and Riot Fest in Chicago—at the dates listed here.
