Julez Batterman has been releasing a fairly steady stream of singles with Julez and the Rollerz dating back to 2018, with the project’s debut album Dirty Little Rock ’n’ Roller finally arriving at the end of the month via Lollipop Records. After sharing the record’s first three singles, the LA rockers return today with one final pre-album teaser, “Phaser,” which has been a staple of the band’s live set since it was born out of a studio jam nearly three years ago. The track pays homage to the era of mid-’80s radio rock that blended new wave with power pop—a perfect balance of genre that ironically clashes with the lyrics’ struggle to maintain an even keel when it comes to public and private personas.
“More or less, ‘Phaser’ is about the weird feeling of being an artist and accidentally turning your entire existence into a performance,” Batterman shares. “Whether you’re on stage, posting online, talking to people after shows, or awkwardly networking somewhere, there’s this pressure to always be ‘on’ and entertaining enough to keep people paying attention. We’re a band of mostly woman-presenting individuals, and we’ve also been navigating the music industry while figuring out how to balance how we’re perceived visually with the fact that the focus is, and always has been, our music! As mentioned in the song, sex appeal is only ‘half’ of the thrill!”
Check out the new tune below, and pre-order Dirty Little Rock ’n’ Roller here. If you’re in LA, you can also catch the band at Zebulon on June 28 for their release show—find tickets here.
