Charlie & the lesbians to release debut album Fade

Dutch punk band Charlie & the lesbians will release their long awaited debut album Fade on October 13th via Bottom Shelf Records. Fade was recorded at Ijland Studio in Amsterdam and produced by Remko Schouten (Bettie Serveert, Claw Boys Claw, Mozes and the Firstborn), Mikey Young (Amyl and the Sniffers, The Chats, Royal Headache) did the master. The first single from the album is called Fade Away and was released today.

No matter where you see Charlie & the lesbians they leave a long lasting impression - whether it's your local punk rock den or at the UK's The Great Escape festival.The band could be described as a blazing unruly projectile that compresses the best elements of Pixies, Black Flag, Butthole Surfers, Daniel Johnston and Jay Reatard. A Charlie & the lesbians show inevitably unfolds in complete disarray, with vocalist Charlie often swallowed up in a heap of human flesh.

As indestructible and destructive as the band plays, at heart Charlie & the lesbians is a close knit family band. Charlie's sister Soesja (drums) forms a couple with Noortje Pullens (bass) and childhood friend Mees Welmers (guitar) completes the quartet. After initially appropriating an abandoned school as their home base, the band's smoldering garage sound formed an uncontrolled plague of pent up daily frustrations. This unbridled energy overflowed onto the stage.

Many bands growing older tend to clean up their act and hang their days of unrestrained destruction on willows. However, on their forthcoming debut Fade, Charlie & the lesbians proves them wrong. The band sounds even more brutal, rabid and unchained than before. Where the double EP Paper Trail Of Happiness was a monster on the loose, Fade is that same monster muzzled in captivity, clawing at the walls and ceiling. "This record is very much about growing up," Charlie explains, "and about the different transitions you make in life and how they intertwine." That transition manifests itself in both the lyrics and the arrangements. The songs are produced in a grander and more layered way.

The first single Fade Away immediately reveals a somewhat tighter approach, one that doesn't so much tame the wild energy as it more effectively channels it. "The words for Fade Away came to me when my girlfriend was traveling for a while," says Charlie, "Fade Away is a lament about life in a long distance relationship. The missing, the uncertainty and the doubt you feel after not seeing each other for a long time. It's an emotional ping-pong game between feeling like it's over, but at the same time wanting to be in her arms." Watch the video below.

In 2017, Charlie & the lesbians was selected for touring festival De Popronde and since then the band has played festivals such as The Great Escape festival, Noorderslag, MENT, Paaspop, Left Of The Dial, Motel Mozaique, Le Mini Who? and Loose Ends. In addition, they have played support shows for Ty Segall, Sheer Mag, Together Pangea and Oh Sees, among others.

Charlie & the lesbians live:

• 11 sept - Misty Fields, Heusden
• 14-16 okt - Left Of The Dial, Rotterdam