BULLY RELEASES LOSING OUT TODAY ON SUB POP
“Alicia Bognanno has the loveliest snarl this side of Nirvana’s Live at Reading. That it’s in a pop-punk setting, with lyrics reckoning with adulthood, only strengthens its power.” –New York Magazine
“full of tough-earned wisdom and egalitarian rage, Losing is a high-energy, high-impact emotional workout for everyone involved.” –Wired
“The bass hops around nervously in nearly constant eighth notes, with drums syncopated against it à la the Police; a guitar on the left offers a neat new-wave hook while another one on the right grumbles occasionally with dissonant, distorted squawks. And as those tensions flare into multiple little crescendos, the singer Alicia Bognanno gets herself more and more worked up.” –New York Times
“Expect lots more of Bognanno’s sharp, cynical emotional insights and impassioned yells, all backed by Bully’s gnawing, ’90s-inspired sound.”-SPIN
“The record once again faces down youthful angst, but with a notable growth in Bognanno’s maturity” –Consequence of Sound
“Alicia Bognanno has a way of channeling her inner struggles into tightly-constructed and toiled-over rock songs with a classic touch.”
–Stereogum
“Bognanno explores a lot of loss, diving headfirst into the complicated emotions associated with death, heartbreak, isolation and more. The result is an especially personal effort, a batch of songs that are blistering and angst-ridden, but which still boast a wink toward playful pop. Bognanno’s not wrong when she says it tops Feels Like.” –Nashville Scene
Bully’s sophomore album Losing is out today via Sub Pop Records. The album was recorded in Chicago at Electrical Audio, recorded and engineered by lead-singer Alicia Bognanno and is available for purchase here. Losing is the follow up to Bully’s critically acclaimed debut Feels Like. Bully is made up of founding members Reece Lazarus, Clayton Parker and Bognanno.
On November 2nd, Bully will begin their U.S. Tour. Highlights include Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on November 13th and three nights at Mercy Lounge in their hometown of Nashville, TN on December 14, 15 and 16 to close out their 2017 tour. The tour will resume in February of 2018. Full dates listed below.
Track Listing:
- Feel the Same
- Kills to Be Resistant
- Running
- Seeing It
- Guess There
- Blame
- Focused
- Not the Way
- Spiral
- Either Way
- You Could Be Wrong
- Hate and Control
Tour Dates:
11/02/17- St Louis MO – Off Broadway
11/03/17 – Iowa City IA – The Mill
11/04/17 – Minneapolis MN – Fine Line Music Cafe
11/06/17 – Madison WI – High Noon Saloon
11/07/17 – Chicago IL – Thalia Hall
11/08/17 – Detroit MI – Marble Bar
11/09/17 – Toronto ON – Lee’s Palace
11/10/17 – Montreal QC – Bar le Ritz
11/12/17 – Boston MA – Great Scott (SOLD OUT)
11/13/17 – Brooklyn NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
11/14/17 – Philadelphia PA – First Unitarian Church
11/15/17 – Washington DC – U Street Music Hall
11/17/17 – Charlottesville VA – The Southern
11/18/17 – Durham NC – Motorco Music Hall
11/19/17 – Asheville NC – The Mothlight
12/06/17 – Little Rock AR – Stickyz
12/07/17 – Dallas TX – Club Dada
12/08/17 – Austin TX – Emo’s
12/09/17 – Houston TX – Walter’s
12/10/17 – New Orleans LA – Gasa Gasa
12/12/17 – Birmingham AL – Saturn
12/13/17 – Atlanta GA – Terminal West
12/14/17 – Nashville TN – Mercy Lounge
12/15/17 – Nashville TN – Mercy Lounge
12/16/17 – Nashville TN – Mercy Lounge
2/16/18 – Norman OK – The Opolis
2/17/18 – Santa Fe NM – Meow Wolf
2/18/18 – Phoenix AZ – Valley Bar
2/24/18 – Eugene OR – Hi-Fi Music Lounge
2/26/18 – Vancouver BC – Biltmore Cabaret
2/28/18 – Seattle WA – Neumos
3/1/18 – Spokane WA – The Bartlett
3/2/18 – Boise ID – Neurolux
3/3/18 – Salt Lake City UT – Kilby Court
3/5/18 – Denver CO – Larimer Lounge
3/6/18 – Kansas City MO – Record Bar
5/30/18 – London, UK – Moth Club
BULLY – LOSING
BY PATTY SCHEMEL
In rock – as in life – change is unavoidable, often painful, but ultimately necessary, and Alicia Bognanno and her band Bully have dealt with a lot of it since their debut record
Feels Like hit in 2015. Now with a new label and another couple years worth of life experience, the 12 new songs on Losing feel like perfect anthems for a generation still learning to harness the power of resistance. With a vocal style that is as pretty as it is powerful, and emotionally resonant lyrics, Alicia channels the loss of innocence and reveals a raw honesty in songs that are distinctly hers.
I love Bully the way I love Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr and the Breeders. Their sound takes me back to the stripped down and thoughtfully engineered songs that haunt me long after they’re gone and never get old. Another good reason to be with Sub Pop, who have always been associated with music that is built to last.
I feel like all my best work has been born of heartbreak and upheaval; maybe most musicians feel that way. “The title of the record –Losing – kind of says it all,” Alicia says. “After being on the road so long and coming back to Nashville we all had a lot of changes going on in our personal lives that we were trying to deal with / adjust to and that was really the motivation for this one.”
“Feel the Same” is about being stuck in the claustrophobia of a manic state of mind. It’s Alicia’s favorite song to scream. “Seeing It,” she says, is about the unique anxiety and vigilance about personal safety that comes with being a woman: “Such a blurring place to be / stuck in your own body.” Lately Alicia has been lending her voice as an advocate for gun control, women’s rights and speaking out in support of animal rights. In some ways my generation were in a bubble in the 90s; I never gave any thought to what Bill Clinton was up to, for instance – but in 2017, Losing sounds like a personal and necessary call to arms to me; we need rock n roll now more than ever.
