New Woman are a two-piece garage-rock, punky two piece from Leeds and are the latest band to emerge from the Leeds collective CHUNK. CHUNK are the type of “not for profit” DIY collective that Leeds has become famous for in recent years and has been at the heart of the city’s musical revival.
Everyone from the Kaiser Chiefs (who used to run their own club night, PIGS), to Forward, Russia who went that one step further and set up their own label (Dance to the Radio, that boasts The Pigeon Detectives amongst its roster and is responsible for the now infamous Thursday night at the Leeds Festival) have benefited from this mentality and most importantly the time and space to develop and create. James Brown of Pulled Apart By Horses was another Leeds resident who used to run his own gig nights and work at the heart of a collective whilst a member of It Takes Bridges – his pre PABH band.
CHUNK itself is a rehearsal space / community / art gallery / venue and one of the two New Woman members Tom Bradley was the co-founder. New Woman themselves are made up of Bearfoot Bewares’ aforementioned Bradley and Modern Pleasures’ Adam Taylor.
The collaboration grew out of a CHUNK space jam and quickly came to the attention of legendary promoter Nathan Clarke of the Brudenell Social Club. The band themselves have a touch of similarities with other Leeds bands such as Hookworms and Menace Beach but the rawness of the two-piece, even in the slower more doom-laden tracks, shines through.
The drumming is intricate, yet helps create a huge sound that is somehow both alienating and empty at the same time. The single guitar is peaking, on the slow tracks it seems to be being abused in a punctuated method and on some of their punk tracks just trashed and thrashed all together. Add vocals that scream out at you and what you have is fantastic energy that says so much with so little. It’s exciting, yet alienating, full of passion yet separate from everything else around it.
New single “Without Teeth You Would Be Nothing” is another fine slice of alienation rock, with a desperation in the yodels and overall sound that is both addictive and worrying. New day, time for New Woman.
New AA single (The First Time//Without Teeth You’d Be Nothing) is out in special art-print format NOW, on label Voice of CHUNK.
