SHE DREW THE GUN

Image by Rob Blackham

TRACY HYMAN TALKS TO LOUISA ROACH ABOUT HOW THE UNIQUE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CLIMATE HAS RESULTED IN SHE DREW THE GUN’S DETERMINED NEW ALBUM

She Drew The Gun came into the national consciousness back in 2016, winning the Glastonbury Emerging Talent contest and attracting the biggest crowd ever to the John Peel tent on a Sunday morning. Five years later, Louisa Roach is on to album number three, preparing for a UK tour, fired up and ready to go. Less than 24 hours after a mini-honeymoon, having recently married her girlfriend, Roach tells me about the process of writing an album during a pandemic, how she is influenced by the current political and social climate and how much she is looking forward to the return of live gigs.

New album Behave Myself was written mostly during lockdown with bassist Jack Turner. The unique social and political climate has clearly influenced the themes and messages of the record. “There’s quite a few mentions of cells, prisons or cages. There was a little bit of a feeling of needing to break free. Everything was in a state of flux, and when you write about the outside world and what’s going on around you, you have to take a minute to work out what is going on and absorb it and then you can start to let it seep into your work.”

She explains that the pandemic opened many people’s eyes to things they may not have considered before. “[It] definitely highlighted certain things, about how we were blindly living our lives and how much the government is getting away with and how the wealthy at the top of society have increased their wealth. But, where we are politically, I don’t really think there’s a good alternative to what’s going on right now. I think a lot of re-assessment needs to happen about how we live going forward.”

WHEN YOU WRITE ABOUT THE OUTSIDE WORLD AND WHAT’S GOING ON AROUND YOU, YOU HAVE TO TAKE A MINUTE TO WORK OUT WHAT IS GOING ON AND ABSORB IT AND THEN YOU CAN START TO LET IT SEEP INTO YOUR WORK

The new album is gritty and determined; a melting pot of psychedelic pop with spoken word and dance influences, featuring synth-laden tracks with smatterings of disco and punk, which paint pictures of a dystopian society. Roach’s spoken word lyrics cut through to the truth on songs like Behave Myself, challenging us all to notice and stand up to the oppression in society. Next On The List takes a darker turn, questioning which marginalised group will be targeted and demonised next, amidst distorted vocals and a dance music vibe clearly influenced by early 90s rave music. In contrast, Diamonds In Our Eyes is a chilled-out love song featuring syncopated guitar and steady beats progressively overlaid with synths to give it a psychedelic quality.

Songs like Next On The List, Class War and Behave Yourself stand up for the marginalised, and in doing so Roach empowers her listeners, giving them a voice. She reflects the corruption and injustice in society honestly, with lyrically meaningful and relevant songs. She’s also unafraid to turn the microscope inward too. “I do touch on mental health issues in my songs quite a bit and how mental health issues are not just a personal thing. It’s totally affected by the systems that we live in and neoliberalism is bad for mental health. That’s kinda important for me to have in my work.”

She Drew The Gun play Newcastle’s Cobalt Studios on Friday 8th October. Behave Yourself is released on the same day www.shedrewthegun.com