Gouge Away have a huge year ahead. The grungy hardcore band will tour the US with Wednesday this spring; they also have shows lined up with Ovlov and Touché Amoré, and they're even booked for some dates on the Foo Fighters/Queens Of The Stone Age stadium tour. It looks like they'll be rolling out new music in conjunction with those travels, too.
"Figurine," Gouge Away's first new song since 2024's incredible Deep Sage, is also the band's first release for new label home Run For Cover. They recorded it with producer Larry Crane at Jackpot! Recording Studio in Portland. The track starts out in aggro mode, but things take a quieter, more melodic turn on the verse. Propelled by Tyler Forsythe's bass, Christina Michelle intones, "I just want to make art on a couch/ Neighbors complain that we're too loud/ Pissing down someone's driveway/ Tiptoeing over the clock's changing shape." Things get explosive again quickly, as the loud-quiet-loud dynamic is just one of the many '90s tricks this band has mastered.
Some context from Christina Michelle:
"Figurine" is the first song we finished with Theo Hartlett (Ovlov, Pet Fox), a friend of ours who has been touring with us on guitar. We wrote this song while on tour last fall and it came together so easily. I went into writing the lyrics with an entirely different idea in mind, but these spilled out of me on one of the drives. Before the tour, I was digitizing home videos, having to see myself as a kid from an outside perspective. I knew I was shy, a people-pleaser, and all these things, but it was different to watch it on film. I was always afraid of disappointing people so I made myself small and rarely acted outside of this little box I found myself in. Instead of getting into trouble like most kids, I didn’t really break out of my comfort zone until much more recently. I thought I had to work really hard to be loved. I stretch myself so thin to please everyone else that it winds up being the expectation. I found people who love me, even when I am a messy trainwreck, and that toppled my entire reality. And yet, there’s still this little kid inside of me who is afraid of upsetting her parents. We recorded this song live to tape in Portland at Jackpot! It was our first time working with Larry Crane and it was so much fun.
Watch director Noah Haycock's "Figurine" video below.
TOUR DATES:
03/13 - Knoxville, TN @ Mill & Mine *
03/14 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse *
03/15 - Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl *
03/17 - New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina's *
03/18 - Houston, TX @ The End
03/19 - Austin, TX @ Emo's *
03/20 - Dallas, TX @ Granada Theatre *
03/21 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Beer City *
03/22 - Lawrence, KS @ The Granada *
03/24 - St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall *
03/26 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue *
03/27 - Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall *
03/28 - Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue *
03/30 - Columbus, OH @ The King of Clubs *
03/31 - Buffalo, NY @ Asbury Hall *
04/01 - Boston, MA @ Roadrunner *
04/02 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian %
04/04 - Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel *
04/05 - Winston-Salem, NC @ Ramkat *
04/21 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall *
04/22 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall *
04/23 - Seattle, WA @ The Moore *
04/24 - Vancouver, BC @ The Vogue *
08/02 - Saint Charles, IA @ Hinterland
09/09 - Orlando, FL @ Beacham Theatre #
09/20 - Vancouver, BC @ BC Place ^
09/26 - Las Vegas, NV @ Allegiant Stadium ^
* w/ Wednesday
^ w/ Foo Fighters, Queens of The Stone Age
% w/ Ovlov
# w/ Touche Amore
"Figurine" is out now on Run For Cover.
