Slated for a June 6, 2025 release through Greenway Records and The Reverberation Appreciation Society, Frankie and the Witch Fingers‘ eighth album, the Maryam Qudus-produced Trash Classic reportedly sees the JOVM mainstay happily plunging into a sewer-slick fusion of proto punk venom, fractured New Wave and industrial grime. Sonically brimming with wiry synths, angular melodies and squirming and biting grooves, the material is delivered with a sly, playful balance between smirk and sneer. The band layers playful unease while exploring themes of escapism, decay and overindulgence.
The songs were born in the grime of Vernon, Los Angeles — a wasteland littered with gutted RVs and rusting machinery, where the air tastes like asphalt and dog food. But the alchemy happed during recording sessions at Oakland‘s Tiny Telephone Studio, where producer Maryam Qudus helped transmute the tracks into the final forms with unhinged tones, unconventional recording experiments and wild sonic detours.
Each day of the recording sessions began with cartoons blaring at full volume — a Looney Tunes ritual that turned the madness of the recording process into something childlike. Late night, sugar-fueled candy binges kept the energy spiking, pushing the sessions into a fever dream of jittery, spastic playfulness. The end result is a raw, twisted monument to rot and excess — and to toxic glamour and nihilistic salvation.
So far I’ve written about three of the album’s previously released singles:
- “Economy,” which offered a glimpse of what to expect from the album: grimy synth pulse right at the front, alongside angular guitar fuzz and muscular yet mathematically precise drumming paired with punchily delivered vocals and mosh pit friendly hooks and choruses. Sonically, the result is a scuzzier and grimier take on Freedom of Choice-era DEVO — with a similar, tongue-in-cheek sensibility.
- “Total Reset,” a sweaty ripper that sees the band pairing angular guitar fuzz with squiggling synth pulse, mathematically precise drumming and Sizemore’s punchy delivery with the band’s penchant for mosh pit friendly hooks and choruses. Sonically, “Total Reset” strikes me as a being a synthesis of King Gizzard and Devo — but with a mischievous sense of menace and unease.
- “Dead Silence,” a track continues a run of grimy and mischievous DEVO-meets-garage rock rippers, anchored around the band’s unerring knack for rousing, mosh pit friendly hooks paired with Sizemore’s punchy delivery singing lyrics about existential dread and death. Oh, how fitting for our fucked up, dire time!
“Gutter Priestess,” Trash Classic‘s fourth and latest single sees the band continuing with the addition of a DEVO-like sheen to the punchy, garage punk aesthetic that has won them acclaim globally. And while arguably being the grimiest, nastiest song on the album to date, “Gutter Priestess” may also be the most danceable.
“‘Gutter Priestess’ felt filthy from the get,” the band’s Dylan Sizemore says. “I was hooked up to Burroughs and his junk-sick energy, romanticizing my own bad decisions and dark thoughts, cutting up lyrics, letting meaning rearrange itself. The whole thing turned into a brown, sharded nightmare but with a seductive dancey pulse.Sin
When we went to record it, everyone leaned into the crust. The parts feel barbed and sharp – like they crawled out of a drainpipe with glass in their gums. Hopefully the lighter synth lines in the chorus add a sugary sweetness to all the rot and decay.”
Instead of a music video, the JOVM mainstays partnered with FolksPatMedia to release a fully-playable “Gutter Priestess” video. The creators of the free-to-play browser game have contributed to beloved games like Alien: Rogue Incursion, Creed: Rise to Glory VR, Dead by Daylight, Lord of the Rings: War in the North, and more. You can check it out here.
Over the course of their decade history, the JOVM mainstays have developed a reputation for being relentless road warriors. The band is currently in Europe through early June. And along the way, the band will play a series of intimate record release shows, including a June 5, 2025 stop at Berlin Under A. All three of those shows have sold out.
The band will then return to town a few months later with a September 19, 2025 stop at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Their live show is a sweaty mosh pit inducing riot — and if they’re playing a club near you, you need to go.
FRANKIE AND THE WITCH FINGERS ON TOUR 2025
5/21 – Biarritz, FR – Atabal
5/22 – Rouen, FR – Le 106
5/23 – London, UK – Wide Awake Festival
5/25 – Berlin, DE – Desertfest
5/27 – Cherbourg, FR – Le Circuit
5/28 – Brighton, UK – Daltons
5/30 – London, UK – Shacklewell Arms ^
5/31 – Bristol, UK – Strange Brew
6/01 – Birmingham, UK – Hare & Hounds
6/05 – Berlin – New York, NY ^
6/07 – Permanent Records Roadhouse – Los Angeles, CA ^
7/15 – Felton Music Hall – Felton, CA °
7/16 – The Chapel – San Francisco, CA °
7/19 – The Den – Portland, OR °
7/20 – The Pearl – Vancouver, BC °
7/23 – Shrine Social Club – Boise, ID °
7/24 – Urban Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT °
7/25 – Mesa Theater – Grand Junction, CO °
7/26 – Underground Music Showcase – Denver, CO
7/27 – Sister Bar – Albuquerque, NM °
7/29 – Hotel Congress – Tucson, AZ °
7/30 – Rebel Lounge – Phoenix, AZ °
7/31 – Swan Diver – Las Vegas, NV °
8/01 – Belly Up – Solana Beach, CA °
8/02 – Teragram Ballroom – Los Angeles, CA °
8/31 – Bumbershoot Music Festival – Seattle, WA
9/19 – Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY *
9/20 – First Unitarian Church – Philadelphia, PA *
9/21 – Songbyrd – Washington, DC *
9/23 – Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC *
9/24 – Terminal West – Atlanta, GA *
9/26 – Chelsea’s Live – Baton Rouge, LA *
9/27 – Dan Electros – Houston, TX *
9/28 – To Be Announced – Austin, TX
9/29 – Tulips – Fort Worth, TX *
10/1 – Bottom Lounge – Chicago, IL *
10/2 – Turf Club – Minneapolis, MN *
10/3 – X-Ray Arcade – Cudahy, WI *
10/4 – Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH *
10/5 – Third Man Records – Detroit, MI *
10/7 – Lee’s Palace – Toronto, ON *
10/8 – Foufounes Électriques – Montréal, QC *
10/9 – Oxbow Brewing – Portland, ME *
10/10 – Brighton Music Hall – Boston, MA *
10/11 – Lark Hall – Albany, NY *
^ – intimate album release show
° with Iguana Death Cult
* with Population II
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