Girl with a Hawk salute their ride-or-dies with ‘I’m In Love With My Friends’

Boston band led by Linda Viens rallies around chosen family on a spirited new power-pop single out now.

OUT NOW: Listen to ‘I’m In Love With My Friends’ on Spotify x Bandcamp

Viens appears at Boston Rebel Rock Coalition’s ACLU benefit at The Burren on Nov. 13 

Listen to Girl with a Hawk on Bandcamp

BOSTON, Mass. [November 12, 2025] – There’s been a relatively cool faux-holiday to emerge in recent years, landing on the calendar in late November, that celebrates friendships and gratefulness and all the people in our lives that make up our chosen family. It’s been dubbed Friendsgiving, an obvious portmanteau of “friend” and “Thanksgiving,” where people come together in a similar fashion to the more familiar communal holiday, raising a glass to the ones they love and admire, despite no formal bloodlines or legal binding. Because when you’re in love with your friends, it’s truly something to cherish.  

Girl with a Hawk understand this sentiment all too well, and just before the holiday season takes over our social lives, the Boston rock band led by vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Linda Viens releases a buoyant and infectious new power-pop single titled “I’m In Love With My Friends” on Wednesday, November 12 via Rum Bar Records. 

The next night, Viens takes part in the Boston Rebel Rock Coalition’s inaugural fundraiser at The Burren in Somerville, this one benefiting the ACLU, performing with friends in bands like Diablogato, The Peppermint Kicks, Watts, and others.

The official release of “I’m In Love With My Friends” arriving a little more than a fortnight ahead of Thanksgiving is purely coincidental, as the song spins a tale fit for any time of the year, where the friends we surround ourselves with become the ones we lean on and love the most – in good times and bad, in happiness and sorrow.  

“‘I’m In Love With My Friends’ is an homage to one’s ‘ride or dies’; our true-blue friends who are there for us when the shit hits the fan, who make us laugh when things look dark, and who inspire us to be our best selves through all of life’s challenges,” says Viens. “Romantic relationships don’t always survive those challenges, but authentic friendships usually do.” 

The new single sets up a forthcoming full-length set for Spring 2026 release and arrives fresh off Girl with a Hawk’s live performance at Rum Bar labelmates Gypsy Moths’ album release party at The Burren – long a local haven for the good times of personal connection – and is the band’s first new music since “It’s The Way” in July. Before the release of March single “No One Like You,” a track inspired by the passing of Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins, Viens was inducted into the New England Music Hall of Fame. 

With Girl with a Hawk, rounded out by Richard Lamphear (keys, backing vocals, and a rippin’ display of Hammond and Farfisa organ), Daniel Coughlin (guitars, backing vocals), Dan Bernfeld (bass, backing vocals), and Nancy Delaney (drums, backing vocals), Viens is lucky to count her own bandmates as close personal friends. 

And no song titled “I’m In Love With My Friends” is complete without a bevy of guest vocals adding to the love fest, so the band enlisted Linnea Herzog of Linnea’s Garden, Crow Follow’s Agent Judy, and Holly Kantor of Galaxy Cake to expand the vibe and bring additional voices in the form of classic gang vocals to the party. 

“Also, ‘I’m In Love With My Friends’ is a love song to the very special bonds that musicians and creative collaborators of all kinds share,” Viens adds, “one that’s platonic, yet extremely devoted, and often containing an unactualized romantic component.” 

The single artwork for “I’m In Love With My Friends” echoes the sentiments of the song, depicting Viens and her former Crown Electric Company bandmate Carolyn Kaylor in a warm, loving embrace. It was snapped back in the lost mid-’90s by Viens’ ex-husband Wayne Viens, an esteemed Boston rock photographer and documentarian who was also in the funk band 

“We mostly played VFW Halls and the shows were one massive love fest,” Viens says with a laugh. “Carolyn is still one of my closest friends and I always felt our love was visibly palpable in this photo.” 

Produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Pete Weiss at his Jade Cow Music in Somerville, Massachusetts, and recorded by Weiss at Panoramic House Studio in California’s Stinson Beach, the seeds of “I’m In Love With My Friends” were first planted a few years ago during the pandemic.

Viens says the song came to her virtually full-formed during the long, cold winter of the Covid-era lockdown period, where after celebrating a January birthday, her spirits were raised by turning another year older while surrounded by her friends, the gang nestled around a warm fire pit, wrapped in blankets with whiskey in hand.  

“We were marveling at our determination to gather and celebrate life even with all of the complete unknowns about the future, and even when it felt physically risky to do so,” she recalls. “There was a whole lot of time to reflect during those months as the world innovated ways to gather: In backyards and public parks, in plazas and on porches, and in outdoor pods at restaurants.” 

Not too long after, another veteran of the Boston music scene, Adam Sherman, reached out to create a musical collective to perform over livestream and raise money for shuttered local venues and community organizations in need. Back Porch Carousel was born, and the network of musicians, including Larry Dersch, Randy Black, Sarah Levecque, Peter Zarkadas, and others, discovered a newfound sense of camaraderie and friendship. 

A handful of singles were released via Bandcamp for the series, from a spectrum of participating artists, including an early version of “I’m In Love With My Friends.” 

“We truly made the most of those Zoom shows; we had a ton of laughs and shared a lot of joy, but honestly, all we were dreaming about were the bars we loved to play in, gather in, drink in, and get silly in,” Viens remembers. “None of us knew if live performance (of ANY kind) and gathering publicly would ever resume. The thought of that fundamental and ancient desire to be pressed in close, perhaps no longer being possible made the shared love and longing to ‘play’ together all the more acute.”

One of the places those musicians would congregate before the pandemic was the Plough & Stars in Cambridge, which gets a shoutout in the lyrics (“I will see you guys soon, at the Plough and Stars / Another Saturday night at our favorite bar…”). Viens says the intimate Mass. Ave. watering hole and music venue was one of the first places the gang was eager to get back to after the pandemic loosened its grip on our social lives. On “I’m In Love With My Friends,” the ambient bar sounds that introduce the track are pulled from real-life scenes, captured by Viens and Coughlin over the summer.  

And while previous Girl with a Hawk tunes run the gamut of genres, touching on glossy pop-rock, Americana twang, empowering folk-pop, punchy power-pop, sleek synth-pop, and sometimes just old-fashioned, old-school rock and roll, “I’m In Love With My Friends” is defined perhaps not by its sound, but its vibe. 

Viens’ yearning in the lyrics, passing by houses where families are assembled and lamenting not having a lover in her life, only to realize the friends she’s about to meet up with at the bar are her family, belies its upbeat and embracing mood. It’s an arresting song that reflects the times, balancing a few different emotions at once as we navigate our next steps in life – and appreciating the various stops along the way. 

“The fearful uncertainty of the pandemic informs the kind of ‘happy/sad’ vibe of the song, but it’s also about emerging from that time with renewed gratitude and deep appreciation for the many many things that I personally took for granted,” Viens concludes. “The last verse is a clarion call (forgive the cliche) to ‘seize the moment’; this day, which is really all we ever have, and throughout the song there’s also a surge of collective joy in the way the choruses unabashedly declare ‘I’m in love with my friends!’ 

That joy is infectious. And it’s something to celebrate not just around this time of year, but whenever we need to feel the love that already surrounds us. 

Girl with a Hawk is:

Linda Viens: Lead vocals, guitars

Richard Lamphear: Keys, backing vocals

Daniel Coughlin: Guitars, backing vocals

Dan Bernfeld: Bass, backing vocals

Nancy Delaney: Drums, backing vocals

‘I’m In Love With My Friends’ single artwork:

‘I’m In Love With My Friends’ production credits:

Written by Linda S. Viens and performed by Girl with a Hawk

Special guest backing vocals by Linnea Herzog, Judith Sprague, and Holly Kantor

Produced and engineered by Pete Weiss

Mixed and mastered by Pete Weiss at Jade Cow Music in Somerville, MA

Recorded at Panoramic House Studio in Stinson Beach, CA

Overdubs recorded at Bluetone Studio in Somerville MA with assistant engineer David Grabowski

Art design by Linda Viens

Cover photograph by Wayne Viens

A Rum Bar Records release: 11.12.25

(c) 2025 Girl with a Hawk. All Rights Reserved.

‘I’m In Love With My Friends’ lyrics:

The night is dark, the lights are on in all the houses
There’s a family at the table, I hope they’re counting all their blessings
I may be alone, with no lover at home,
But I’m headed down the road, I’ve got someplace to go

Now we’re sitting by the fire, in the January cold
Talking ‘bout how did we ever get this old

Faces in the flames of those we lost along the way
Do they know how much we miss them, every day

Oh, I’m in love with my friends,  (I’m in love)
It might sound strange but it’s just the way it is  (I’m in love)

I’ll see you guys soon, at the Plough and Stars
Another Saturday night at our favorite bar
You take the high, and I’ll take the low
Remember we wanted that one, nice and slow…

Oh, I’m in love with my friends, (I’m in love)
It might sound strange but it’s just the way it is (I’m in love)
And I’ll be in love with my friends
Until the end oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

Turn your face to the sun, it’s so golden
Step outside and put your feet into the ocean
Another day, and it’s there for the taking
Another song – and it’s ours for the making, yeah, ours for the making

Oh, I’m in love with my friends, (I’m in love)
It might sound strange but it’s just the way it is (I’m in love)
And I’ll be in love with my friends
Until the end oh oh oh oh oh oh ohhhhh
Oh, I’m in love with my friends
I’m in love with my friends
Oh I’ll be in love with my friends, ‘til the end.

Girl with a Hawk bio:

Linda Viens began playing music with the gift of a classical Mexican guitar from her Dad for her 12th birthday. In college she got into punk rock. She played drums and sang in the punk band, Children of Paradise, went on to lead local roots rockers, Witch Doctor, sang cabaret with collaborator Catherine Coleman in Les Chanteuse Sorcieres, and formed the notorious funk orchestra Crown Electric Company with her former husband Wayne Viens in the mid-nineties. Linda was a founding member of Boston Rock Opera and has performed in many musical theater productions, including Sgt. Pepper, Jesus Christ Superstar, Abbey Road, Preservation, and Billion Dollar Babies vs. Aqualung. Linda has produced and recorded with some of Boston's finest including Mark Sandman (Morphine), Richie Parsons (Unnatural Axe), Asa Brebner (Modern Lovers), Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses), Jon Macey (Fox Pass), Adam Sherman (Private Lightening, Nervous Eaters) and released the album Powdered Pearls with Emily Grogan and their band together, Angeline in 2006. Linda went on to form Kingdom of Love, a studio project with producer and musical partner Richard Lamphear and released their EP Ghosts in 2017. Linda continues to work with Richard in her new band, Girl with a Hawk, formed during the Pandemic in 2021.

Richard Lamphear is a songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. His former bands include alt- punk band Amoebas in Chaos and Kingdom of Love. Daniel Coughlin is a guitar player and arranger. His former bands include Children of Paradise, Witch Doctor, Lazy Susan, and The Illyrians. Nancy Delaney plays drums. Her former bands include Willard Grant Conspiracy, Boston Rock Opera and Cold Expectations. Daniel Bernfeld is a bassist and singer-songwriter. 

Media praise for Girl with a Hawk:

“[Linda] Viens’ way with words and melodies is pretty much unrivaled at this point.” _Rock And Roll Fables 

“powerful and well-crafted…” _WBUR, Boston’s NPR

“Stunning.” _The Whole Kameese

“Girl with a Hawk have finally arrived.” _Guitar Girl Magazine 

“With their debut EP, Keep ‘Er Lit, Boston’s Girl With A Hawk have crammed an impressive amount of promise into just five songs. You can’t help but think of Chrissie Hynde when you listen to the smoky, hypnotic vocals of Linda S. Viens. And The Pretenders are an apt starting point for the band as Girl with a Hawk play a similar brand of punk influenced, melody-heavy, pretension-free rock ‘n’ roll.” _New Noise Magazine

“The overall theme of [‘Share It All’] is one of compassion, kindness, and selflessness – as evidenced in Viens’ weathered and weary but ultimately hopeful delivery. And she reflects that those three attributes are ones we all could use a little bit more of in our lives, especially when faced by something larger than the individual, something that requires collective action. _Americana UK

“20 minutes of enervating pop-rock, in which guitars bite viciously at times, but the strong vocals keep everything together – music for which you would turn up the radio.” _Add To Want List

“Girl With a Hawk have quietly become a favorite here at If It's Too Loud... The Boston band has this great roots based rock sound that is one of the sounds we've possibly covered the most. Their latest single, ‘Share It All,’ is one of the band's more Americana leaning songs. It's rock, but in a quieter, almost country sort of way. The song is laid back but upbeat, and is oddly infectious the longer you listen. To me it sounds like a cross between The Pretenders and Lucinda Williams.” _If It’s Too Loud

“Girl with a Hawk, rockers at heart, turned the encouraging tune into a jaunty country folk pop gem you can hum, sing and whistle along all day long. Here in Europe, we are also waiting with anticipation for the election results. Whoever wins the White House, it’ll have an impact on the rest of the world. Europe wants democracy to prevail, it takes care of humanity in all aspects. While waiting, let’s rock the boat, and vote for GWAH today.” _Turn Up The Volume

“The five-song EP is a fun mix of modern rock and Americana with engaging storytelling. Girl with a Hawk’s keep ‘er lit mix of modern rock, new wave, and early 90’s rock influences is engaging, and the band’s musical career will be a fun one to keep listening to.” _I’m Music Magazine

“Step into the mesmerizing realm of “Girl with a Hawk” [which] weaves not just melodies but enchanting tapestries of sound and emotion. Their story is a captivating odyssey, an exploration of music’s very soul.” _The Up And Up

“‘Way with Words’ is a song that eloquently captures the constantly evolving sound of this genre-bending quintet as they deliver another soon-to-be live favorite. If you’re new to the Hawk Rawk then ‘Way with Words’ might be your best starting point as it fuses a lot of what’s to love from last year’s keep ‘er lit release.” _Rock And Roll Fables

“‘Feel Me’ is a searing message about connection, love…and love lost. The brilliance of this song is reflective of the incredible catalog of GWAH: infectious melody, alluring lyrics and an unforgettable message!” _Rock Never Rusts

“‘Feel Me’ is a song that is well balanced, including a rough edge besides an 80s pop side in the keyboard. Kim Wilde on a rock guitar, something like that. It all ends with a guitar solo that simply sets the world ablaze for a short while. ‘Feel Me’ deserves to be heard far and wide.” _WoNo Magazine

“Songs filled with muscle and melody!” _Boston Groupie News

“It is a song [‘The Romantic’] that in its rock 'n' roll melodies channels influences from Tom Petty, The Pretenders, Wilco... and that its composer defines as an ode to true love.” _Exile SH Magazine

“... ‘Same Stars’ became one with my soul. More than a song to me, it’s become an anthem of hope. Hope through the turbulent times and seemingly insurmountable odds we may face in our lives. A reminder to ‘never give up the day before a miracle happens’. When I reach the end of my days, those who truly know me, know of three songs that I want played in my memory. I think my list just got longer.” _“Boris” Boden, The Secret Weapon on Woody Radio

 SPOTIFY   .   BANDCAMP   .   INSTAGRAM   .   FACEBOOK   .   TWITTER   .   LINKTREE   .   RUM BAR RECORDS