Self Torque release spaghetti western vibes of new track ‘Del Shannon’
From the forthcoming debut album ‘A Brutal Nadir’
Set for release 30th January 2026 via Sugar-Free Records
See Self Torque live at The Hope & Ruin, Brighton in Jan, various dates in Feb & Manchester Punk Festival in April
Brighton trio Self Torque’s new single ‘Del Shannon’ brings some pseudo spaghetti western vibes with a serious injection of trumpet towards its climax. ‘Del Shannon’, released today with accompanying music video, “went through many interpretations before settling on a sort of spaghetti western style,” says vocalist and guitarist Gabriel MacKenzie. “There’s big dynamic changes. Chaotic, choppy riffs and screaming give way to a quiet yet expansive chorus of vulnerability and emotive melody. The lyrics really speak for themselves.”
That’s true of much of the indie-punks’ forthcoming debut album, which is a collection of tracks that really wears its heart on its metaphorical sleeve. ‘Del Shannon’ features on the full length, titled ‘A Brutal Nadir’, which is set for release 30th January 2026 via Brighton indie Sugar-Free Records. It was recorded at Brighton Electric, produced and mixed by Mark Roberts (Black Peaks, Jamie Lenman), with additional engineering by Alex Gordon (The Cure, Tigercub).
The band also recently revealed album opener ‘Wicker Incident’. Gabriel revealed that “Lyrically, it sets the tone for the record. One of self reflection. Looking back and inwards. It’s about how the understanding of childhood experiences can change with age. How other people remember a situation and how that can inform your own narrative.” They kicked off this cycle of music with the manifesting lead single ‘(All The Things I) Wannabe’, whose manifesting writing process found Gabriel “listening to Californian garage and dreaming about being somewhere else and someone else.”
Self Torque emerged onto the Brighton DIY punk scene out of the ashes of various bands Gabriel had been a part of. The trio of musicians assembled for the project (completed by Luke Ellis on drums and Jay Cross on bass) are battle-hardened punk scene fixtures so it’s no surprise that Self Torque are already making a name for themselves with their supremely locked-in live shows.
Gabriel sings with an almost desperate passion and a first-take keep-it-in-the-red urgency, delivering sombre, un-varnished truths, wrapped around distress-cracked melodies. The energy of the moment, the artistry of the composition, and the obnoxious courage of the message are all intertwined like a strand of DNA.
At the heart of this project, there’s a tug of war between two equally powerful opposing tendencies; on the one hand is a weary resignation, a brokenness, sketches of late-capitalist ennui and sorrow distilled and occasionally unleashed in the nihilistic frequencies of Gabriel's banshee screams. As its opponent, is a Darwinian primal survival instinct, a will to live. This essential compulsion to keep fighting is buttressed by a conscious and active force, intellectual fortitude, pride, that real hard-to-pin-down stuff of substance and strength which in these powerful songs feels reminiscent or familial to that small, stubborn voice, surely inside every person's cranium whispering “Keep going! Push on!” with a cloaked determination.
Sometimes Self Torque trade in the sort of overblown, melodramatic fuzz-laden pop-punk that Weezer made their stock-in-trade for decades. Pop sensibilities wrangle with a primitive approach akin to the first wave pop-punk bands like Buzzocks and Stiff Little Fingers. Also imbibed in the band’s sound is a garage punk energy reminiscent, at times, of bands like Hot Snakes, Young Livers, Rocket From The Crypt, or even The Hives at their most hyped-up and primal. You can see them live, in the flesh at Sugar-Free Records’ Birthday Party in Brighton on 24 Jan, and at Manchester Punk Festival in April.
SEE SELF TORQUE LIVE:
24 Jan The Hope & Ruin, Brighton - Sugar-Free Records Birthday party
06 Feb New River Studios, London - with Jay Cavalier and the Band
07 Feb The Library, Oxford - with Jay Cavalier and the Band
08 Feb The Hobbit, Southampton - with Jay Cavalier and the Band
03-05 April Manchester Punk Festival
CONNECT WITH SELF TORQUE:
‘A Brutal Nadir’ Tracklisting:
1. Wicker Incident
2. Fortitude
3. (All The Things I) Wannabe
4. Del Shannon
5. Fade To Blank
6. Was Once A Waltz
7. Dill Temko
8. Instrumental
9. High Temperature Serpent
10. Stranger Danger
