TRIAL TAPES Enters His “Queer Villain Era” On New Single ‘42’
Watch the official video - HERE
Stream and share - https://ditto.fm/42_3117deef
Purchase on Bandcamp - HERE
Liverpool “Queerbaked Scuzz” Newcomer’s Debut EP Coming 2026
New Live Show @ Ten Streets Social, Liverpool - 25th November 2025
Liverpool-based queer indie rock project Trial Tapes, the alias of songwriter and producer Jack McNally, are proud to reveal their new single, ‘42’, released 28th October 2025 via all good digital service providers.
A new live date has been announced for 25th November 2025 in his home town of Liverpool at Ten Streets Social, appearing at La Violette Società 59 alongside Rosy Carrick, The Rossettis, and Psychederek.
Tickets are on sale now.
One of those serendipitous tracks that seems to arrive to songwriters fully-formed in the moment, it’s a plaintive attempt to examine his own newfound sexuality within the context of society's gender-norms and prejudices—a spotlight on how the simple act of existing as a queer person is an act of resistance which disrupts the heteronormative narrative that others an entire human experience.
“42 honestly wrote itself in about an hour and it’s my absolute favourite song on the record,” enthuses McNally. “I think it set the tone for what Trial Tapes is—although in the true spirit of queerness I cannot quite narrow it down to anything in particular. Perhaps it’s something about nervousness; a glaring lack of blueprint and somewhere in the mix a whole lot of hope.”
Written during his first few weeks of moving back to Liverpool after coming out, McNally hadn’t owned an electric guitar for about 5 years and the idea of getting back into writing music again wasn’t even on the agenda.
“The song made its way to me when I found myself back in my childhood home, rattling around full of nervous energy from the life I had left behind,” he explains. “I eventually borrowed my cousin’s guitar just to do ‘something’ with my time and the first thing I played on it was the opening riff of the song. I immediately heard the full production in my head along with the story I wanted to tell with this entire record. I played it over and over again and hadn’t experienced that much excitement from an instrument since I first started playing guitar as a kid. It reminded me of the first time I nailed a Black Sabbath riff in the very same room in 2002.”
Self-soothing his nervousness by imagining the life he would have gone on to live had he not realised his own queerness in time, McNally imagined being expected to start a family with an imaginary wife whose ‘biological clock’—“a phrase I find so reductive”—was ticking.
“I imagined being afraid of queer people whilst also craving their company and the agony of never experiencing queer community. I became so grateful for where and who I was just by writing this stupid song in my childhood bedroom,” says McNally.
“Heteronormativity has a plan for us all and as queer people we have the burden of disrupting that in order to just be who we are. Even if it is just for a moment of passive aggression, we fulfil the villain role in someone else’s narrative and it is somehow our job to remedy that. That’s what ‘42’ is about—my queer villain era/narrative.”
Once again co-produced and mixed by close friend Chris Hendrick (Winterquilt Audio), McNally recorded every instrument on the track at home in his DIY setup, with the exception of drums which were laid down remotely by Bill Burns in his home studio down in London, and the influence of Rich Fownes (Not Richard & Her Majesty, ex-80s Matchbox) who also gets a production credit.
Further new music and live dates will be announced in due course.
Trial Tapes’ new single ‘42’ is released 28th October 2025
Live Dates:
25.11.25 - Liverpool - Ten Streets Social (La Violette Società 59)
Trial Tapes online:
https://www.instagram.com/trialtapes
https://www.tiktok.com/@trial.tapes
Trial Tapes live band:
Jack McNally (vocals/guitar)
Cormac Gould (keys)
Alex Hannah (bass)
Charlie Sherliker (guitar)
Alex Headen (drums)
Stream Debut Single ‘Coughing Fits’ Out Now
Stream and share - https://ditto.fm/coughing-fits
More info:
Trial Tapes began during what songwriter Jack McNally calls “a euphoric and quietly transformative” stretch between 2022 and 2024. Having returned to Liverpool after over a decade in Brighton, newly out of the closet and starting over, he began writing songs in isolation, reconnecting with music as a form of catharsis and discovery.
The band name itself nods to a few origin points: an early desktop folder labelled “Trial Takes”, a BBC documentary (AIDS: The Unheard Tapes), and the tactile charm of recording vocals onto cassette. What unites them is a sense of experimentation and a desire to preserve something real and meaningful.
Debut single ‘Coughing Fits’ was released earlier this year, and is the first track to be taken from a bold debut EP set for release in 2026, with further details to be announced over the coming months. The 5 track collection captures a raw and intimate period of radical self-reinvention for McNally, marking his return to music after nearly a decade of silence.
Blending motorik rhythms, warped guitars, and lush synths with emotionally candid lyrics that explore queer identity, late blooming, and the quiet absurdities of modern life, the song evokes the modern art rock majesty of Perfume Genius, and the cautious British wit of Suede.
Lyrically representing the core themes of his soon-to-be-revealed forthcoming debut EP—chiefly McNally’s late coming out story and reconciliation of hetero/homo-normativity—it was an accomplished first step from a songwriter who has finally found his authentic voice.
Recorded largely solo at home, his forthcoming debut EP fuses elements of scuzzy indie rock, lo-fi synth-pop, and artful storytelling. McNally’s influences range from Kim Deal and Jai Paul to T. Rex, Courtney Barnett, and queer duo Man on Man, all reinterpreted through a uniquely personal, kitchen-sink lens.
