Skinny Girl Diet are back with a 3-track EP about shitty bar jobs, rubbish birthdays and why going to school is like joining a cult
Last year, punk icon Viv Albertine of the Slits introduced us to fiery grrrl-punk trio Skinny Girl Diet. “At last, real girls, young and believable, singing in their own voices,” Albertine told us. “The music is raw, direct and unpretentious – these girls are timeless.” A year later, and nothing has changed. They’re still the same fearless girl gang, equipped with treacle-thick guitar riffs, pummelling drumbeats and a no-fucks-given attitude reminiscent of Sonic Youth’s bright star Kim Gordon or the heady heyday of Courtney Love. At only three tracks long, their latest EP Reclaim Your Life is a short, sharp punch to the gut (without the physical pain) and, as always, they have something to say. Listen below, and scroll down to read what guitarist/singer Delilah Holliday told us about each creation.
“Fix me”
“Fix me is a very special song to me personally. I wrote it at a time when everything was looking down after I’d been hit by a car on my birthday and I couldn't walk. I wrote it for all the shit times in life; the night buses home when you feel like crying because you've had a shit night, the disappointment from things not going your way, the harsh realities of the world that I don't want to personally accept and lay down defeated. But I wanted the lyrics to be positive at the same time, and play the glad game and reflect how you can look at things in two different ways. Another aspect of this track is the fact that it’s an anti-love song. It's about someone helping you to fall in love with yourself and putting you back together again; it's about when you’re too scared to ask for help from someone, but you overcome the problems with the help from your true friends and your boo.”
“Silver Spoons”
“'Silver spoons' is a song about being working class and trying to aspire to be something more than getting a cashier job at Morrisons supermarket or working behind a shitty bar when your shift ends at 6am and they fire you for being dedicated to your band. It's also about wishing that I had a trust fund and how the whole world revolves and around money. Some of the lyrics I wrote were inspired by 1984 the novel by George Orwell and noticing all the different CCTV cameras around London, being paranoid about the news and what the media constantly drills into your head. Ursula the drummer wrote the lyrics about the government being unaffected by issues that really matter, like police corruption, which is sang in the intro.”
“Wasted Smile”
“Our drummer Ursula came up with the concept and title of this song and I wrote the lyrics. It's basically about putting a fake smile on your face while turmoil is going on in your head. All of us in the band have been at school or university and suffered in silence while all the stress builds up around you. It's about putting on a brave face. And the second half is about being lied to by the cult which represents the education system.”