Sprints shares brand new track ‘Drones’
The new single from upcoming debut EP, ‘Manifesto’
out October 9th 2020
Today marks the news of Dublin four-piece SPRINTS’ debut EP and the release of its first single. ‘Drones’ is the post-punk band’s best single to date as they’ve refined the more industrial elements of their sound and head into a more tense yet exhilarating chapter.
‘Drones’ sounds on the verge of erupting into unhinged chaos with crushingly loud volumes and swarms of feedback — and it does so at points brilliantly. You can imagine risking a broken rib in the mosphit for this one. Sonically, SPRINTS sound like an arena-slaying band who could bring their darkly theatrical performances to the biggest stages. Daniel Fox of Girl Band has been working with them since their inception in early 2020 and is credited as producer for each track on this beautifully crafted EP. The full track listing for the EP is as follows:
1. Manifesto
2. Drones
3. Swimming
4. Ashley
The band manifested their relationship with Daniel Fox after being fans of the noise, garage and punk scene in Dublin for years, before edging their way in with brilliant songwriting.
Karla Chubb, lead singer and songwriter, started bedroom singing and songwriting in her late teens. By her early 20’s Karla met current bandmates Colm O’Reilly (guitar) and Jack Callan (drums) and they had a short-lived indie project together. In 2018, Colm and Jack’s childhood friend – Sam McCann (bass); prolific on the fuzz pedal – joined them to bring that maelstrom that would edge them into the hallowed Dublin scene (think Silverbacks, Fontaines DC), and SPRINTS was born.
Sprints’ clarity in what they wanted to achieve stems also from needing to orchestrate a sound that would be a fit for Karla’s emotive lyrics, which tackle some brutal issues fearlessly and articulately.
Speaking of ‘Drones’, she says:
“Drones is very literally about my struggles with imposter syndrome. I think being a female in music, I struggle a lot with feeling like I have something to prove. It’s not okay for me to just be good, I have to be great. I have to prove constantly why I am deserving to be on the stage, or holding that guitar or that microphone. That pressure can be very difficult to deal with, and I think a lot of the times you doubt yourself then, am I actually able to write? Or is this all shit? Drones is about my experiences with dealing with this pressure, but realising that a lot of people have these struggles. The bars fill, the car parks fill, life seems to go on and on, and we can become so focused internally on our issues that you don’t realise that maybe while I was wishing I was someone else, they’re also wishing the same thing.”
Meanwhile, the EP’s other three tracks don’t disappoint. When it drops next month (enter date), you’ll be greeted by one of the catchiest choruses in rock n’ roll on ‘Manifesto’; ‘Swimming’ is a leather-clad BRMC-esque tale of alienation and poverty, and ‘Ashley’ is a philosophical banger dealing with simulation and obsession.
Nice Swan Records started their relationship with SPRINTS for their second single: the raw, raucous bass-fuelled ‘The Cheek’. It’s a track centreered around Karla’s “own experience of sexual assault, unsolicited advances and sexuality as a whole.”
It ushered them into the limelight and they’ve earned acclaim from Steve Lamacq, who put them as his Spotlight Artist,;and they landed Next Wave on BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders’ indie show. With ATC booking also taking them under their wing last month, this new EP, SPRINTS look set to take the guitar world by storm in coming months. Watch this space.