Not every up-and-coming band gets hand-picked to support the Foo Fighters at Old Trafford cricket ground. Even fewer earn that accolade off the back of a song, Buses, decrying the cost of public transport in their home city. Yet that’s what happened in June to all-female four-piece Loose Articles. Ahead of the show, bassist and singer Natalie Wardle told Manchester World that they apparently got the gig after Dave Grohl and co had heard a song “about why we hate a bus in Manchester, and they must have loved that. It was crazy.”
A going concern since 2019, Loose Articles have only just released their debut album, nine lurching punk vignettes of quotidian reportage with nods to the Raincoats and the Fall. Their songs are not afraid to embrace humour and politics – as Wardle told 360° Sound: “We go from talking about karaoke to talking about climate change.”
They still all hold down day jobs: Wardle in marketing; guitarist Erin Caine is a teacher; keyboardist Louise Rivett is a designer; and drummer Abbi Phillips works at a music venue. But they hope to soon be free of those commitments. “The dream would be to have the band as a full-time job,” says Wardle. “It’s the dream and the aim.”
Scream if You Wanna Go Faster is out now on Alcopop! Loose Articles play Rough Trade Nottingham on 30 July and Rough Trade Liverpool, 1 August
