Wakey Wakey Rise & Shine

Signing to Bristol independent label Velvet Echoes (Dreamwave), psychedelic post-punk quintet Wakey Wakey Rise & Shine announce details of debut EP and share bristling new single ‘Backseat Driver’ - out 29th May.

Coming off the back of recent shows with Ellie Bleach, Canned Pineapple and The Pleasure Dome, ‘Backseat Driver’ launches straight into 6th gear with buzzsaw punk riffs and clattering rhythms. Plumping the punkier ends of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard with  delicate 60s psych-pop harmonies, the track chaotically and colourfully veers from its lean, cantering verses to its all-frets-blazing breakdowns across a dramatic 5-minute span.

Produced at the recording space of beloved Bristol venue The Louisiana with Alfie-Tyson Browne (Langkamer, Katy J Pearson and Saloon Dion), the track’s playful diatribe against Backseat Drivers the world over, with shout-outs to the ‘V6’ and ‘V8 engines, captures a band with boundless enthusiasm and an infectiously playful and mischievous approach towards their art. Offering more on the track, the band explain simply say: “The song is about irritating little fuck witts that sit in the back of your car giving you instructions when they don't even drive”

‘Backseat Driver’ offers the first teaser from their ‘A Good Way to Get Yourself Killed EP’, due 5th July 2024 via Velvet Echoes Records. Celebrating the release, the band headline a special hometown show at Crofters Rights on 6th July (supports tba)

More about Wakey Wakey Rise & Shine :

Slowly assembled together after years of “life's wonderful lived experiences” - at college, at Green Man festival, on Gumtree adverts, at gigs - Wakey Wakey Rise & Shine eventually emerged in Bristol in 2020. Influenced by the likes of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Snapped Ankles, and the New Wave trailblazers DEVO and B-52s, the band came to define their Psychedelic/post-punk sound: frilly psychedelic melodies fused with the fuzzed-up fury of high-octane post-punk, all powered by an embrace of all things silly and irreverent. “fun and mischievous ways of expressing yourself within art is probably an artist's greatest weapon”, explains drummer Seamus Daley-Dee. “Collectively we enjoy being a bit silly with our ideas and keeping the writing process interesting and playful.”

Accordingly, from its chaotic, song-structures careening from one style to next, right down to its whimsical subject matter, ‘A Good Way To Get Yourself Killed EP’ presents an ever-playful 4 song set of chaotic and colourful surprise. Inspired by various behaviours and irks observed in their Bristol hometown, elliptic Graffiti sightings (‘BJJ MMA TFF. BK 1’), Videos found online of old welsh men walking their dog and tripping on magic mushrooms (“Magic Hill), unhelpful 'backseat driving', and sustainable transport (“E-Scooters”) are the main concerns in Wakey Wakey Rise & Shine’s ebullient fuzz-pedalled world.