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“Fuck LA”, Illiterate Light Declares in New Single

Virginia-based alternative rock duo Illiterate Light recently shared their new emotional single “Fuck LA” and its accompanying music video in anticipation of their upcoming new LP, Sunburned, out Jan. 27. 

In this slower track, singer-guitarist Jeff Gorman and drummer Jake Cochran reflect and comment on the monotony of being away from family on the road. The cinematic video shows the reality of van life, beginning with daily activities in a Walmart parking lot. Gorman turns right to the camera to say, “Fuck LA,” and “Fuck” a lot of other things. 

The song and video surround a real voicemail Gorman received from his wife while on tour in 2019 – it is reassuring, and heart warming and wrenching at the same time. You can see his mind churning with homesickness: is it really all worth it? “Wherever you are, fuck that place and come back home,” he sings. “Wherever you are in time and space, come back home.”

“’Fuck LA’ has nothing to do with Los Angeles,” Gorman explains. “It’s the hollow ache that sneaks up on you while you are grinding away, traveling, living apart from the people that matter. No matter how much you love what you are doing, it’s the feeling of overload that quietly turns into, ‘man, fuck everything.’”

It is a relatable song of wanting to be home, but also a reminder to always keep in mind the reasons why you are doing what you are doing and taking pride in where you’re from.

Be sure to catch Illiterate Light’s new album Sunburned on Jan. 27 via Thirty Tigers, as well as their upcoming tour. To kick it off, they are having an in-store performance at Plan 9 in Richmond, VA on Thursday, Jan. 26 to celebrate its release; find more information about the event here!

“This record was all about chasing a gut feeling and going for songs that had more depth and darkness and pain,” says Gorman. “We’d rather share what we’re really going through and let that come out.” 

Find “Fuck LA” and more exciting new music on our Alchemical Multigenre Mixdown playlist on Youtube and Spotify

Alchemical Records contributor Emma Page

Emma Page

Emma Page, a recent Journalism graduate of The George Washington University, possesses a passion for music journalism and storytelling in all its forms. Originally from Baltimore, MD, when she is not writing, she can be found at a local concert or making music of her own.

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“Nearly all the doctors and surgeons I know, they all play something: trumpet, sax, violin, guitar,” Earl said recently. “There’s not too many drummers that are surgeons, there’s probably a good reason for that!”

Earl half-jokingly invites his surgeon-rockers to join him and the other members of Foghat onstage at the Fillmore in Silver Spring March 9, where they will be headlining the Rock and Roll for Children Foundation benefit for the Children’s Inn at NIH. Earl, the only original member of Foghat still in the band, will be banging the skins behind guitarist Bryan Bassett and other members Scott Holt and Rodney O’Quinn. “Slow Ride,” the band’s 1975 megahit, is all but assured to be on the setlist, along with tunes from Foghat’s most recent record, “Sonic Mojo.”

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