NEWS : TUE, MAR 21, 2023 at 7:00 AM

Bully’s Lucky For You: Her New Album, Available Worldwide on June 2nd; Watch Official Video For Lead Single, “Days Move Slow,”

On Friday, June 2nd, Bully (aka Alicia Bognanno), will release Lucky For You, her kaleidoscopic new full-length on CD/LP/CS/DSPs worldwide from Sub Pop. The 10-track album combines punk grit, crunchy shoegaze bliss, and an explosive Britpop bop, all mixed in with the classic anthems Bully is known for. 
 
Lucky For You was recorded in 2022 at MMK Studios and Alicia’s House in Nashville, with help from producer JT Daly and mastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound.
 
This pulsating lead banger, “Days Move Slow,” was written after the passing of her beloved dog and best friend, Mezzi. Bognanno offers this, “as someone who has spent the majority of my life feeling agonizingly misunderstood, there is no greater gift than experiencing true unconditional love and acceptance. I waited my whole life for the bond and irreplaceable companionship I had with Mezzi. She was my best friend and my only constant through some of the most pivotal moments and phases of my life. I was a stranger to the level of love I now know exists because of Mezzi. Love you forever; I’m lucky for you.” 
 
The “Days Move Slow” official video was directed by Alex Ross Perry, who shares about this collaboration, “This is my third time collaborating with Alicia, but my first time collaborating with Bully. Having written the original songs for my film Her Smell and performed at the Pavement Museum Tribute Concert “scene” for my forthcoming film on them, I can’t believe I finally got to make a Bully video. Right away, it seemed striking to make a piece as stark and measured as possible, not to make a video that replicates the song’s sonic energy but to visualize the emotional weight and feelings of loss and grief depicted in the lyrics. Alicia doesn’t seem to have been filmed in 16mm black and white before, so it was a no-brainer to give that a try.” You can watch this brilliant new video HERE. 

Bully is extending her North American tour dates for 2023 in support of Lucky For You with new headlining shows. Dates kick-off June 4th in Charlottesville, VA, with headline stops at NYC’s Racket, Chicago’s Thalia Hall, and a hometown show at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl. Tickets for these shows are on sale on Friday, March 24th, at 10:00 AM (local).
 
These new shows will follow Bully’s previously announced headlining UK/EU tour (May 20th-28th) and her 13-date main support for the Pixies and Franz Ferdinand (June 8th-25th). See below for a current list of Bully live shows.
 

Sat. Apr. 15 - North Charleston, SC - High Water Festival 
Sat. May 20 - Amsterdam, NL  -  London Calling Paradiso 
Mon. May 22 - Manchester, UK - Yes (Pink Room) 
Tue. May 23 - Bristol, UK - THEKLA
Thu. May 25- Birmingham, UK - Dead Wax 
Fri. May 26 - London, UK - Moth Club
Sat. May 27- Leeds, UK - Live At Leeds In The Park
Sat. Jun. 03 - Lexington, KY - Railbird Festival
Sun. Jun. 04 - Charlottesville, VA - The Southern
Tue. Jun. 06 - New York, NY - Racket
Thu. Jun. 08 - Boston, MA - MGM Music Hall at Fenway *
Fri. Jun. 09 - Philadelphia, PA - The Met Philadelphia *
Sat. Jun. 10 - Washington, DC - The Anthem *
Mon. Jun. 12 - Columbus, OH - KEMBA Live! *
Tue. Jun. 13 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE *
Wed. Jun. 14 - Cincinnati, OH - The Andrew J Brady ICON Music Center *
Fri. Jun. 16 - Raleigh, NC - Red Hat Amphitheater *
Sat. Jun. 17 - Asheville, NC - Rabbit Rabbit *
Tue. Jun. 20 - Atlanta, GA - Coca-Cola Roxy *
Wed. Jun. 21 - New Orleans, LA - The Fillmore *
Fri. Jun. 23 - Houston, TX - Bayou Music Center *
Sat. Jun. 24 - Dallas, TX - Southside Ballroom *
Sun. Jun. 25 - Austin, TX - Moody Amphitheater *
Thu. Aug. 10 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall
Fri. Aug. 11 - St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway
Sat. Aug. 12 - Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck
Mon. Aug. 14 - Denver, CO - Marquis Theatre
Tue. Aug. 15 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
Wed. Aug. 16 - Boise, ID - TBD
Fri. Aug. 18 - Seattle, WA - Neptune
Sat. Aug. 19 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret
Sun. Aug. 20th - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theatre 
Tue. Aug. 22 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
Wed. Aug. 23 - Los Angeles, CA - Teragram Ballroom
Thu. Aug. 24 - Anaheim, CA - Chain Reaction
Fri. Aug. 25 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
Sat. Aug. 26 - Tucson, AZ - Club Congress
Mon. Aug. 28 - Santa Fe, NM - Meow Wolf
Tue. Aug. 29 - Oklahoma City, OK - Beer City Music Hall
Thu. Aug. 31 - Nashville, TN  - Brooklyn Bowl
Thu. Sep. 14 - Davenport, IA - Raccoon Motel
Fri. Sep. 15 - Minneapolis, MN - First Ave
Sat. Sep. 16 - Milwaukee, WI - X-Ray Arcade
Sun. Sep. 17 - Detroit, MI - Loving Touch
Tue. Sep. 19 - Toronto, ON - Lee’s Palace
Wed. Sep. 20 - Albany, NY - Lark Hall
Thu. Sep. 21 - Boston, MA - Crystal Ballroom
Fri. Sep. 22 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom
Sat. Sep. 23 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian
Sun. Sep. 24 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
 

* w/ Pixies and Franz Ferdinand

 
Lucky For You’s announcement was preceded by the release of the album track “Lose You,” Bully’s, which features guest vocal harmonies from Sophia Allison, aka Soccer Mommy. The song garnered support from Pitchfork, NME, DIY, The Fader, The Line of Best Fit, Under the Radar, and RollingStoneStereogum says of the track, “It meets in the midpoint between the two bands’ aesthetics, trading out Bully’s usual rapid-speed intensity for an ambling ’90s alt-rock vibes while holding onto the raw power. It might be the most purely catchy Bully song to date.” 
 
More about Bully:
Lucky For You is Bully’s most close-to-the-bone album yet. It’s an album that’s searing and unmistakably marked by its creator’s experiences, while still retaining the massive sound that Alicia Bognanno has become known for over the last decade. Her fourth album draws from personal pain and the universal struggle that is existing, learning, and moving on—and it’s all soundtracked by Bognanno’s rock-solid melodic sensibilities and a widescreen sound that’s impossible to pin down when it comes to the textures explored. These ten songs are simply the most irresistible Bognanno’s put to tape yet, making Lucky For You her greatest triumph to date in a career already packed with them.
 
Work on Lucky For You began last year when Bognanno brought some in-progress demos to producer J.T. Daly in his Nashville studio to see if they could strike creative kismet. “Authenticity is always on my mind, without even knowing it,” she explains while discussing their recording process together. “If I’m doing something that doesn’t feel natural or right, I’m quick to shut it down. So it was great to work with J.T. because I could tell he was a genuine fan who wanted to emphasize what he thinks is good about my writing instead of changing it. I could tell how much he cared about the project, and it meant a lot to me.” The album came together over the course of seven months, the longest gestation process for a Bully record to date: “I was freaking out about it at first because taking my time was so new for me. But a few months in, I realized how crucial that time ended up being. I got songs out of it that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.”
 
“With every record, I feel more and more secure in terms of doing what I want,” Bognanno continues. “For this one, I wanted to be as creative as possible with these songs.” She got her wish: A kaleidoscopic rock record spanning punk’s grit, the crunchy bliss of shoegaze, explosive Britpop, and the type of classic anthems Bully has been known for, Lucky For You’s thematic focus also zooms in on grief and loss. The record is largely inspired by Bognanno’s dog Mezzi passing away, at a time when her life already felt as if in metamorphosis.
 
“Mezzi was my best friend,” she explains. “She made me feel safe and empowered, she showed me that I was worth loving and never judged me or viewed me as a let down. I always felt accepted, understood and so much less alone. Mezzi was living, breathing proof that I was worthy of being loved.” And the oceanic first single “Days Move Slow” was written shortly after Mezzi’s passing, reflecting the persistence of Bognanno’s incisive wit even while facing adversity. “There was nothing else I could do except sit down and write.”
 
“Hard to Love” stomps and lurches with awesome abandon, resembling one of the most sonically left-field tunes Bognanno’s put to tape as Bully; and then there’s the passionate opening track “All I Do,” which kicks in the door Bully-style with huge riffs atop her lyrical reflections on three years of sobriety. “I’ve been living in this house for seven years,” she says while discussing her current Nashville abode. “Once I stopped drinking, I felt like I was still haunted by mistakes and things that had happened when I was drinking, and it’s still taking me a long time to forget about that while existing in this house. How do I shed the skin from a path I’ve moved on from?”
 
In that vein, Lucky For You is a document of perseverance in the face of the big and the small stuff. “I’m so overly emotional and sensitive, it’s a blessing and a curse,” she says with a laugh, but there’s no downside to her expressions of vulnerability on this record; it’s the latest bit of evidence that nothing can hold Bognanno back.


Bully
Lucky For You
 
Tracklisting:
1. All I Do
2. Days Move Slow
3. A Wonderful Life
4. Hard to Love
5. Change Your Mind
6. How Will I Know
7. A Love Profound
8. Lose You
9. Ms. America
10. All This Noise


Posted by Abbie Gobeli