Friedberg
12/14/2024
at 8:00 PM
/ Wien
Friedberg announced their highly anticipated debut album "Hardcore Workout Queen," which will be released on November 8 via Clouds Hill. The album announcement also coincides with the announcement of their headline tour in December! (including dates in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne & Munich).
The 10 tracks of the debut album "Hardcore Workout Queen" (including the previously released singles "Hello," "My Best Friend," and "The Greatest") are described by frontwoman Anna Friedberg in her own words as "an endless road trip with no destination." The debut album of the alt-rock quartet is full of songs made for road trips with best friends – the kind of road trips where deep conversations are the order of the day and you discuss your innermost feelings over rest stop snacks and warm fizzy drinks. The kind of road trip you never want to end.
On the album, the band expands their sonic palette: psychedelia, dance-punk, and a dose of massive, pop-oriented hooks. "Hardcore Workout Queen" was written in various studios, from Berlin to Los Angeles, through Dan Carey’s (Hot Chip, Fontaines D.C.) studio in South London and Oli Bayston’s (the mastermind behind Boxed In) in Walthamstow. The result? An electrifying debut album that is unmistakably Friedberg.
Anna says the following about the long-awaited debut album: "I suppose you could say it’s a journey through the inner workings of my past few years. It’s vast and minute, it’s everything and nothing. It’s about breaking in and breaking free, about slipping into someone else’s mind for a holiday from your own thoughts. It’s being the Champion of the Slobs, whilst cheering for the Hardcore Workout Queens who run past your bedroom window as you’re tucking into your second breakfast. It’s the perfect album to listen to with the windows down cruising along a coastline, whether you know where you’re going or not."
The band returned to the stage earlier this year and has already had quite an eventful year, including a performance at this year’s SXSW, Great Escape Festival, as support for the German indie rock band Giant Rooks on their month-long US tour, and recently as the opening act for the rising Black Country duo Big Special in May. They also supported the British alt-rock band Placebo at some of their UK concerts in June. They are finishing the summer with a performance at the Lost Village Festival in Lincolnshire alongside acts like Royel Otis and Floating Points.
Friedberg was founded in 2019 by Anna (author, vocals, guitar, cowbells, and percussion), who was born in Austria and lives in London/Berlin, and is completed by Emily Linden (guitar, vocals), Cheryl Pinero (bass, vocals), and Laura Williams (drums). Friedberg's first success was the single "Go Wild" – a huge hit featured in the soundtrack of FIFA 2020 and in the BBC series Normal People – and their debut EP "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah," a razor-sharp collection of songs designed for the live stage.
The band has made waves with performances at Eurosonic (+ ARTE TV Live Session), Open Air St. Gallen (Switzerland), Europavox (3 shows – France, Lithuania, Croatia), Popfest Vienna (headliner), Haldern Pop main stage (Germany), Heimspiel Knyphausen (Germany), Reeperbahn, a US tour with Hot Chip, which included supporting them at the Brixton Academy in London, UK support with Placebo, and high-profile stadium support shows with AnnenMayKantereit in Germany.
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
