Date Signed: July 23, 2021
Label: Criminal Records
Band Members: Lori
Type of Music: Electro-Pop
Management: Noco Management
Legal: Bray and Krais
Publicity: Criminal PR
Web: criminalrecords.cc
A&R: Princess Maha (aka The Kut)
Fans of contemporary U.K. punk might already be familiar with Lori, thanks to the fact that she fronts garage-grunge band Weekend Recovery. Her solo project, however, is something very different. “Pop” might be a bit of a cuss-word in punk circles, but Lori has embraced the pop star that was always residing within her, and produced some stunning music.
“I originally trained in musical theater, I trained to be a dancer, and slowly progressed to playing guitar and writing my own music,” she says. “I’ve always loved rock music. My band is quite Paramore-y. But I always had a real love for pop like Katy Perry and that kind of thing. Lockdown gave me a lot more opportunity to play with Logic and learn how to make my own synthy sounds and that kind of thing. Though I started writing a few years before, my solo project started taking form in lockdown.”
Yes, the pandemic has been devastating in so many ways. Lori made lemonade from lemons by learning how to use Logic Pro, and honing her instrumental skills. When things really started to take shape, it made sense that she sign with U.K. label Criminal Records, as it is already home to Weekend Recovery. That label belongs to Princess Maha from fellow U.K. punks The Kut.
“I’ve known Maha for quite a while,” Lori says. “We’ve gigged with her before, with Weekend Recovery. Actually, she signed Weekend Recovery before my solo project. Maha reached out to me, and asked why I’d never reached out to her. I told her that as well as Weekend Recovery I’ve got this other project. It’s different but would it be something she’d be interested in. She said that she would. It makes sense for everything to be on the same label, as well, for scheduling and all that stuff.”
Lori’s first single for the label was “Harlequin,” followed by “Release Me,” with another single and EP on the way, both called “I’m Still Here.”
“I’m quite open about my mental health and struggles, especially during lockdown,” she says. “It’s something which has become a lot more prominent with a lot of people. It’s about that—I’m still here, as cheesy as that sounds. There are days when you wake up and don’t want to be here anymore.”
With the EP done, Lori is getting ready to hit the road again.
“I’ve got a U.K. tour, which had to be rearranged like everything this year,” she says. “It was originally March but it’s in September now. We’ve got a lot of female, non-binary and LGBTQ+ representation on the tour which is really important to me. It’s a really exciting tour for me.”
