The Sonder Bombs – “What Are Friends For?”

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The Sonder Bombs have returned with the new song “What Are Friends For?”

Midwesterner upstarts The Sonder Bombs have today announced signing to Big Scary Monsters in the UK/EU with new track ‘What Are Friends For?’. Produced in Philadelphia during quarantine with Joe Reinhart (Hop Along, Beach Bunny), their new track captures a band burning at both ends. The Sonder Bombs are often at their most direct and dynamic when they get mad, but here they’re getting even before toppling the scale. Lead singer Willow Hawks entertains the question ‘What Are Friends For?’ while the background smoulders around the punctuation – Hawks’ agile vocal line trailing like an asteroid collision.

“Writing & recording ‘What Are Friends For?’ was some of the most fun that we’ve had as a band” says Willow Hawks. “From the very beginning we knew this was a song that we wanted people to shake their butts too! I was dancing my heart out while tracking vocals for this one and I think that hype energy really came through in the final product. I can’t wait to play it live someday!” 

For The Sonder Bombs, self-confidence starts when it crosses paths with self-analysis. Their debut ‘Modern Female Rockstar’, which was released on Take This to Heart Records, defined a new era of socially conscious, unapologetic pop punk. An all-caps attack against a male-dominated scene brandishing a ukulele and dry wit as chosen weapons. The alt-folk quartet began as a duo in 2016, with Hawks and her writing partner Jimmy Wilkens trading off abrasive and melodic punches against a DIY universe which places gender politics at the bottom of a list of priorities.

Blending together the folksy and the fiery can be cartoonish if not executed properly. On paper, adding a ukulele to a pop-punk band’s arsenal seems like an eyebrow-raising proposition. Luckily for The Sonder Bombs, the uke enhances the band’s self-assured humour and balance, creating a dynamic, nuanced counterpoint to frontwoman Willow Hawks’ acrobatic vocals and shimmering guitars. Hawks assures her listener base that the ukulele isn’t the product of a cutesy bygone era, it’s a weapon in a battle to be taken seriously in a male-dominated scene.

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