Yee Loi fire a punk-rock broadside at social media culture on Social Suicide
Liverpool punk trio Yee Loi have released their new single Social Suicide, a fast, hard-edged blast aimed at the pressure placed on emerging artists to chase online attention at the expense of the music itself.
Released via Modern Sky UK, the track is the group’s third single to date and finds Rose, Matilda and Don Don pushing towards a heavier sound, with Motörhead and Social Distortion cited among its inspirations. The song takes on an industry increasingly shaped by views, likes, follows and constant social-media visibility.
Rose said: “The more we get involved in music the more we realise that for many people, musical ability just isn’t enough. A good song now needs every type of social media exposure possible to be able to achieve any success. It just seems that people are prepared to sell their souls for views, likes and follows. We just want to make great punk rock and roll songs that move people”.
Listen to Social Suicide here.
A harder, faster attack
The trio say the new single developed from a desire to strip back the poppier edges of their earlier material in favour of something more direct and abrasive. Matilda had already written the lyrics, with the band building the track around a sharper and more forceful arrangement.
Yee Loi said: “The song was written after we’d been listening to bands like Motörhead and Social Distortion, we started messing around with song ideas that were harder, faster and had less of a pop sensibility about them, just lots of drive and feeling. Matilda had been thinking about the subject for a while, and already had the lyrics ready to go.”
The release follows a trip to the US, where the band wrote and composed with CJ Ramone, after their early Ramones covers caught the attention of figures connected to the New York punk institution. Yee Loi also recently attended the Ramones’ 50th anniversary event in Hollywood, alongside guests including Billie Joe Armstrong, Travis Barker and Billy Idol.
Rose picked out Idol’s performance of Generation X’s Ready Steady Go as a highlight of the night, saying: “The show was elevated by Billy Idol’s appearance doing a rendition of an old English punk classic, Ready Steady Go by his original band Generation X – that was the absolute highlight of the show for Tilda and I. Ready Steady Go is one of our favourite songs ever – we did a rendition of it ourselves when I was 12”.
Dates with Transvision Vamp
After recently supporting Adam Ant, Yee Loi will head back out in October as support for Transvision Vamp, taking in a 15-date run across the UK.
- 6 October: Newcastle, O2 City Hall
- 9 October: Glasgow, O2 Academy
- 10 October: Leeds, O2 Academy
- 14 October: Cambridge, Junction
- 15 October: Leicester, O2 Academy
- 16 October: Liverpool, O2 Academy
- 17 October: Oxford, O2 Academy
- 18 October: Cardiff, Tramshed
- 20 October: Manchester, O2 Ritz
- 21 October: Bournemouth, O2 Academy
- 22 October: London, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
- 24 October: Norwich, Epic
- 28 October: Brighton, Chalk
- 29 October: Birmingham, O2 Institute
- 30 October: Bristol, O2 Academy
