For the better part of a decade, Worriers have used their own brand of punk-adjacent indie rock to tell stories of heartbreak, gender expression, identity, and love. Trust Your Gut is the band’s first studio album in years and features band members Atom Willard (Against Me!, Social Distortion), Franz Nicolay (The Hold Steady), Frank Piegaro and Cayetana’s Allegra Anka. The album was self-produced by songwriter Lauren Denitzio and is a pivotal release demonstrating the true depth and complexity of their career with the band.
Worriers became Denitzio’s main focus after the wake-up call of open-heart surgery at just 25 years old. The event shook them into leaving a toxic creative partnership and starting a band that could evolve along with them. That priority takes center stage on Trust Your Gut, as Denitzio’s 2019 move from the East Coast to Los Angeles found them collaborating with Atom Willard (Against Me!, Social Distortion) as a fun exercise, only to realize they had started writing the next album together.
In a time when people were desperate for connection and leaning into relationships, Denitzio was scrawling a cathartic manifesto denouncing the things that no longer served them. But this is not a record of angst and scorekeeping. Trust Your Gut is an honest and often witty journey through heartbreak on its way to strength. In a way, Denitzio was also starting a new and incredibly vital relationship: one with themself.
While Denitzio penned their most-listened track “They/Them/Theirs” years before pronouns entered the national stage, the unfolding of their gender identity has certainly shaped not only the band but the journey to writing Trust Your Gut. Eschewing the classification of “women-in-music” while paying their dues in a male-dominated scene has been nothing if not an exercise in resilience.
To get where you’re going, you have to get away from where you’ve been. Coming up in DIY scene, Worriers have earned the mark of a seasoned traveler, ready to demonstrate all they’ve learned along the way. Come for the biting self-empowerment and stay for the nods to pop, rock, indie, and folk. On Trust Your Gut, Denitzio emerges from the ashes, not as a phoenix reborn per se, but rather fortified by their past to build a more resilient future. As they sing on “Math,” “Sometimes it’s hard to remember that // I once loved all the lives that I lived before.”
You can check out some kind words about Worriers here:
“A propulsive, synth-fueled heartland rock song” – Brooklyn Vegan on “Trust Your Gut”
“The sonic alchemy of a new wave stunner” – Paste on “Trust Your Gut”
“…a perfect blend of broccoli with mac and cheese, the bitter and the comforting…” – Bandcamp
“Even from Lauren’s early releases under the Worriers moniker, it was clear that they had an imminently relatable songwriting style, full of folksy flourishes and driving guitars, they were damned if they were going to let the world pen them in.” – Post-Trash
We have a stream of the album for press here:
https://s.disco.ac/oshcxfzahoek
You can check out the video for “Trust Your Gut” here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCYkt34y4f0