Listen To This | FIDLAR - Nudge

Kayla Sandiford

An American in London. Loosely termed journalist. When I’m not attending gigs or writing about sounds that I love, you can find me making art and fawning over nature.

Los Angeles rock band FIDLAR step out with new single ‘Nudge’ and the announcement of UK tour dates this autumn

From Southern California, FIDLAR are bringing their dizzyingly rowdy energy from the sunny West Coast state in a string of November tour dates throughout the UK. This comes alongside the release of ‘Nudge’, their first new track to follow their acoustic collection ‘unplug’ released last month.

Since their formation in 2009, the group’s raucous garage sound has carried the “Fuck It Dog, Life’s A Risk” mantra which forms their name. If there’s any way to generate buzz for their energetic live shows, ‘Nudge’ certainly meets the mark.

Entering a comeback chapter since the departure of founding member Elvis Kuehn (guitar/vocals/keys), the band presently consists of frontman and founding member Zac Carper, Brandon Schwartzel (bass/vocals) and Max Kuehn (drums). Speaking on the track, Carper has stated that: “‘Nudge’ is a song about your friend that keeps kooking it, so you gotta give them a “nudge” to get their shit together.”

Rather than a gentle push, the track packs a brash punch. Beginning with surfy electric plucks, Carper’s delivery is playfully snippy, emboldened by a build-up of punky textures. The percussion is thunderous and the guitars are brazen with shamelessly catchy hooks; “I got a nudge from the judge and he said ‘I’m not gonna budge’”, “I got a nudge from my chick, and she said ‘you make me sick!’”.

But the track’s final verse carries its message most honestly: “I got a nudge from all my buds, and they sat me down in a big circle and said ‘dude, we love you, but you’re seriously fucking up big time.’” Yet, with all these nudges, Carper’s narration carries a largely unbothered attitude as he retorts with “Well excuse me, officer!”.

‘Nudge’ is fresh, biting and radically rambunctious. The track is sure to appease existing FIDLAR fans, while also catching the attention of new listeners. Tickets for FIDLAR’s autumn tour are on sale now.

Listen to ‘Nudge’ here: