Coach Party released the roiling, witty, indie pop EP, After Party, on Chess Club Records back in April. New single ‘FLAG (Feel Like A Girl)’ is the successor, beckoning a new era for the Isle of Wight four-piece.
It is a song about the very worst kind of scumbag. Discussing the record, the band explained on Instagram ‘’FLAG’ is a song for those who know what it’s like to feel unsafe, objectified or hurt by someone. It’s an intense anger where you just want to see that person suffer as much as they made you suffer. It takes you to the point where you’ll do anything to protect the people around you from the person, whether you know them or not.
It was originally inspired by one brief conversation I (Jess) had with a man, who at the end of our chat, told me he’d hate to have as many feelings as girls have. This then inspired me to write about an experience I’ve had, and I’m sure, many others have also had. This track feels like the cusp of many more feelings that live inside of us’.
The record brims with exasperation and rage, driving the subjects of misogyny and sexual harassment home with a gritty guitar tone and the seething refrain “Wanna hurt you back, just like how you hurt me”. Check out the cathartic period costume video below, in which vocalist and bassist Jess Eastwood ensures the abuser does sufficiently suffer, at the far end of a musket barrel.