The Virginmarys, "Motherless Land" premiering on The Wall Street Journal
Hailing from Macclesfield, England, The Virginmarys make anthems that scream with all the potent sound and fury of modern punk acts, brimming with the honesty of prime British rock of the early 1970’s, before the wizards and capes overcame the attack and dynamic.
The energetic three-piece arrive with a compelling video for their single, "Motherless Land," premiering exclusively on The Wall Street Journal.
Taken from their sophomore release, Divides, the visuals are a fitting match the song, which WSJ describes as a "propulsive tune brimming with desperate energy". Directed by Kyle Cogan and produced by Drew Morris, the video follows a homeless couple as they train-hop across America, and builds from the themes that are entrenched throughout the album.
“There’s a lot of singing for the beaten-down and the people who don’t have a voice,” says Virginmarys singer and guitarist Ally Dickaty. “This particular song is about a couple that is escaping from the society that they’re living in because they’ve just had enough of it.”
As Wall Street Journal describes, to capture the scope of the couple’s travels, Cogan, his small crew and the video’s stars (Mary Morrice and Greg Dillon) set out on a 1,500-mile road trip in a cramped RV that spanned from Los Angeles to Arizona to Utah and Nevada, while also spending 150 miles on a train.
Divides is the highly-anticipated follow up to their 2013 debut LP, King of Conflict, which garnered attention from the likes of Rolling Stone, Guitar World and more. Leading up to the release, the band caught the attention, among others, of Blackbook, Ladygunn, Earmilk, Pure Volume, Guitar World, and Consequence of Sound, who labeled the album's title track, "Motherless Land" an anthem that served up "no-frills, honest-to-god British rock with an undeniable punk edge."
Littered with themes that touch on the state of politics in their homeland of Britain, to their own experiences dealing with mental health or issues with addiction, the band wanted to create an album that would serve as a heart-on-your-sleeve style account of their lives in 2016, and the divides they encounter each day.
"This album has been filtered through the anger and frustration of living in a crumbling and fucked up society run by those who couldn't care less whether you live, die, eat or starve so long as their own status and life style is maintained within a self serving system," muses band frontman Ally Dickaty on the themes that carve through the record.
Dickaty sums up Divides with equal passion - ”“The overall theme of the album is the divides among people, freedom and power, injustice, inequality and corruption. Anger, disillusionment, injustice, frustration about where I feel we are in today's society. History repeating. Restraint by systems that benefit the few and the choices left to take part or be cast aside and face persecution. The rise of depression and anxiety and use of anti-depressants and drugs across the globe. Disillusion in politicians and democracy. There's a lot of divides with us in Britain, many created by the government and media turning people against one another. We are brainwashed with who to love, who to fear, who is good and who is evil.”
Divides is available now via Wind-up Records.
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