Grim Town. It’s unclear exactly what or where it is but it’s grey, flat and small in both size and significance. It’s a concrete slab on a cul-de-sac that leads to nowhere. It’s a restlessness that rocks back and forth, back and forth. It’s the suffering that starts in the corner of your mind or in the crease of your forehead and ends with total loss of identity and control. It’s the grim realisation that you are not who you thought you were, and that the only way you can face your most excruciating fears is through an unforgiving, unadulterated pop song. ‘You are now entering the southbound train to Grim Town. Please surrender any faith, passportation or optimism to platform staff if you haven’t already. Refreshments will not be available on this service. Thank you and enjoy your journey.’
All aboard.
“I was so sure of myself when I was sixteen, so sure of what I was about, and I didn’t give a fuck. But when I finished touring I realised that I absolutely didn’t. I had no idea. When you’re on tour you get into a cycle of something, and in a way you’re growing but really you’re not because everything stays the same, everything stays constant. And then when I was finished I was like, I have no idea what anything is. So, I had a freak-out-moment, and I spent a year in that freak-out-moment, not knowing what was what anymore. It was scary.”
But how can anybody truly know themselves at just sixteen? The term ‘to come of age’ comes with so much baggage, so much expectation, with SOAK’s second album Grim Town, Bridie dissolves all assuredness, and we follow her on this empowering but often painful journey, clinging closely to the handrail.
This is a standing show. Presented by SJM Concerts.