The band (vocalist/bassist Kel, guitarist Giz and drummer Steve) recorded their debut LP, Unfolding, with Gggarth Richardson (RATM, Biffy Clyro, Melvins) in Vancouver, Canada, followed by a trio of 7-inches on Punk Fox records, including the critically acclaimed ‘When The Cloud Explodes’. Their second album, Imploding, was produced by Morton Kong at Eve, Stockport.

‘When We Gonna Run?,’ produced by Matt Peel (Eagulls, Dream Wife, PABH), was released in November 2025, followed by ‘Death On Our Side’ (a song about dying before you need a pension) in January 2026. ‘A Feminine Ending,’ a critique of the anti-ageing industry and a celebration of averting the male gaze, is their newest single out now.

“One day, you start to disappear.” ‘A Feminine Ending’ opens with a comment on the idea that women ‘disappear’ from the male gaze as they age, but rather than framing this as a bad thing, the song celebrates it. “Oh, what a relief, the beauty trap released”

The song continues into a critique of the patriarchy, aided and abetted by the beauty industry, in particular the anti-ageing racket. A hugely profitable sector that puts untold pressure on women to be ‘attractive’ and remain forever young. It is a pervasive and sinister message which begins in childhood. When you stop engaging with that rhetoric, you become free. “We’re under the filter / pumped full of filler”

Women’s voices need to be louder than ever in 2026. Decades of progress driven by the feminist movement are in danger of being rapidly undone in a world of out-of-control male egos. Many young women are rejecting traditional ideals of womanhood and averting the male gaze.

In light of recent horrific news items such as the deeply traumatic Epstein Files, and the use of AI to objectify and abuse women online with no concern for consent (or morality), it’s more significant than ever to criticise the pervasive and deeply concerning message that only young women are attractive, desirable, or of any value whatsoever.

We had a chat with Kel all about the making of ‘A Feminine Ending,’ the struggles of being part of the music industry, their live show and more. Read the Q&A below.

Hi Kel! For anyone discovering The Empty Page here for the first time, please give us a brief introduction to the band, your influences and mission!

“We’re an anxious alt punk band who write about all kinds of issues relating to the human condition and society’s ills. Music is therapy for us, and I think it is for our fans, too. We want to write songs for the sake of art, catharsis, and connection; everything else is bullshit.”

You’ve just released your new single ‘A Feminine Ending’ which is about rejecting beauty standards and the expectations placed on women in a world dictated largely by the whims of problematic men. Was there anything in particular that sparked the inspiration to write this song? What was the creative process like?

“It’s hard to pinpoint an exact catalyst for any song. I write almost every day and then pick out lines here and there that work as a starting point for songs. I think the first few lines were something I had noted down because I had heard people talking about how women ‘disappear’ as they age, like it’s a bad thing. But I thought, ‘what a relief’ to have an invisibility cloak and finally be able to just get on with things without my femininity being pointed out constantly.

“A musical idea Giz had shown me felt like it could work with the vibe I had, and it did. We had half a song for like, years, as we were busy finishing our album, and this song wasn’t ready. It was one of the first we worked on in the rehearsal room once we found our permanent new drummer, Steve. I like the almost hypnotic nature of it.

“The second half came from an idea I had inspired by a Veruca Salt song (25). I then tried to channel a combination of Patti Smith, Kat Bjelland and Eugene Robinson for the vocal build. I put the words together from a huge amount of angry, scrappy notes. It’s weird how it all works out in the end, but it comes from chaos a lot of the time.”

Throughout the decade you’ve been in a band and part of the punk scene, what would you say have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a female musician and how have you overcome them?

“To be honest, the challenges are largely the same, being in an independent band, whether you’re a bloke or a woman. It’s hard either way, but we have to deal with misogyny around every corner on top of that. It’s a really tough industry because musicians make no money, so it’s almost impossible to give up your day job. I quite like my day job, but it interferes with being able to say yes to opportunities, so it’s a constant battle between paying your bills and chasing your dreams. Dreams you have sacrificed almost everything for. I’m not sure I have overcome most of these challenges, but I love being an artist and will do this til the day I die, no matter how hard it is. I can’t live without it.”

You have a few gigs and festival appearances coming up. What can someone expect from a The Empty Page show? How do you want fans to feel after leaving one of your gigs?

“I want you to feel wrung out like a damp flannel – in a good way. I want to make you uncomfortable. Tingly. Euphoric. Overwhelmed with emotion. I want to make you cry. But I want you to feel better afterwards. We really give it our all. A lot of people comment on the emotional weight we punch out in a live environment. And the energy too. It’s a big ole anxiety party.”

Finally, what’s next for The Empty Page? Any plans for a new EP/album? Goals for the future or anything else you want to share?

“We’re currently making tour plans, and after releasing three singles in five months, we’re feeling pretty accomplished, but we are working on new songs too and hoping to get back in the studio asap.”

Upcoming dates:

25 Mar LONDON Blue Posts Soho

3 May SHREWSBURY Loopfest

20 May LIVERPOOL Kazimier Stockroom (w/Charlie Houston)

7 Aug BLACKPOOL – Scream + Shake Rebellion Fringe gig

More TBC!

The post Getting To Know… The Empty Page appeared first on She Makes Music.

New single ‘Death On Our Side’ is no different, lamenting the woes of a generation of people with no pension plan other than to die before they need to rely on one.

Following ‘When We Gonna Run?’, released in November 2025, just 18 months after the band’s second album, Imploding, the new single continues to seamlessly meld punk and shoegaze. It’s gritty and Mancunian, and at the same time a fragile commentary on the realities of life in modern Britain.

In fields where strange static crackles / you and I climb the pylons

Small lives are plundered / and underfunded

But we got death on our side

This is the second in a series of single releases recorded at Nave Studios, a former church in deepest Leeds, with producer Matt Peel (Eagulls/Dream Wife/Bodega). “We’ve long been fans of Matt’s work, so it was great to work together finally. The studio is so cool, and Matt’s references from Radiohead to Smashing Pumpkins align perfectly with the songs we’ve been writing”, says Kel.

The post The Empty Page share new single ‘Death On Our Side’ appeared first on She Makes Music.

Georgia Gets By, the project of New Zealand’s Georgia Nott (BROODS), shares a video for ‘When All You Can Manage Is A Sigh,’ a gorgeous and quietly devastating new single. “I wrote this song for a friend a few years ago while they were navigating a divorce. There are those moments where thinking can’t balance out the feelings. You can rationalize all you want but you are still there, holding that enormous heavy sensation that no words can describe,” Georgia explains. “There, on the other side of falling in love, looking around at empty space and wondering whether you can bear to try it all again. This song is a parting gift of some sorts; something to fill the emptiness for a couple of minutes. As Imogen Heap says ‘there is beauty in the breakdown’.”

Gustaf, the Brooklyn no wave / post-punk band announced their debut album last month and now they are back with a double single and video for ‘Here Hair / Hard Hair.’ The first is a brooding, slow-motion growl peppered by birdsong and stabbed by pinpricks of guitar, while its chaser, ‘Hard Hair,’ is 45-second outburst of energy, invective and regret. The songs were produced and mixed by Erin Tonkon with initial production from Carlos Hernandez. Its accompanying video directed by the band’s own Lydia Gammill, features the band wigged out among heart shaped hair brushes and roses.

Manchester’s finest alt-punks The Empty Page just released a gritty new video, calling out the ‘Cock of the Fifth Year’. “Cock of the fifth year is what we called the biggest jock types when I was in high school. Cocky, brash loud and overly confident. Puffed up and swaggering and often quite intimidating. I liked the name for a song and wrote it initially about a cartoonish bloke who unselfconsciously uses up all the space available and makes others feel shoved out of the way. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of blokes like that I encounter when walking around my home city of Manchester. Swaggering, mouthy bellends who can be pretty intimidating when you’re a woman just trying to get from A to B. I was thinking about the idea that being a big deal in high school is the peak of some people’s lives. I hated school with a passion and my own life has got better and better as my school days have receded in the rearview. Seems a weird flex now to have been a big deal in high school,” says Kel, singer/guitarist/songwriter of The Empty Page. [via Loud Women]

Babehoven will return with a new album this spring. The New York-based duo of Maya Bon and Ryan Albert have announced Water’s Here In You, out April 26 via Double Double Whammy. This week sees the release of a new song called ‘Birdseye,’ following the previously released album track ‘Chariot.’ Seemingly aware of the blandness that runs through most modern indie rock, ‘Birdseye’ opts for something more ambitious and strikes a balance between melancholic and soaring, jangley and ornate. The music video, directed by Ash Kron, makes a comforting blanket out of the threads of whimsy in the song, depicting Bon as a balloon-aided bird flapping across the coast and taking advantage of the nice weather to do some human-watching. [via The FADER]

Last year, Saya Gray shared her Qwerty EP. Now, the art-pop musician announced its sequel, Qwerty II, and shared the hallucinatory single ‘AA BOUQUET FOR YOUR 180 FACE’ with a video directed by Jennifer Cheng. “180 face is my bass moment off of qwerty ii EP,” she said in a statement. “it’s about a spooky moody boy with a 180 face.” Qwerty II was made in isolation in 2023, and Gray describes it as “a collection of ideas and collages stuck together as the ying to the yang of the first half.” [via Stereogum]

The new visuals for Fever Ray‘s ‘Shiver’ come from frequent collaborator Martin Falck; Main, the trollish office drone Dreijer has portrayed in this era of visuals, falls from the sky to a red planet. They’re healed by a buff doctor, played by none other than International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation pro bodybuilder Irene Andersen, whose office also doubles as a BDSM chamber. Some light physiotherapy ensues. The new clip was inspired by the Lovers of Valdero, a pair of Stone Age skeletons that were buried for millennia in an intimate embrace. “We fantasized about what might have happened to these two skeletons,” Dreijer says. “Were they so in love they had their mouths and noses too close to each other, or couldn’t stop kissing so they died of carbon monoxide poisoning? Or did a dinosaur kill them, and they died in fear holding each other? Was it a volcano, and they were protecting themselves from the lava burning their flesh? Maybe they weren’t in love at all; perhaps they were lifelong enemies facing their final struggle strangling each other? We felt there was a beautiful story there about the struggles of falling in love and the vulnerability you might feel being ‘examined’ by your love interest who wants to make sure you really are the one they can trust and form a relationship with, that will last for eternity.” [via The FADER]

Tierra Whack has dropped ’27 CLUB,’ the latest preview of her new album, WORLD WIDE WHACK. A reference to the infamous 27 Club of celebrities who died at the age of 27 — including Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain — the new single was produced by Whack’s frequent collaborator J Melodic and ProdbyBRIANNA. The track dives deep into Whack’s mental health, as she sings about losing touch with family and friends while embodying the pain of coming up against seemingly insurmountable obstacles. After explicitly mentioning thoughts of suicide, Whack sings, “Like a glass full but I’m empty/ Said, ‘I’m broken, can you fix me?’/ If I’m dreamin,’ you should pinch me/ Got a gun to the head, don’t tempt me.” Addressing the song in an Instagram post, Whack wrote, “I was in a dark place for a long time, and no one knew. I found my way out and made a choice to keep living. I wanna be completely transparent with my ‘whackos’ because I’m human just like you and we all have rough days. The key is to keep going! Be kind… you never know what someone else is going through. For the longest time, I felt like I didn’t belong, but now I know that I do, and my hope is for other people to know that, too.” [via Consequence]

Toronto-born, Los Angeles-based alternative artist Abby Sage sustains her musical momentum with an introspective new single, ‘Soak.’ This radiant track offers another peek into her creative process while heightening the anticipation for the release of her forthcoming debut album, The Rot, out March 1 via Nettwerk. Embellished with delicate vocals and complemented by upbeat guitar strums, ‘Soak’ strikes a sonic balance between melodic buoyancy and industrial undertones. Introduced by a simple drum beat, the song gradually reaches its climax in a lively and sparkling chorus. This sweeping alternative-pop track is a testament to self discovery, and an exploration of the liberation found in triviality. “‘Soak’ is the acceptance and surrender to complete unimportance.” Sage says. “It’s recognizing how insignificant everything is and how small I am. It’s celebratory in a way because there is something so beautiful and freeing about letting go of ego and self importance. It frees up a lot of space.” Regarding the video, she continues, “I wanted to focus on the ‘giving in’ aspect of that first so the set was designed to feel chaotic and crowded with the masks and the wind blowing while I struggle to let go. Later in the video, the optical illusion of the puppet ‘carrying’ me around is that manifestation of my surrender and embrace of my insignificance.” [via Broadway World]

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