The DeRellas: Trust Me This Is Going To Hurt

The DeRellas: Trust Me This Is Going To Hurt

(Rockaway Records via 14th Floor Music)

CD | Vinyl | DL

Out 28 March 2025

PRE-ORDER HERE

London glam punks The DeRellas dig deep into the darker corners of their rock’n’roll bunker to deliver their new album, Trust Me This Is Going To Hurt. As a collection of songs that is infused with the spirit of the Heartbreakers and Dead Boys, riddled with a foreboding attitude to life and performed with a real passion for the musical legacy that it upholds, this is most definitely an album that the world needs right now.

One of the great things about music is that it has no limitations or boundaries, and the musical heritage that informs and influences so much of what we hear today can reach out to touch all parts of the globe. Little doubt therefore that the spirit fostered from within the Lower East Side of Manhattan as well as the wider American punk landscape has certainly penetrated the sonic waves of the inner London suburbs in the form of The DeRellas who constantly thrill us with their very own incendiary brand of sleazy glam-punk infused rock’n’roll.

It’s now three years since The DeRellas last album Something’s Got To Give which stirred the soul with it swagger, snarl and primal spirit, but now they finally bring us their new offering, Trust Me This Is Going To Hurt. With the current line-up of Timmy DeRella on vocals and bass, Luca Comencini on lead guitar, Jez Miller on guitar and Steve Grainger on drums, it is obvious that their penchant for 70s style glam punk which has always been deeply immersed within their grooves is very much alive and kicking harder than ever before.

As a collection of songs which is very much influenced by the world of films, it’s an album whose inspiration is drawn from somewhere between the surrealist and experimental visual landscapes of David Lynch and the elaborate and dysfunctional world of The Rocky Horror Show with a whole load of grunge and grime thrown into the mix. If bands like the Dead Boys, Heartbreakers, MC5 and the Stooges rattle your cage, then you are now in the right place at the right time, but very much at your own peril. Whilst the Dead Boys were after your children, it sounds very much like The DeRellas are after your soul and ready to set it on fire, so tread very carefully as you venture into this high powered, octane fuelled rock’n’roll wonderland.

The album explodes into life with Just Because I Smile, It Doesn’t Mean I Like You as incendiary guitars, chugging rhythms and vibrant energy consume the speakers. Meanwhile Timmy’s gritty and guttural vocals, which are delivered like a sonic blend of Alice Cooper, Stiv Bators and Billy Hopeless, deliver a very stark and cynical warning to us all about the fakery that exists in the world today. It’s a monster of an opening which very much sets the tone for all that is to follow. This Is Going To Hurt also hits hard on the accelerator with its raw and powerful guitars wrestling with strong melodic interplays as the narrative delves into the world of grief and numbness through loss with all the chaotic splendour of the Dead Boys.

Loveless Landslide Of Love is a song inspired by David Lynch’s film Blue Velvet, exploring the darkness within the human psyche which is so often riddled with corruption and deception, as its ragged stomp and jarring guitars collide effortlessly into anthemic chorus lines. Fake It Til You Make It follows a similar path with a go for broke approach to life through lines like “we’ve got nowhere to go, we need to be seen” which are screamed out with a real sense of angry determination.

The heavy-laden riffs and thunderous rhythms of Night Time will get you first pumping the air before you even know it as it’s Iggy style swagger envelops your soul in a glorious cacophony of noise. A Shot Of Feelings simply roars with a sound which is heavy, hard-hitting, fast and direct, with a rampaging spirit more akin to latter day Ramones, whilst If Your World Falls Apart explores a world of jealousy and paranoia with snarling vocals which bristle with intensity.

Empire Vultures plunders Manics style melodies as it takes a swipe at Stateside political posturing before the relentless search for satisfaction is challenged through the hard-edged rhythms and pummelling bass lines of We Ain’t Satisfied which crashes and burns with the spirit of the Dolls and the Heartbreakers coursing through its veins.

Just to prove that The DeRellas have a sense of humour and don’t take themselves too seriously, Touch-a Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me follows as a tongue-in cheek cover of the song from Rocky Horror, featuring some of the Kickstarter backers who helped fund the recording of the album on backing vocals. But you certainly won’t have heard it performed as heavy as this before! Stop Living In My Brain closes the album with a searing mass of unbridled rock’n’roll energy and gritty vocals which are riddled with a real sense of torment.

As the world continues to pay tribute to David Johansen, following the recent death of the last man standing from the New York Dolls, it’s so gratifying that we still have bands like The DeRellas carrying the rock’n’roll torch so brightly into the future as they continue to deliver an explosive cocktail of unbridled noise and energy that stirs the soul and raises the roof. Trust Me This Is Going To Hurt is an album that does just that and a whole load more besides with its powerhouse rhythms, snarling vocal attack and swaggering attitude.

And you have an opportunity to hear this fine brand of sleazy glam-punk infused rock’n’roll when The DeRellas play a launch gig for the album at the Water Rats in Kings Cross, London on Thursday, 10th April, alongside friends The Phobics and Glitter Kick. This will be followed by dates across the UK and Europe, including an appearance at Rebellion Festival in August, so watch this space!

You can buy tickets for the London gig here.

You can pre-order the album here.

You can find The DeRellas here on Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, Bandcamp or their website.

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All words by Ian Corbridge. You can find more of his writing at his author profile here.