London/Kent-based emo outfit Wears Me Out released their wonderfully wistful debut demo in April of last year and they’ve since hit 2025 running with a fantastic self-titled track and shows lined up with the likes of Had Sandy, incaseyouleave, Looseleaf, and The Overjoyed in the weeks to come.
Catching up with a couple of them over email, it’s clear that the four-piece of Alf (vocals), Matt (guitar), Anja (bass) and Scott (drums) are still just getting started.
“Wears Me Out actually took a while to get up off the ground,” explains Matt of the band’s origins. “We’ve been jamming and writing songs since 2022, but officially ‘a band’ for a little over a year. We’re just some friends from London and the south-east, who met going to hardcore shows over the years! Some of us have also been in a few other hc bands, such as our bassist and guitarist who play in Sentience!”
The sound itself has classic, nostalgic edge, drawing influences from all the places you’d hope an emo band would, while still feeling very much of the current era and fitting in nicely with a lot of the so-called ‘adjacent’ stuff that’s happening in the scene at the moment.
“I would describe the Wears Me Out sound as bittersweet, introspective, and urgent,” offers Matt. “We take a lot of inspo from 90s emo, like Sunny Day Real Estate and The Promise Ring, as well as 2000s post-hardcore bands like Finch or Thursday.”
“I feel like there’s this weird urge with a question like that to go back as far as possible. So to avoid undermining the influence of a lot of amazing modern bands that we’re lucky to be around at the same time as; we draw heavily from Superheaven, Basement, Fiddlehead among others too!”
The new track in particular is a proper stunner - all grungey guitars and moody grooves and lyrics about being down and out and feeling like you’re drowning, the sort of thing you’ll wanna scream and shout along to so that no-one sees your bottom lip quivering.
Alf elaborates, “The song (wears me out) is about being stuck in the same spot for so long, feeling tired of not being strong enough to change for good and how good Gilmore Girls is. This was the first song I wrote with the band so it holds a special place for me.”
And as mentioned, there’s going to be plenty more where that came from.
Matt explains, “We’ve just booked in to record our next release, a full-length album! (13 tracks!!). Super excited! Can’t wait for it to be out and for people to hear it. We won’t reveal the title or anything yet, but we’re aiming for release in the summer! If any labels are reading this and you’re interested, get in touch!!”
There’s also a load of exciting stuff along similar lines happening in the UK at the moment, as Alf makes clear as he concludes with a customary round-up of some of Wears Me Out’s favourite bands and contemporaries.
“Shout out Aku, Lost Cause, Prom, Wimp and Had Sandy. RIP Dozy. Keep an eye out for Dambuster. Also, shout out Real Life Presents, Big Cheese Co and Six Pack Bookings (London) as well as A Bunch Of Flyers (Kent) who booked us on our first few shows, and are booking crazy line ups all the time!”
Get on it and get wistful!
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Wears Me Out on social media: Instagram
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