Pet Needs

The fourth album is here! And the boys have a massive goal in mind

Where do they go next, after 2025? Recovering from their first top 20 album, Intermittent Fast Living, the boys from Pet Needs toured the world with artists like Frank Ocean and The Bouncing Souls. They had their first national TV appearance on the Chris McCausland show, and rocked out massive venues like Bristol’s Thekla and a witch cafe in the States.

The natural step, a new album, their fourth, to be precise. The brilliantly named ‘Elbows Out, This is Capitalism’ is a pastiche on the life of a touring DIY punk band, which is out now. They consulted their good friend CJ Ramone, so you know you are in for a treat.

“We go heavier than we’ve ever gone before,” says the band’s singer George Marriott, who is clearly ecstatic to have climbed to such great heights. “We go more logical than we’ve ever gone before. Unintentionally at the start it’s become a bit of a concept album, with this overriding theme of how it is day to day in the music industry.”

Having broken into the top twenty, the aim is for ‘Elbows Out’ to contend for the big top ten. “Anything could happen. You could have all the sales you need but it could be a difficult week and you lose out to something bigger.”

They launched the new release with breathe in for this rather long name launch single ‘Hey You Hey You (Are You Are You OK OK’. Yeah, told you so, but the track is a fantastic, satirical exploration of a band with experience, not only of being loved, but of being new. Touring is scary and exciting and you get all those mad, vast emotions pouring out of the new records with a wry smile.

Recorded with George Perks, they are in safe hands. Perks has produced records with Mogwai, You Me at Six and Skindred, and has seen big talent in Colchester’s much-loved Punk Rockers. 2026 started on equally good footing, as Pet Needs toured with Buzzcocks and even performed some acoustic sets across some of the UK’s most beloved independent music venues. “There are so many different versions of the band that keep things varied and fun. To me, the acoustic gigs feel like a non-school uniform day. If something is a bit wonky, it feels smaller and intimate and much more free, and it doesn’t matter. It keeps us energetic and creative and gives us loads of new ways to perform the songs.”

George and his brother Johnny formed Pet Needs back in 2016 with a wave of controllable chaos. I asked George why people should pick up the album, but surely that much is obvious by now. These guys love what they do but realise there are still comments to be made about the DIY music industry, because so many artists are really struggling to get by.

“Just help support smaller artists. It’s so hard to break through nowadays. We got our top twenty because of the support of all our fans, and the charts are dominated by the major labels with infinite budgets, and we are relatively tiny compared to that. With the way the charts are set up now, there is a loophole, and we can be a part of that, and all we want to do is make an impact.

“We are levelling up in room sizes, and we are always growing from it. So, please buy the album!”

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