The Front Row Isn’t Yours – Hitlist Step Into the Noise

A split-second occurs while you stand in front of a bathroom mirror with smeared lipstick, warm beer on your hand, stuck to the floor.  When this happens to you, it’s when Hitlist’s latest single “Girlfriends” starts — not polished or finished, just ash on concrete.  But “Girlfriends” is more than studying failure; it is actually watching the aesthetically designed young girls just in front of you. 

The perfect hair.  The perfect timing.  Orbiting around the boys on the stage as if from a different planet — one with good fashion sense.  Then, everything flips.  The girls are not being celebrated; they were just celebrating (cheering and clapping) for their boy's performance.  Sure, I should join the noise too and be part of this mass of jubilance.  The smallest amount of doubt causes the largest effect; this moment or turning point drives the song.  The Hero’s Journey is represented in the song in three short minutes of time — from doubt to decision to detonation.

Musically, Hitlist operates as a live wire; you can hear elements of the jagged musical humour of Shame, the angular coolness of Talking Heads, the elastic groove of Vulfpeck, but you will also hear some of the swagger of Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Yet, nothing they do is just copying; they create disorder with purpose.  Punk teeth, funky hips, and concrete drums will shake (crack) the floor beneath you when they're live at a venue.

Having played at Live in the City 2025 and the headline slot at Sidney & Matilda in Sheffield, the band seem to be on the rise naturally and are not being forced into the limelight. The music is loud, very loud, and somewhere between beers, static and episode, the sound of the band creates a sense of insecurity and fuels them to continue to play.