Weakened Friends Discuss ‘Feels Like Hell,’ Going at it Alone & What Lies Ahead

Portland, Maine indie punks Weakened Friends have been steadily on the rise since the release of their acclaimed 2018 full-length debut Common Blah. With the pandemic heavily impacting the band’s ability to tour in support of their follow-up album, Quitter, Weakened Friends only just recently hit the road once again! This time, for their first big tour in years, seizing on the momentum from their latest record, Feels Like Hell.

We caught up with Sonia Sturino (guitar/vocals) and Annie Hoffman (bass/vocals) in mid-October, on their third night of the first leg of their run, on an off-day in Toronto, to discuss the new record, the realities of being a small band in 2025, and the band’s DIY approach!

Where in the world is Weakened Friends today?

Sonia Sturino: “We played Toronto last night…So right now, we are at Dave and Buster’s with my niece and my sister. I’m from Toronto, so we’re hanging with family on our day off today.”

You have been in a whirlwind of activity lately. You played Riot Fest in September and dropped your new record on October 10th. And now, you’re in the first full week of your fall tour. How have these past few weeks been for you?

Sturino: “It’s been great, we’re three shows into the tour! This is our first big headliner in a long time because with Quitter, it was pandemic time. So, we didn’t really get the headline when we released that record and then we got a bunch of support tours shortly after that and kind of rode that wave. It’s been really fun to see packed rooms—all three nights were completely packed and high energy. It makes the record release tangible to me to see people actually experiencing the music live. It’s been great to release the record and see all the response.”

Annie Hoffman: “Somebody at this Dave and Buster’s is in one of our shirts!”

Sonia Sturino of Weakened Friends, photo by Nathan Katsiaficas

How was it playing Riot Fest? Any fun moments with other bands?

Sturino: “It was awesome! We got to do the (Riot Fest) Late Night (aftershow) with that band Shudder To Think, which was awesome! Those guys were so nice! We got to see a bunch of our friends in Microwave and The Front Bottoms. It was fun getting to hang out with people, like our agent and his family. His kid, Max, is 9 and was doing a school project where they take a stuffed animal for the weekend, and they report on what the stuffed animal did. I guess the stuffed animal was at Riot Fest and got to take a picture with Jack White, which is very cute. It was really a cool time!”

From what you were saying earlier, it sounds like the new album is gaining traction?

Hoffman: “It does feel like there’s a lot more electricity around this one than anything we’ve ever released, really. It’s really exciting.”

Sturino: “Yeah, people are already singing along, it feels really good.”

Hoffman: “Yeah, we did an in-store (show) the day after it was released, and people were singing along to the songs that weren’t singles. I’m like, dude, you had 24 hours to learn this material, and you’re acing it, like wow!”

Sturino: “Yeah, I still forget the words, so that’s impressive.”

That’s awesome! I saw one of my out-of-state friends post about being at your show in Troy, NY, and I hit him up, and he said he felt like you are having a moment right now!

Sturino: “Yeah, I’m enjoying the moment we’re in, whatever it is. If the first three shows are an indicator of how the rest of the tour is going to go and how this record is going to be received, then I’m here for it! And it’s just really inspiring, it’s making me want to write the next project and keep it going!”

Let’s talk about this new album, it’s a darker sort of message on this one, but more relatable—and poignant commentary on the current state of the world. Was there any event specifically that inspired you as you were writing this record?

Sturino: “In general, I feel like a lot of these songs are like a big fuck you to ‘the man.’ Maybe that’s lame to say, but it’s kind of the vibe. Living in America right now is constantly rough. There’s all this bullshit with ICE and just our current administration and the blatant racism, fucking Nazi fascism bullshit that’s going on. So, yeah, a lot of that, for lack of better words, is pretty upsetting! I think any of the more like snarky, angrier moments on this were definitely a cathartic way to harness that anger and turn it into art and build a community.

“And that’s quite the opposite of those feelings—I mean, I go to these shows, and I always try to say this is a place for positivity, this is a place to come and let out your feelings and feel good. Standing up on a stage and seeing a bunch of people coming together for something that’s just a good time gives me hope that there are good people out there and that it’s going to be ok. As much as it’s anger, anger can be turned into action, and that action could be fairly optimistic or the only way you can see optimism in the darkness of it all.”

Sonia Sturino of Weakened Friends, photo by Nathan Katsiaficas

I know it’s a cliché, but do you feel like these kinds of times, as much as we would rather not be living through them, do you feel like there’s a lot of good art that comes from them? And do you feel like you could’ve made this album otherwise?

Sturino: “Yeah, we would’ve maybe had a different album, like it’s interesting because I’m a fairly happy person in my own personal life and in my own little bubble. I feel very lucky and incredibly grateful. So it’s interesting that a lot of people see the record and they’re like, ‘Oh, Feels Like Hell almost has this like nihilism to it.’ But I feel like when you’re angry or upset at the world, it’s only because you actually love it so much, and I have a lot of things to love and a lot of things to be grateful for.”

Hoffman: “It’s interesting that you asked that question. We actually had written a bunch of songs for this record that got cut—they were a lot more poppy, happy, upbeat, kind of more in-step with our single ‘Awkward.’ We had like half a dozen tunes, I think, and they just didn’t feel like they were it—I wonder if it did have to do with the world as it currently is.”

Sturino: “Yeah, we needed to write something a little bit spicier, a little harder-hitting than just a lovey-dovey pop record, you know?”

That makes sense. Do you think those other tracks will ever see the light of day?

Sturino: “Maybe I’ll revisit them or just steal little moments from them and put them in new songs, you know, take the best hits out of things!”

That’s fair—you do a lot of your own recordings, as you’ve always produced your own music, right?

Hoffman: “Yeah, I record it and produce it. I work at a studio down in Boston, so we do the bulk of it there and some stuff at home because we’ve got a good rig there. It’s all DIY, really.”

How important is DIY to your approach to music? What’s it like being in a band nowadays, when you can’t really rely on album sales and Spotify royalties are crap? How do you stay afloat?

Sturino: “It’s tough! I mean, you have to DIY. Records don’t make money. Honestly, touring is the only way you may make money, and even touring is getting more and more difficult. A lot of small venues, like locally-owned venues, are shutting down because of terrible companies like Ticketmaster coming in and just building a monopoly on everything, like with Live Nation.

“You kind of have to be doing it all, especially for a band our size, like you can’t put that cart before the horse. I wish every band would be able to just reach fans from just based solely on the music. And I even say it on stage, there’s no rock star bullshit here. We’re all in this together—the fans and us, it’s more of a community than like, I’m standing on a stage and you’re worshiping me. These songs matter to all of us, and we’re all here for the reasons we chose to be here. Building that community and harnessing it and just really trusting that is so important. So when you say, ‘Do it yourself,’ it’s less ‘yourself’ and more about how you actually mobilize the people around you to build this kind of family and this unit. It’s like, ‘Join our cult!’”

Hoffman: “It definitely feels like ‘Join our cult,’ but I want to just call it out, saying that everybody should record their own music—like we are lucky that we happen to have my background and access for that sort of thing. I realize not every band can do that, but if you look inward and find your strengths and ask, ‘What can I bring to the table for the band that we don’t have to pay somebody else to do?’ Go for it!”

What does that look like for you? I mean, you make your own music, you must make your own merch. You have so much experience working in venues, Sonia, you almost don’t need anyone?

Sturino: “Yeah, I’m our tour manager. Right now, I’m the one who’s selling merch. We have (drummer) Adam (Hand) and Annie pack up the gear, we do our own driving, I’m doing our own budget… We’re even doing our own marketing—I’m a marketer at a venue. We have our little thing figured out. At this point, we travel with a front of house engineer because for me. I want these shows to sound good for the people coming to watch them. So we have a sound guy who is amazing and comes with us!

“I’d rather put the money into making sure the show, outside of what I can do, sounds amazing and looks cool and feels good for the people buying tickets before I have someone come as my tour manager to tell me when I need to wake up and what hotel I’m staying in. That’s something that I, as an adult, am capable of doing at this level. I don’t need to be babysat—not to diminish tour managers, because when you get to a certain point, a tour manager’s job is very important and certain people need to be tour managed. I’m just pretty good at it. So yeah, it looks like a lot of work, but it’s worth it, and it helps make it all possible. We wouldn’t be able to afford to tour if we hired for all these additional things.”

That makes sense. I want to go back to the album for a minute—I know you probably get asked about this a lot, but what’s the story behind Buckethead appearing on “NPC?” Also, I see you have a tour date coming up in December with him in LA at the Wiltern?

Sturino: “Buckethead was playing at the State Theatre, and I was house managing that night. Usually, you have to go through the artist’s green room to get to the office. And I was just walking through—I try not to bother anybody and try to just be operating in silence and, you know, behind the scenes. But he sparked up a conversation asking what was cool to do in Portland, like record stores, bookstores, comic book stores, pinball places, just things that were a good time.

“We got chatting, and next thing you know, this sparked up a friendship, and it just kind of went from there. We send each other music all the time, and he’s been a big supporter of the band, always with great insight and advice. When we wrote ‘NPC,’ I wanted to add this ripping (guitar) solo that sounds like the fabric of frigging reality in this simulation, tearing apart, and he was the right guy for it!

“About the Wiltern show in LA, he asked us if we wanted to come out for it, and we were like, ‘Hell yeah!’ I mean, honestly, any excuse to get back to LA, we have a lot of friends out there on the West Coast!”

Sonically, this record has a lot of variety of sounds on it. I can hear some kind of shoegaze vibes at times on “Light Speed,” to more emo/pop-punk vibes on “Weightless,” or the more in-your-face, heavy punk vibes on “Smoke and Mirrors.” Where do you pull influences from when you’re writing?

Sturino: “It kind of comes from everywhere because I listen to all kinds of music, but it’s come a lot from the bands we tour with. We were on tour with Microwave, and I think with ‘Smoke and Mirrors,’ also on ‘Tough Luck,’ the first chords had that vibe. But yeah, just a lot of the things we hear a lot—we get the opportunity to tour with a lot of awesome bands, and it’s like every little thing we listen to kind of just filters in, and it could be anywhere.

“‘Tough Luck’ is more influenced by the bands Garbage and Metric, bands I grew up listening to. With ‘Weightless,’ we toured with Laura Jane Grace, and it kind of has more of that vibe, like I thought, ‘I want to try a song like how she would write it.’ Another band we toured with, We Were Promised Jetpacks—the bridge of ‘Lightspeed’ sounds kind of like them. We’re influenced by our peers and the people making awesome art around us!”

You’ve got a lot of momentum now. Where do you want to take things in 2026? What haven’t you done yet that is on your bucket list?

Sturino: “We want to do it all. I just want to keep seeing the community growing, keep seeing the family growing! As far as cool bucket-list things, playing a late-night show would be sick, and more festivals after Riot Fest.”

Hoffman: “I want Austin City Limits, I want Lollapalooza.”

Sturino: “And I mean, honestly, for 2026, it’d be sick to come out of it with another record already written and planned for the future. Like, keep on writing, keep creative. I’m feeling inspired by this last one to just make the next one!”

Tour Dates:

12/05 – Portland, ME – The State Theatre
12/12 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern (w/ Buckethead)
01/21 – Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
01/22 – San Diego, CA – Whistle Stop
01/23 – Santa Ana, CA – Constellation Room
01/24 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
01/25 – Folsom, CA – Folsom Hotel
01/27 – Reno, NV – The Holland Project
01/29 – Portland, OR – Polaris Hall
01/30 – Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s
01/31 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
02/01 – Boise, ID – Shrine Social Club
02/04 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
02/06 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive
02/07 – Colorado Springs, CO – Vultures