“It’s the start of a new era for me,” proclaims Grace Bowers. No stranger to music industry success, the 20-year-old guitar virtuoso is now stepping into the spotlight as an artist in her own right. With GRAMMY performances and late-night television appearances already under her belt, Bowers is embarking on her boldest chapter yet. Today, she announces her debut EP, Grace, out November 5, which showcases her innate gifts not only as a guitarist, but also as a vocalist and songwriter.
Alongside the announcement, Bowers has shared the EP’s propulsive lead single, “Eat Shit and Live,” pairing fuzzed-out hard rock riffs, elastic grooves, and her smoky vocals into a blistering statement of intent. “It’s a sarcastic, angry song about me being fed up with stupid people, pretty much,” she says. The title had been sitting in her Notes app for months, waiting for the right moment. During a songwriting session, she rediscovered the phrase while searching through old ideas for lyrics to match a guitar riff she’d unearthed from a voice memo. “I scrolled through all the random shit I have in there, and that one just stuck out to me,” she recalls. “The song came together in an hour or two. It just flowed.”
LISTEN / WATCH “EAT SHIT AND LIVE”
Grace, is a bold step forward for Bowers, drawing from classic sounds of the riot grrrl movement, ’90s grunge, and modern pop sensibilities. These songs reflect her roots: as a kid, she grew up loving Guns n’ Roses and learned guitar by playing Ramones and Ventures songs. “I picked up a guitar when I was nine years old because I love playing power chords with distortion on them,” she says. “And so I feel like these songs are my return to that and why I started in the first place—because I loved punk and rock.
With the help of Grammy-winning producer Mike Elizondo (Turnstile, Poppy) Grace was brought to life; in fact, Bowers wrote many of the EP’s songs during writing sessions in his studio. “He can do everything,” she says. “He makes sure to capture what the artist sounds like. I love that about him. And he knows what a song needs. His brain thinks of things that my brain would never have thought of. We mesh very well together.”
“A year ago on this day, I wasn’t even really singing live at my concerts,” she says. “And now, if you see my show, it’s a completely different thing than what I was doing before. It’s a real rock show. But if you like pop, you’ll like the show. If you like punk, you’ll like the show. I’ve never had more fun onstage than I have playing these songs. I’m having a blast. It’s definitely a big shift from what I was doing before. In a way, I feel like I’m starting all over again, starting from scratch. But I really believe this is what I needed to do. This is me doing what’s in my heart, and I’ve never been more excited about it.”
Make no mistake, Bowers is deeply grateful for the road that got her here, but she’s leaving no doubt that this next chapter is the truest reflection of who she is as an artist.
Grace Tracklisting
Eat Shit and Live
Cigarettes for Breakfast
Holly Wouldn’t
19
Fleas
Connect with Grace Bowers
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