Freak Slug

Announces UK / EU tour for May 2025 with a London show at Moth Club – tickets available now HERE

Announces North American tour for Mar/Apr 2025 with shows at Bowery Ballroom in NY and Lodge Room in LA

Currently on tour in US with multiple sold out shows in LA and NY

Debut album, I Blow Out Big Candles, out now via Future Classic – stream HERE

“It’s when Xenya Genovese lets the Freak overtake the lackadaisical Slug that ‘… Big Candles’ is best.” – DIY: 4*

“‘I Blow Out Big Candles’ is a bold and assured statement, blending pop hooks with a sense of nocturnal longing” – Clash

“on her debut album, I Blow Out Big Candles, she has finally struck a perfect chord of weird and charming that feels fitting for her band’s peculiar name” – The Fader

“a raw, DIY indie anthem that channels the energy of ’90s alt-rock icons like Ride and Mazzy Star.” – Notion on “Piece Of Cake”

“Freak Slug has a great ear for a catchy tune in the very best off-kilter pop tradition” – Hi-Fi Choice: 4*

“Freak Slug is a moniker that perfectly embodies the curious, offbeat charm of Xenya Genovese’s sound, capturing both whimsy and bite.” – CMU

“joyously lo-fi punk and synthpop” – Uncut

“I like the depth of the music, there’s a cinematic emotion and it doesn’t just relate but it explores the feelings with the sounds and the drama in the lyricism… if you’re a fan of Lana Del Ray, Beabadoobee and a complex web of both those brilliant artists… feels so weightless, carefree… I like it a lot…” – Jack Saunders – BBC Radio 1

“Another favourite of ours on the show, grungy, flirtatious and so incredibly magnetic… hopefully she’ll find her sexy lemon soon… follow up to ‘Spells’ which we also love… exciting things in the pipeline so watch this space” – Jess Iszatt – BBC Radio 1 Introducing

As Xenya Genovese, AKA Freak Slug, prepares to play her first US live dates this week with numerous sold out shows in LA and NY, the Manchester songwriter today announces a UK and European tour for May 2025, as well as a new North American tour for March / April 2025. The UK / EU tour is on sale now here and includes dates in Leeds, Brighton, Bristol, her hometown of Manchester, and London’s Moth Club on May 22. The North American tour will see Freak Slug return to Los Angeles and New York along with dates in Houston, San Francisco, Toronto and many more. Tickets are on general sale this Friday 6 December at 10am local time here.

The tour announcement follows the release of Freak Slug’s critically acclaimed debut album, I Blow Out Big Candles, which is available now via Future Classic. The album includes the singles, “Spells”, the Gorillaz inspired punchy track that epitomises her fearless attitude, as well as “Sexy Lemon” and the cheeky “Piece Of Cake” which were met with great radio support from Jack Saunders on Radio 1’s New Music Show and as a BBC Introducing tip across the network, as well as picking up multiple plays and New Album Fix on BBC Radio 6 Music.

Recorded in Manchester and London with Alex Headford (Jadu Heart / Gretel), I Blow Out Big Candles is playful, fun, but not shying away from the darker sides of both sound and psyche. A debut that builds a whole world for it to live in, I Blow Out Big Candles dreams as big and unshackled as Freak Slug herself. Drawing influence from ‘90s cult heroes including Ride, Mazzy Star and Stephen Malkmus, Freak Slug is all about hitting a mood. Everything that fuels her creative output is raw, authentic, sometimes weird, but always totally true self-expression. She wants to make music that “has bite”, that “doesn’t fuck about”, that “cuts the shit”. I Blow Out Big Candles is a strong statement of all of this and more.

The name Freak Slug encapsulates Genovese’s artistic world perversely and perfectly. Her releases under the name so far – debut 2020 EP Videos and its viral hit “Radio” (13.5 million Spotify streams and counting), and follow-up EPs I’m In Love (2022) and Viva La Vulva (2023) – might have introduced listeners to a “more summery, happy, LA sound”, but with the advent of debut album I Blow Out Big Candles, this Slug is burrowing down into evermore unlikely places. As she accurately points out: “The name is giving more grunge than joy”.

See below for the full list of US tour dates this month, including sold out dates in LA and NY, as well as the full routing for the 2025 UK, EU and North American tours.

DEC 03 2024 – Genghis Cohen | LA, CA, USA – SOLD OUT
DEC 05 2024 – Gold Diggers | LA, CA, USA – SOLD OUT
DEC 07 2024 – Baby’s All Right | Brooklyn, NY, USA – SOLD OUT
DEC 08 2024 – Union Pool | Brooklyn, NY, USA – SOLD OUT
DEC 10 2024 – Schubas | Chicago, IL, USA

MAR 02 2025 – Baba Yaga | Seattle, WA, USA
MAR 03 2025 – Polaris Hall | Portland, OR, USA
MAR 05 2025 – Cafe Colonial | Sacramento, CA, USA
MAR 06 2025 – Rickshaw Stop | San Francisco, CA, USA
MAR 07 2025 – The Libertine | San Luis Obispo, CA USA
MAR 08 2025 – Lodge Room | Los Angeles, CA, USA
MAR 14 2025 – Secret Group | Houston, TX, USA
MAR 15 2025 – Siberia | New Orleans, LA, USA
MAR 17 2025 – The Earl | Atlanta, GA, USA
MAR 18 2025 – Blue Room | Nashville, TN, USA
MAR 21 2025 – Cactus Club | Milwaukee, WN, USA
MAR 24 2025 – Turntable | Indianapolis, IN, USA
MAR 25 2025 – Mahall’s | Cleveland, OH, USA
MAR 26 2025 – Longboat Hall | Toronto, ON, CA
MAR 28 2025 – Bar le Ritz | Montreal, QC, CA
MAR 29 2025 – Cafe 939 | Boston, MA, USA
MAR 30 2025 – Johnny Brenda’s | Philadelphia, PA, US
MAR 31 2025 – Songbyrd | Washington, DC, USA
APR 02 2025 – Bowery Ballroom | New York, NY, USA