Pinkshift Drop New Song”Authority Problem”

Photo Credit: KT Kanazawich

LISTEN TO “AUTHORITY PROBLEM”

PINKSHIFT HAVE AN “AUTHORITY PROBLEM”

BAND DROPS A NEW SONG AHEAD OF HEADLINE TOUR — LISTEN

EARTHKEEPER OUT NOW VIA HOPELESS

BAND TOURING U.S. THROUGH FALL

TOURING WITH GRANDSON IN EUROPE IN 2026

Over the summer, Maryland trio PINKSHIFT — vocalist Ashrita Kumar (they/them), guitarist Paul Vallejo (he/him), and drummer Myron Houngbedji (he/him) — released their head-turning new album EARTHKEEPER via Hopeless Records. Get it here.

Today, the band has shared the brand new song “Authority Problem.”

“Fuck ICE, fuck the left and the right, fuck the false decorum of rules and laws and executive orders just created to make people feel small and helpless. Only I know who I am, and if you disrespect me then I don’t care, you’ll feel my wrath,” the band says about releasing the song in the here and now.

Pinkshift will hit the road this week on a headline U.S. run. All dates are below.

EARTHKEEPER TRACK LISTING:
“Love It Here”
“Anita Ride”
“Evil Eye”
“Don’t Fight”
“Patience”
“Spiritseeker”
“Blood”
“Freefall”
“Suspended”
“Reflection”
“Vacant”
“Something More”PINKSHIFT ON TOUR:
10/10 — Asbury Park, NJ — Asbury Lanes
10/11 — Richmond, VA — Richmond Music Hall
10/12 — Carrboro, NC — Cat’s Cradle Backroom
10/14 — Atlanta, GA — The Masquerade
10/15 — Orlando, FL — Conduit
10/17 — Houston, TX — White Oak Music Hall
10/18 — Austin, TX — The Ballroom
10/19 — Dallas, TX — Club Dada
10/21 — Phoenix, AZ — Rebel Lounge
10/22 — San Diego, CA — The Voodoo Room
10/23 — Santa Ana, CA — Constellation Room
10/24 — Los Angeles, CA — The Echo
10/25 — San Francisco, CA — Bottom of the Hill
10/27 — Portland, OR — Polaris Hall
10/28 — Seattle, WA — Neumos
10/30 — Salt Lake City, UT — Kilby Court
11/01 — Denver, CO — Marquis Theater
11/02 — Lawrence, KS — Bottleneck
11/04 — Minneapolis, MN — 7th Street Entry
11/05 — Chicago, IL — Bottom Lounge
11/07 — Detroit, MI — The Sanctuary
11/08 — Cleveland, OH — Mahall’s
11/09 — Pittsburgh, PA — Thunderbird Music Hall & Café
11/11 — Toronto, ON — Hard Luck Bar
11/13 — Boston, MA — Brighton Music Hall
11/14 — Hamden, CT — Space Ballroom
11/15 — Philadelphia, PA — First Unitarian Church
11/16 — Washington, DC — AtlantisWITH GRANDSON:
1/29 — Munich, DE — Tonhalle
1/30 — Berlin, DE — Huxleys Neue Welt
2/1 — Utrecht, NL — TivoliVredenburg (Ronda)
2/3 — Brussels, BE — Ancienne Belgique
2/6 — Münster, DE— Skaters Palace
2/7 — Copenhagen, DK — Amager Bio
2/8 — Hamburg, DE — Docks
2/18 — Milan, IT — Magazzini Generali
2/19 — Lausanne, CH — Les Docks
2/20 — Zurich, CH — X-TRA
2/21 — Wiesbaden, DE — Schlachthof
2/23 — Paris, FR — La Cigale
2/24 — Cologne, DE — E-Werk
2/26 — Manchester, UK — Academy
2/28 — Birmingham, UK — O2 Institute
3/1 — Bristol, UK — Electric Bristol
3/2 — London, UK — O2 Forum Kentish Town
3/3 — Glasgow, UK — SWG3 – Galvanizers

ABOUT PINKSHIFT + EARTHKEEPER:
During a pit stop while travelling between shows in 2023, Pinkshift found a huge fallen redwood tree. Vocalist Ashrita Kumar (they/them), guitarist Paul Vallejo (he/him), and drummer Myron Houngbedji (he/him) lay down on the trunk, staring up at the canopy of leaves from the trees around them. What followed is an experience Kumar describes as almost psychedelic. They felt as if the trees were inviting them to stay there forever. “I heard these voices telling me that I’m welcome here,” they recall. “And everything I could ever want is in this space.”Earthkeeper is a record that bursts at the seams with big riffs, big feelings, and big ideas. At its core is a spiritual being whose name gives the record its title — “a reflection of universal consciousness and a protector of existence.” It’s a patchwork of anxiety, angst, grief, and hope, juggling experiences both personal and existential across themes such as loss, one’s individual purpose, and what it means to watch the notion of a stable life collapse before your eyes.Crucially, Ashrita, Paul, and Myron are not the same people that they were when they made their 2022 debut Love Me Forever. They’ve grown, matured, and been altered by experience. They crafted their debut at a time where they didn’t have as much experience playing live as they do now. “The first album was influenced a lot by stuff we grew up listening to because we’d never really toured,” offers Myron. “It’d really cool that now, after all this touring, there’s bits and pieces of all these bands we wouldn’t otherwise have listened to that have weaved their way into our songwriting.”

Lumped in with an emerging pop-punk resurgence at the turn of the decade that they never quite identified with, they’ve broken out of those confines by writing a significantly heavier record that could not fall under that umbrella in almost any possible way. In some ways, this was a product of their evolving tastes, and a more accurate reflection of who they are musically.

All three of them brought new influences into the studio. “Myron and I got really into Loathe and Knocked Loose,” adds Paul. “It inspired me to pick up the baritone guitar that I had, playing in lower tunings. I love the direction that the metal scene is going in and if I could reflect that in any way with respect to the guitar playing that was going on, I’d jump at every opportunity.”

If there was a mission statement to Earthkeeper, this would be it. They stand for unity, collectivity, community, and action, but above all, the Maryland trio are hoping their new songs can have a more personal, emotional resonance too. “I think with this record, I’m trying to inspire you to, give a fuck,” Ashrita concludes. “You’re worth giving a fuck about. I feel like people don’t give a fuck about themselves but in the same way those redwood trees told me I’m welcome here, you matter and you belong here.”

PINKSHIFT ONLINE: