Real Power

Beloved, Portland pop/indie-rock trio Gossip returns with Real Power, their first album in 14 years, set for release on March 22, 2024, on Sony Music UK.  The album marks a reunion with acclaimed producer Rick Rubin, who helmed the band’s pivotal 2009 album Music For Men.  Rubin coaxed the band started recording in 2019 after completing a tour for the ten-year anniversary of Music For Men.  Recorded at Rubin’s home studio in Kauai, the process was temporarily halted by the pandemic and resumed when restrictions lifted.  The result is an 11-track celebration of the galvanizing might of music, the joy of creative expression, and the power of chosen family in the aftermath of collective and personal trauma.

The timing is ripe for a Gossip reunion, and Real Power heralds a new maturity and renewed sense of purpose for the trio. “When we began, so much about Gossip was about running away—that was always in the music,” says Ditto. “We survived. We came from nothing, and we got the fuck out of there. And to be here 20 years later and still making music together is just incredible.”

Gossip consists of vocalist Beth Ditto, guitarist Nathan “Brace Paine” Howdeshell and drummer Hannah Blilie. ​​The band’s 2016 breakout studio album, Standing In The Way Of Control, reached #1 on UK Indie chart (certified Gold) and solidified the band as a dynamic force in the music scene.  “Standing In The Way Of Control,” the album’s battle-cry title track, is a queer anthem written in response to U.S. government’s proposition to define marriage and exclude homosexuals.

The band achieved multiplatinum success with their follow up Music For Men, certified 2x platinum in Germany and France, 1x platinum in Australia and Switzerland with sales in excess of 1.5m copies.  Gossip is renowned for their high energy live performances and have delivered incredible sets at some of the worlds biggest festivals including Glastonbury, Coachella and Pukkelpop Festival to name a few.

Real Power, pioneering Northwest trio Gossip’s first album since 2012, finds Beth Ditto, Nathan Howdeshell and Hannah Blilie back together and reunited with super producer Rick Rubin, who helmed their 2009 opus Music For Men. The result is a comeback of magnum force that celebrates the galvanizing might of music, the joy of creative expression, and the power of chosen family in the aftermath of collective and personal trauma.