The Regrettes

The Regrettes play a hybrid of vintage punk, retro new wave, and, as they evolved, slick radio sounds delivered with verve and smarts. Head Regrette Lydia Night was in her teens when the band released their debut, Feel Your Feelings Fool!, in 2017. While the record teemed with adolescent excitement, it also demonstrated a sense of craftsmanship that the group developed and deepened on the subsequent How Do You Love?, the sophomore album that arrived in 2019. With a series of singles in 2020 and 2021, the Regrettes began to move away from punk and new wave toward a vibrant, up-to-date pop sound on 2022′s Further Joy.
Lydia Night formed the Regrettes with guitarist Genessa Gariano, bassist Sage Nicole, and drummer Maxx Morando in 2015. Night started playing guitar and writing songs when she was six, picking up pointers from classic rock and punk played around the house. She wound up enrolling in Los Angeles’ School of Rock program around the age of 12, which is when she first met Gariano and Nicole, but the Regrettes weren’t formed until late 2015. By that point, Night had several originals under her belt, all of which helped get the band signed to Warner Bros. “A Living Human Girl” appeared in the summer of 2016, followed by “Hey Now” and “Hot,” all teasers for their full-length debut, Feel Your Feelings Fool!, released by Warner in early 2017.
Early in 2018, the Regrettes released the EP Attention Seeker. Around this time, Nicole and Morando left the band, replaced by Brooke Dickson and Drew Thomsen. A handful of singles followed that year, including “California Friends” and “Poor Boy,” continuing into 2019 with a cover of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Throughout the first half of the year, they issued several singles previewing their sophomore full-length, including “Pumpkin,” “Dress Up,” and “I Dare You.” Titled How Do You Love?, the Mike Elizondo-produced album was released by Warner that August. The group issued two singles in 2020 (“What Am I Gonna Do Today” and “I Love Us”), then supported Lauran Hibberd on her 2021 single “How Am I Still Alive?” The Regrettes returned in late 2021 with a new wave-influenced track titled “Monday.” Written during a ten-day retreat in Joshua Tree and recorded at in-person and remote sessions helmed by Jacknife Lee and Tim Pagnotta, “Monday” was the first in a succession of digital singles released over a two-year span that paved the way for the April 2022 release of Further Joy, an album that found the band trading retro punk for something poppier and closer to the mainstream. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine