Electronic Press Kit — Groupie

Press Kit

Groupie’s Sophomore Album Coming early 2027

Dream-laced indie rock with a punk pulse and shoegaze shimmer.

Groupie is a Brooklyn-based band known for turning introspection into kinetic, cathartic sound. Their music fuses the emotional edge of punk with the immersive textures of shoegaze and dream pop - sharp, shimmering, and unafraid of vulnerability. Groupie has become a mainstay in NYC’s indie scene with a sound that merges dream pop sheen and punk urgency.

Fronted by Ashley Kossakowski - a queer, first-generation daughter of Polish immigrants - Groupie is led by an artist who has performed at Lollapalooza, played iconic venues like TD Garden, Lincoln Center, and Alexandra Palace, and toured with Nell Mescal and Cafuné. As a bassist and multi-instrumentalist, she’s opened for artists including Sabrina Carpenter, PinkPantheress, and CHVRCHES, carving out a dynamic presence across stages both DIY and arena-scale.

Now returning to the frontwoman role with sharpened songwriting and emotional clarity, Kossakowski brings lived experience to the heart of Groupie’s next chapter, collaborating with drummer Aaron Silberstein, and guitarists Eric Rubin and Eamon Lebow. The band’s evolution from the raw immediacy of their debut Ephemeral to their upcoming sophomore album reflects a sound fully in bloom - cinematic in scope, but deeply human at its core.

Photo by Gabrielle Ravet

The Record

Their sophomore album finds Groupie expanding their sonic and emotional palette - a deeply personal meditation on impermanence, growth, and the strange beauty of change. The album continues Groupie’s meditations on ephemerality - not just the passing of relationships and moments, but the fleeting nature of confidence, joy, and identity.

At its core, this record is about transformation - about the ways people, relationships, and memories evolve and decay. Groupie uses the agave’s final bloom as a metaphor for overcoming anxiety (“Swan Song”), the beauty of normalcy in a scene from a stranger’s world (“Piazza”), the ache of a friendship breakup (“Fade Away”), and the obsessive but often imperfect need to freeze moments in time (“Polaroid”). Each song reveals a new angle on self-preservation, communication, and change. It’s an album that captures what it means to keep moving forward, even as the past continues to flicker in the rearview.

Through songs that move from glimmering pop hooks to fuzzy, slow-burn anthems, the band explores the tension between holding on and letting go:

“No Chaser” - honesty, communication, and emotional self-possession
“Swan Song” - anxiety, surrender, and the agave’s death bloom as rebirth
“Piazza” - intimacy in observation and the beauty of fleeting connection
“Fade Away” - the quiet unraveling of friendship through time and pride
“Polaroid” - hoarding memory, resisting impermanence
“Baby’s on Fire” - a punk reinvention of a classic Brian Eno song
and more!

Recording / production credits:

Recorded and Mixed by Andy Tyler Clarke (Retro City Studios) and Cody Fitzgerald
Mastered by Sarah Register

Listen to the album in progress here:

“This record came from trying to find peace in letting go - of control, of people, of those seemingly perfect moments you could live in forever.”

— Kossakowski, bass and vocals

Tentative Release Timeline (2026–2027)

May 2023 — “No Chaser” (legacy single with music video)
March 6, 2026 — “Swan Song” (lead single). Music video to follow on March 15, 2026 (final cut linked below).
May 8, 2026 — “Piazza” (single and music video)
July 10, 2026 — “Baby’s on Fire” (Brian Eno cover and music video)
September 18, 2026 — “Fade Away” (single and visualizer)
January 22, 2027 — “Polaroid” (final pre-album single and music video)
February 19, 2027 — Full album release, 8-12 songs total

This timeline is designed for sustained engagement, optimal PR pacing, and vinyl production alignment.

What we’re looking for: we’re currently seeking label, distribution, and press support.

Most of all, we are looking for the right label home to grow with this release.

Lead Single: “Swan Song”

Private preview — unreleased

The lead single Swan Song is both the emotional center of the album and a statement of intent, inspired by a real agave plant named Maya at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, Kossakowski’s hometown. Agave plants only bloom once, at the end of their lives. Upon dying, Maya sent a bloom so powerful that it shattered through the glass ceiling. The song uses this death bloom as a metaphor for transformation through anxiety - for breaking through limitations, internal or external, even if it takes everything you have.

“I became with obsessed with the idea of an agave death bloom - not in a morbid way, but as a metaphor for transformation. The idea that something could bloom so powerfully at the end of its life that it literally broke through a literal glass ceiling,” says Kossakowski. “That became my metaphor for surviving anxiety, for growing into your power even when it hurts.”

The track begins in stillness and spirals upward into something visceral and towering, reflecting its central lyric:

Agave death bloom / Let it take control of you / Like a swan song… again again again.

Watch the music video for the lead single here:

The music video (directed by Gabrielle Ravet and edited by Matt Carlson) translates this arc into dreamlike visuals — blending tenderness and ferocity, nature and city, collapse and rebirth.

Photo by Sydney Tate

Bassist and frontwoman Ashley Kossakowski started post-punk band Groupie in 2015 before even knowing how to play an instrument, inspired by icons like Kathleen Hanna and The Raincoats who proved that heart, moxie, and a message are all it takes to start a band. Since then, she’s been joined by drummer Aaron Silberstein and guitarists Eric Rubin and Eamon Lebow and has played to thousands on national and international stages, including Lollapalooza, and opened for acts like Sabrina Carpenter, PinkPantheress, and CHVRCHES as a seasoned touring bassist.

Both the band and Kossakowski have evolved from their DIY punk roots and now create a distinctive blend of post-punk, shoegaze, and surf rock. Raised in the DIY music scene in her hometown of Chicago, Kossakowski often felt like an outsider in the male-dominated Midwest emo spaces she loved. It took years for her to muster the courage to transition from fangirl to frontwoman, but once she did, there was no turning back. Her identity as a queer woman and first-generation daughter of Polish immigrants deeply informs Groupie’s music. Their 2021 debut LP Ephemeral sonically nods to the past, with spoken word verses a la Patti Smith and jangly guitars that call back to NYC 70s punk bands like Television, while exploring contemporary themes of immigration, identity, and displacement on the Polish-language track “Daleko,” a feminist rage fantasy of an abuser getting due punishment on “Poor You,” and the jarring experience of becoming disillusioned with your heroes on “Thick as Glue”.

Known for their electrifying live performances and Kossakowski’s standout stage presence, Groupie has shared the stage with indie greats like Warpaint, Silversun Pickups, Neon Trees, and Downtown Boys. In 2023, they released the defiant single “No Chaser,” which features lush production and the bold demand to an aloof love interest: “give it to me straight, no chaser, don’t water it down.” Now working on their next release, Groupie has no intention of watering anything down - expect catchy, impassioned new music soon.

About

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Highlights

Shared stages with: Warpaint, Neon Trees, Silversun Pickups, Death Valley Girls, and more.

Coverage from: Pitchfork, NPR, Talkhouse, American Songwriter, Audiofemme, Post-Trash, and more.

Previous release Ephemeral praised for its “cinematic ferocity and heart-on-sleeve introspection”

Sonic Identity

Genre Tags: indie rock, shoegaze, dream pop, punk, post-punk revival
For fans of: Wolf Alice, Japanese Breakfast, Alvvays, Warpaint,
Tone: Dream-laced indie rock about growth, loss, and renewal.
Aesthetic: Feminine strength meets grit; hazy, nostalgic, yet electric.
Descriptors: cinematic, introspective, textured, melodic, melancholic yet vibrant
Press-friendly genre phrase: “Dream-laced indie rock with a punk pulse and shoegaze shimmer.”

Past Releases

Brooklyn-based Groupie released their debut LP Ephemeral, a poignant introspection on the fleeting nature of belonging, memories, and idolatry, in 2021, and their propulsive, anthemic single “No Chaser” in 2023. New songs coming soon.

Discography:

Sophomore Album – forthcoming (2027)
Ephemeral (LP, 2021)
Validated (EP, 2018)
Demos (EP, 2017)

No Chaser (2023) - Single

Groupie’s single “No Chaser” is a fiery, propulsive anthem fueled by frustration over miscommunication in a relationship. Kossakowski delivers the biting line, “You’re wasting my time, I’d rather spend it on myself,” aimed at someone with a “straight to DVD smile and a straight to voicemail heart.” The track features Groupie’s most layered production yet, blending lush vocal harmonies, distorted guitars, dreamy synths, and a punk edge. Dive bar imagery weaves through both the lyrics and music video, while the plea, “Coddle me with honesty, it’s warmer than deceit,” paired with riff-heavy guitars and an infectious chorus, makes the song both relatable and irresistibly catchy.

LISTEN

Ephemeral (2021) - Debut LP

The album is a deep reflection of the fleeting nature of contentment, memories, and heroes, delving into the complex emotions that arise—where longing and nostalgia coexist with an appreciation for the present. Across 10 tracks, Groupie weaves anxiety-laden meditations on a society capable of delivering both pain and joy, curating an introspective journey through the ephemerality of life's most cherished moments. They honor their 70s NYC punk and riot grrrl roots with high-energy tracks like “Half Wave,” while also exploring a more experimental side with brooding, textured songs like “Waiting” and “Daleko.” The result is a dynamic blend of raw energy and thoughtful contemplation.

Read more on Talkhouse or in American Songwriter.

LISTEN

Validated (2018) - EP

Groupie’s EP Validated delves into the nuanced struggle for validation, from seeking recognition in the eyes of government to earning respect in personal relationships. The EP confronts the challenge of discussing validation, particularly for women, whose vulnerability is often misinterpreted as insecurity or weakness. Through its tracks, Validated raises key questions: What kinds of five-year plans define us as creative or intelligent? How do we quiet the intrusive thoughts telling us we’re not enough? It’s a deep exploration of the pressures and contradictions behind the desire to feel seen and valued.

Read more in the premiere in Paper Magazine.

LISTEN

LYRICS

Recent Music Videos

Members

Since their formation, Groupie has carved out a space in the Brooklyn scene for music that blends punk urgency with emotional intelligence. Their shows oscillate between intimacy and chaos - anthemic moments that invite catharsis, sweat, and surrender.