The Sophs sign to Rough Trade and share sombre debut single ‘Sweat’

The Sophs have signed to Rough Trade and shared their debut single ‘Sweat’ – give it a listen below.

• READ MORE: Rough Trade Records to celebrate formative years on new limited edition 7” singles box set

The Los Angeles six-piece, comprised of frontman Ethan Ramon, Sam Yuh (keyboards), Austin Parker Jones (electric guitar), Seth Smades (acoustic guitar), Devin Russ (drums), and Cole Bobbitt (bass), caught the attention of label co-founders Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee after they were sent a demo submission.

Taking to Instagram on the release day of their debut single, Ramon explained that last year – “on a whim and a little high” – he had cold-emailed Travis a reel of their music, and the next morning, he called. “A week later, co-founder Jeannette Lee was in LA watching us play our first proper show,” he wrote.

“A month after that, I was in London for the first time in my life, visiting the Rough Trade and Beggars’ Banquet offices. Not long after, we signed.” He went on to share that alongside a new music video for ‘Sweat’, the band had a run of shows coming up over the summer, including a free hometown show in LA on May 30, as well as UK and European shows set for later in the year.

You can check a full list of dates below, and find tickets here.

The Sophs’ 2025 tour dates are:

JUNE
27 – Gold Diggers, Los Angeles, US

JULY
25 – Scribble, Los Angeles, US

AUGUST
26 – Berlin Under A, New York, US – FREE SHOW
27 – Union Pool, Brooklyn, US – FREE SHOW
30 – End of the Road Festival, Larmer Tree, UK

SEPTEMBER
1 – The Lanes, Bristol, UK – FREE SHOW
3 – The Windmill, London, UK
6 – Misty Fields Festival, Asten, NL
7 – Haldern Pop Bar, Haldern, DE
8 – Supersonic Records, Paris, FR

Speaking about their newest signing in a press release, Travis and Lee said: “It’s rare that a demo that arrives in the post sets your heart racing and sends you off on a quest to track down its sender. But that’s what happened when we listened to the music sent to us by Ethan Ramon.”

Elaborating on the new single, which sees him mournfully sing: “I am a boy in your good dreams / I’m not the way I used to be / I dream of people I have not seen bleed,” over a Strokes inspired beat, Ramon said the track felt “like an attempt to overcompensate in the face of grief.”

He continued to say it was “one that fails miserably and ends with you being swallowed whole. “I tried to capture the moment when the tension breaks and you realize you’re no longer in control of your emotions; your emotions are in control of you. That realization is humbling.”

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