Personal Trainer reveals upcoming album titled “Human Assholes”
Following their 2024 album “Still Willing,” Human Assholes has released a new single titled “Moping,” which comes after the lead single “Punch Drunk Love.” The accompanying music video for “Moping” was directed by singer Willem Smit, who shared his thoughts on the song, stating: “To me, ‘Moping’ is mostly about being a musician and getting stuck inside your own loop a little bit. The song keeps circling back on itself lyrically and musically. The chorus uses this Pixies trick of looping three bars of 4/4 instead of four, so the loop never fully settles.”
For this latest album, Human Assholes decided to steer away from their usual laptop-heavy writing process and instead opted to start with acoustic guitar as the foundation, with songs crafted in a physical space alongside the full band. The record was made live over the course of six days, an approach that Smit describes as “a more precise version of how we normally prepare new songs for a performance.”
Smit elaborated on the recording process, emphasizing the importance of capturing the raw essence of a live performance: “Every take that a group of people does simultaneously is a moment that has just happened and is shared by a group of people. If accidents happen, or if things do or do not go off the rails, that is part of what is happening in that performance. You give up some control, but for me, the decision-making became that much easier.”
In addition to the new single release, Personal Trainer have unveiled upcoming UK headline shows in Portsmouth and Cambridge, as well as performances at SWN and Future Days festivals. Smit will also be embarking on a series of solo instore shows around the album’s launch.
Smit reflected on his relationship with music, expressing his deep connection to it as both a passion and a source of solace: “I have always looked at the role of music in my life with great enthusiasm. But also in a quite down-to-earth way. It is my greatest passion, but it is also just music, and that is precisely why it is important to me. It is a kind of sandbox I can sit in whenever I want. I have always been able to express myself through it as an outlet, but never was it as evident to me as during this process. It really felt like a ‘safe haven’ to sink my teeth into for days, while everything else wasn’t going so well.”
The latest album from Human Assholes features tracks such as “Marvin’s Curtain Up,” “Scrambled Egg,” “Bone,” “Places!,” “The Burrows,” and many more. Each song offers a unique perspective and adds to the overall narrative crafted by the band on their musical journey.