When the announcement came that Lauren Mayberry from CHVRCHES and Shirley Manson of Garbage would be holding a keynote conversation about music at SXSW we both jumped with joy. Although neither of us had the opportunity to attend this event in person we did watch the presentation. Whether you’re a fan of either band or music in general, this conversation was simply excellent!

Yesterday, Puja Patel hosted this wonderful conversation with Mayberry and Manson at the Hilton Austin Downtown as part of SXSW. The three chatted about everything from women in the music industry, the judgements they receive and the standards women are held to in the industry, their Scottish roots and being authentic, the impact of social media, discussion about the Me Too movement, diversity in the music industry and much more. This hour-long discussion was everything we had hoped it would be and sure we will refer back to it again and again. Thank you, Puja Patel, Lauren Mayberry and Shirley Manson for putting this important keynote conversation together.

The highly anticipated single “Here With Me” from EDM producer Marshmello and synthpop trio CHVRCHES is out now! After teasing some samples over the past week, we now have a full song to play on repeat. Lauren Mayberry’s voice glistens over the nice production and guitar work from Marshmello, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty. If you haven’t already, give it a listen below.

Celebrate this collaboration with a limited edition 7" vinyl or a shirt from Marshmello’s website.

Ahead of CHVRCHES’ homecoming show at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday, February 16th, lead singer Lauren Mayberry was already busy hours before showtime helping launch Connect Live for the Glasgow & Clyde Rape Crisis Centre.

Mayberry, a patron for the centre, previously helped spearhead a fundraiser for their 40th anniversary back in 2016. Now, almost two years later more women than ever are seeking support from the centre.

Glasgow Rape Crisis Centre manager Isabelle Kerr told the Herald Scotland, “In the last two years, the centre has fielded almost 30,000 calls, texts and emails from survivors of rape, domestic abuse and other forms of sexual trauma in and around Glasgow.”

Kerr and staff along with Mayberry launched the new project, Connect Live, which will be open daily from 11 AM – 2 PM and Monday through Thursday evenings from 5:30-7:30 PM. This service will allow anyone contacting Connect Live to speak to centre staff directly for live support.

Mayberry said, “I don’t view things like rape crisis as optional services. It’s not negotiable whether that is available to society, and it’s not just for women either.”

If you would like to help support this project please donate through Just Giving. Donations will help the centre adapt to changing technology and help train new volunteer staff.

We’re back with our fourth annual Lauren Mayberry (CHVRCHES) top ten moments of the year! Mayberry and her bandmate pals Iain Cook, Martin Doherty and Jonny Scott from CHVRCHES had quite a year in 2018 including a new album, a new EP, touring the world, new collaborations, philanthropic efforts and more! There have been countless great memories from this year but without further ado continue reading below to see our Lauren Mayberry top ten moments of 2018. Thank you for being such a great role model and inspiration to many.

10. CHVRCHES sponsor Whitburn Junior FC. The band stepped in to sponsor Iain Cook’s hometown junior team with a sharp looking away strip featuring the bands logo. Even more exciting was the collaboration between the band and team to put these jerseys on sale for a limited run to the public after the outpouring of interest from fans worldwide.

9. CHVRCHES team up with Soundwaves Art for a limited-edition print to support War Child UK. We thought this was such a neat and unique idea that combines both music and art while also helping those in need.

8. CHVRCHES left us in awe with their latest cover songs this year. Call us biased but they make some of the best cover songs out there with their own unique take on songs. This year the band dazzled us with covers of “Somebody Else” by The 1975, “XO” by Beyonce, “Stay” by Rihanna, “Love” by Kendrick Lamar and “The Downtown Lights” by The Blue Nile.

6. CHVRCHES always pop up on video game soundtracks and this year was no different. The band was featured on Forza Horizon 4 with “Never Say Die” and on Rock Band 4 with “Graffiti”.

5. Lauren Mayberry and CHVRCHES worked on a variety of new collaborations in 2018. For the first time in the bands history they had a guest singer involved on the track “My Enemy” featuring their friend Matt Berninger of The National. Later in the year Mayberry joined The National on stage at ACL Festival for their song “Guilty Party”. In August CHVRCHES dropped a surprise single called “Out Of My Head” featuring Wednesday Campanella and Mayberry was featured on the new Death Cab for Cutie album Thank You for Today contributing some beautiful backing vocals on the track “Northern Lights”.

1. It probably comes as no surprise that our number one Lauren Mayberry (CHVRCHES) moment of 2018 was the release of CHVRCHES’ third album Love Is Dead on May 25, 2018.


Thank you to Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, Martin Doherty, Jonny Scott and everyone mentioned above for all the great memories and all your hard work! With a memorable year coming to a close we now look forward to another great year in 2019!

A few months ago, we broke the news that CHVRCHES had become the newest sponsor of Whitburn Junior FC with their logo emblazoned on the team’s new away strip. Within days of this announcement several local news outlets in Scotland picked up our story and soon afterwards CHVRCHES fans around the world came asking to purchase one of their own. The outpouring of interest from fans took the team by surprise and it worked.

We have been in contact with the team’s secretary over the past few months and happy to announce these jerseys are now available for sale to the general public. This limited edition of 100 jerseys are available in small, medium, large, extra large and double extra large for £55.00 plus shipping.

Iain Cook is originally from Whitburn, Scotland and his father has been closely involved with the Whitburn Juniors which made this collaboration a possibility. Thank you to everyone involved including Whitburn Junior FC, the Cook family and of course CHVRCHES!

Order your jersey now through Whitburn Junior FC.

As we reported last Sunday, CHVRCHES will be releasing a new EP called Hansa Session on 10” vinyl next month but you can stream it online now! This EP features five beautiful acoustic renditions from tracks off their third album Love Is Dead. Check out a snippet of each song below from Spotify or click here to listen on your favorite music streaming service.

Hansa Session Tracklist:

Side A:
01. Graffiti
02. Miracle
03. Get Out

Side B:
04. Heaven/Hell
05. Really Gone

Earlier this summer CHVRCHES made a stop in Berlin, Germany to record an acoustic session reworking a few tracks from Love Is Dead at the legendary Hansa Studios. Hansa Session 10” EP will be released through Glassnote Records on December 14, 2018 featuring five tracks. This limited-edition vinyl EP of 5,000 copies will be available at select record stores and online retailers and also available digitally this coming Friday, November 16th. If you have heard some of their recent radio station acoustic sessions the band has been doing then we’re in for a treat with this recording. Pre-order and pre-save directly through CHVRCHES.

Hansa Session Tracklist:

01. Graffiti
02. Miracle
03. Get Out
04. Heaven/Hell
05. Really Gone

Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty of CHVRCHES have teamed up with Soundwaves Art creator Tim Wakefield to create a beautiful piece of artwork capturing the waveform from their audio recording of “The Mother We Share”! This limited edition of 100 fine art 24” x 24” canvas prints signed by the band and art creator will support War Child UK.

Own a rare and unique music piece of artwork from CHVRCHES while supporting a great cause. Prints are on sale now from Soundwaves Art.

Earlier today SXSW announced the first wave of keynote and featured speakers for their annual conference and festivals. Lauren Mayberry of CHVRCHES and Shirley Manson of Garbage will lead a keynote conversation on music. These two Scottish trailblazers in the music industry don’t hold back when they speak their minds. This is one discussion you don’t want to miss!

The SXSW Conference and Festivals takes place in Austin, Texas from March 8-17, 2019. More information about their keynote and featured speakers can be found at SXSW.

Yesterday EA Sports revealed special edition artist kits and the soundtrack for FIFA 19. Pre-order the champions or ultimate editions of the game and receive five special edition kits including one from CHVRCHES! FIFA 19 is due out September 28, 2018 on PS4, XBOX ONE and Origin.

After hearing “Miracle” and “Never Say Die” during World Cup coverage we expected to see the band on the FIFA 19 soundtrack but sadly they were not part of it this year. CHVRCHES were previously featured on the FIFA 14 soundtrack with the song “We Sink”.

CHVRCHES recently became the latest sponsor for Whitburn Junior FC and featured on their new away strip. More news on this coming soon!