YAKKIE – Lean Out (self released)
Released as a pay what you want single punk supergroup YAKKIE share Lean Out, with all monies raised from the release being donated to striking teaching assistants at Richard Cobden School in Camden, London
Artist: YAKKIE
Track: Lean Out
Label: Self released
Release date: 6 March 2026
Find it: Bandcamp
Following hot on the release of their incredible debut album, and landing just ahead of International Women’s Day, the most vital band on the scene today YAKKIE has shared single Lean Out as a Pay What You Want single with monies made being donated to support striking teaching assistants at Richard Cobden School in Camden, London.
Vocalist Janey Starling said, “Lean Out is a call for all women to go on strike to demand better conditions at work and in their lives. It’s women’s care and nurture that keeps the wheels of society turning, but that’s not recognised or paid. Teaching assistants play a vital role in supporting children at school – especially children with special educational needs and disabilities – and they have a right to job security and good pay.”
‘So who cares about sisterhood / Just as you look good’
Starling continued, “This is a song about flipping tables instead of sitting at them. We wrote this song when we realised that the ‘theme’ for International Women’s Day is determined every year by a private consultancy. The origins of International Women’s Day are in women’s struggle for labour rights after a factory fire in 1911 in New York killed over a hundred women and girls, but capitalism and the cult of the individual have tried to steal our feminist history and our power from us. It’s time to wrest it back by going on strike.”
With the heaviness of metal in the pounding rhythm and full force guitars, it’s a frenetic backdrop to Starling’s vocal, by turns gently melodic and full throated power. It’s another fine example of the way this band is not only punk by sound, but punk by nature; using their music as a platform for amplifying social issues and encouraging us all to flex hope as a muscle for fighting oppression wherever it is found.
If you can, put some money behind this single today in solidarity with strikers, in the knowledge that collective action can bring positive change, and that you’ll be getting some of the finest heavy-metal influenced feminist punk in your ears as a bonus. And – seriously – if you haven’t given YAKKIE‘s debut album Kill The Cop Inside Your Head your time make it a priority. They really are the band we all need right now.
Lean Out by YAKKIE is out digitally now as a Pay What You Want single, all monies raised will be donated to striking teaching assistants in London. Debut album Kill The Cop Inside Your Head is also out now and you can find an introducing feature on the band in issue 1 of Popoptica zine – available here. Read our reviews of previous YAKKIE singles Kill The Cop Inside Your Head, Rabbit’s Got The Gun, and He Sleeps Alone.
Find YAKKIE: Bandcamp | Instagram | YouTube
Image: Jessie Morgan
Live dates:
- 21 March – The Victoria, London
- 16 May – The Great Escape, Brighton
- 4 June – Bulletproof Festival, London
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Sarah Lay
A long-standing music journalist she's also co-founder of independent record label Reckless Yes, an author of novels, and when not messing around with words and music, a digital strategist.
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