Porcelain Girl Unleash Midwest Emo Mayhem on New Single ‘Me And My Gun’

Derby’s emo scene is having a moment, and Porcelain Girl are increasingly looking like one of the bands determined to push it forward. Blending Midwest emo, post-hardcore and flashes of much heavier territory, the Derby favourites have been building a reputation for emotional songwriting and chaotic live shows. Their new single, ‘Me And My Gun’, might be the clearest example yet of why people are paying attention.

Released on Friday 21st August 2026, the track arrives just 24 hours before Porcelain Girl headline a huge home-city emo show at The Victoria Inn in Derby on Saturday 22nd August, where they’ll be joined by Super Mega Death Robot, Molars, Danger Dog and Vinenna. There will also be special editions of Porcelain Girl’s EP available at the show, making this feel like much more than another Saturday night at The Vic.

We’ve heard ‘Me And My Gun’ live a few times already, so getting the chance to sit with the finished recording ahead of release was particularly exciting. Live, it has always felt like one of those songs capable of turning a small room into absolute carnage. On record, you get to hear just how much is actually going on underneath that chaos.

It’s Cool Before It’s Even Begun

‘Me And My Gun’ opens with a sample from Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, taken from the infamous bathroom scene involving Private Pyle. The line “7.62 millimetre. Full metal jacket” immediately sets an uneasy tone, pulling from a scene centred around a man who has been pushed beyond breaking point.

It is a fitting choice for a song that increasingly feels as though it is unravelling emotionally as it progresses. It’s also, quite simply, a sick way to start a Midwest emo track. Before Porcelain Girl have played a note, you already know this isn’t going to be restrained.

A few bars and barely a line later, we get the first scream.

There’s no hanging around here. Distorted guitars crash in alongside an infectious melody from Will that instantly gets your head moving, while Jack’s bass and Sam’s drums give the whole thing a restless momentum underneath. At the centre of it all is frontman and vocalist Tino, switching between vulnerability, melody and outright aggression as the track begins its descent. Porcelain Girl understand that emo doesn’t have to mean delicate, and ‘Me And My Gun’ gets into the action remarkably quickly.

Emo, Regret and a Massive Chorus

Once Tino’s vocals properly arrive, the song feels rooted in reflection, regret and the uncomfortable process of looking back at something you can’t change. Everyone will inevitably take something different from the lyrics, but that emotional ambiguity is part of what makes Porcelain Girl work.

The cleaner vocal sections are melodic and vulnerable without losing their edge, gradually building towards a chorus that feels tailor-made to be screamed back at the band from a packed room.

“The only one.

Me and my gun.

Complete me. Complete me.”

Then comes the scream: “I guess I lied!”

It hits hard, but crucially, Porcelain Girl never allow the aggression to overwhelm the songwriting. Underneath it all are Sam’s switching drum patterns, Jack’s pumping bass lines and Will’s intricate guitar licks, alongside those recognisable Midwest emo textures. The recorded version is impressively balanced, allowing the individual elements room to breathe before everything gets considerably nastier.

And then comes that breakdown.

Then Everything Goes to Hell

There’s a brief guitar passage beforehand that almost carries a classic rock, Led Zeppelin-esque looseness, but it quickly gives way to something completely different.

This is the part we’ve started referring to as the nu-metal section.

There’s something distinctly Korn-like about it, particularly the unsettling feel of early tracks such as ‘Divine’. Except Porcelain Girl have dropped that influence into the middle of an emo song and somehow made it work. Rather than simply making everything heavier for the sake of it, the breakdown initially pulls the track backwards, creating space and tension before the inevitable explosion.

Live, this is where you can already imagine the room opening up.

Another Full Metal Jacket sample appears: “I am in a world of shit.”

Then it kicks in.

Hard.

The restraint disappears and ‘Me And My Gun’ descends into pure mayhem, with Tino’s repeated screams of “Realise” becoming increasingly unhinged. He sounds possessed, the guitars become nastier and the whole track suddenly feels considerably more dangerous.

Just when you think Porcelain Girl might keep hammering away until the end, they throw themselves back into the song’s earlier structure. The bridge returns with more anger, more desperation and more weight behind every word, before the chorus comes around again, only this time it is delivered with considerably less restraint.

From there, everything keeps escalating. Tino’s vocals, Will’s guitar, Jack’s bass and Sam’s drums become progressively heavier and more aggressive as the song reaches its conclusion. It feels less like Porcelain Girl are finishing the track and more like they’re squeezing every remaining bit of emotion out of it.

The final word belongs once again to Full Metal Jacket:

“This is my rifle. There are many like it. But this one is mine.”

Then it’s done.

Porcelain Girl Know Exactly What They’re Doing

‘Me And My Gun’ is a banger.

More importantly, it demonstrates how good Porcelain Girl are becoming at constructing songs that can jump between different corners of alternative music without sounding stitched together. Midwest emo provides the foundations, but there’s post-hardcore aggression, flashes of nu-metal, intricate guitar work, huge melodic sections and enough heaviness to make the breakdown genuinely threatening.

There is a lot happening, but none of it feels accidental.

For a Derby band emerging during a wider resurgence of emo and post-hardcore, Porcelain Girl are doing more than simply recreating the sounds that came before them. They’re taking those influences and throwing their own personality into the mix, and ‘Me And My Gun’ feels like another significant step forward.

Stream it when it lands on Friday 21st August. Add it to your playlists. Turn it up ridiculously loud.

But we suspect the best way to experience ‘Me And My Gun’ will still be live.

Porcelain Girl Headline The Victoria Inn on Saturday 22nd August

Thankfully, you won’t have to wait long.

Just one day after the single drops, Porcelain Girl headline The Victoria Inn, Derby, on Saturday 22nd August, alongside Super Mega Death Robot, Molars, Danger Dog and Vinenna for what promises to be one of the heaviest and most chaotic summer shows to hit The Vic.

Special editions of Porcelain Girl’s EP will also be available at the gig, giving fans another reason to get down early and pick one up.

And when that breakdown in ‘Me And My Gun’ arrives?

We’re predicting absolute hell on earth in The Vic’s tiny back room.

Circle pits opening, bodies flying everywhere, people practically kissing the ceiling and one of Derby’s most exciting young alternative bands right in the middle of it.

Get your tickets. Get down to The Vic. Make sure you’re in that room.

Porcelain Girl release ‘Me And My Gun’ on Friday 21st August 2026, before headlining The Victoria Inn, Derby, on Saturday 22nd August 2026.

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