Billie Eilish's ex-boyfriend Jesse Rutherford of the Neighbourhood has released some punishing hardcore tracks with his new band Valley Girls. The group uploaded its four track demo to YouTube on Jan. 18 and played a show in Los Angeles on Jan. 27.
Details about the project were scarce until this weekend. The video's description named Colin Young of Twitching Tongues and God's Hate as the drummer and noted that the record was recorded by his brother Taylor Young at the Pit in Van Nuys.
Rumors that Rutherford was involved with the project circulated online in the days following the demo's release but couldn't be confirmed until the band played a at the Midnight Hour in San Fernando on Jan. 27.
Photos from the concert were posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, by photographer Joe Calixto on Jan. 28.
"Is this singer not jesse rutherford?" one commenter asked. "It is," Calixto replied
The 10 minute demo brings a pop sheen to hardcore without sacrificing on heaviness. It's bright and shiny with occasional clean vocals and synthesizer flourishes, but the compositions themselves are mostly slow, heavy beatdown tracks.
There are obvious comparisons to be made with groups like Turnstile and Militarie Gun, but Valley Girl doesn't seem as indebted to alternative rock as those bands. That's surprising given Rutherford's background with the pop rock group the Neighbourhood.
The band's 2013 single "Sweater Weather" made it to No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Rutherford signed to Atlantic Records as a solo artist in March and released a mixtape called &ONE in August.
The group's four track demo dropped on Jan. 18, but details about the project were scarce until the band played a show this weekend.
Although he's been a professional musician for well over a decade now, Rutherford got his start as a child actor. He had roles in 2002's Life or Something Like It, Star Trek: Enterprise, and Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.
Rutherford and Eilish began dating in October 2022 and broke up in May 2023.
Eilish fans were up in arms after Rutherford released his solo track "POV" last year. They believed he was speaking negatively about the pop star.
But there was lots of positivity about Rutherford in the comment section below the Valley Girl demo on YouTube.
"Wild that the dude that wrote Sweater Weather also wrote my favorite hardcore demo of 2024," one person said. "I hope this band legitimately tours and doesn’t become just a fest band," said another. "This is insaneeeeee I love Jesse Rutherford and I never expected this, I like it," a different commenter said.
Rutherford is also the frontman for the Neighbourhood, which is known for its 2013 track 'Sweater Weather.'
Rutherford commented on his punk roots in a 2015 interview with Spin.
"I was in bands growing up around town as a kid, like bands in the local kind of hardcore scene that we had because that’s just kind of what the kids in my area were doing," he said. "And I liked music and I picked up drums."
Valley Girls is named after a subculture that originated among affluent San Fernando Valley teens in the early 1980s. Frank Zappa commented on the phenomenon with his 1982 track "Valley Girl," which featured vocals from his daughter Moon. She was just 14-years-old at the time.
