Premiere: Roughshod Capture The Frights & Fights Of Identity On “I Can’t Be Your Girl”
It’s the season for haunt and frights. Movies that shock and unnerve, attractions that stalk and thrill, and stories that spook and chill. This time of year invites us to lose ourselves in fear for fun, a brief and controlled escape from the very real anxieties of life. But beyond the jump scares and haunted houses lies a growing brand of terror born from one another. Our indifferences, our callousness, and, at worst, our hatreds. These are the driving forces behind every genocide in history, whether they be a systemic purge of a targeted ethnic group or a societal attack on those who only seek to affirm their identity. With cruelty and savagery in vogue right now, these types of targeted violence loom over us all, leaving us all to live life on the edge of our seats, like we’re all trapped in the same horror film.
“I Can’t Be Your Girl,” the new single from Richmond rock band Roughshod, drags those fears into the light with its urgent sound and eerie video counterpart. The song confronts the societal hostility of the trans experience while also reckoning with the internal tension it stirs. It captures the struggle for acceptance with a delicate balance of vulnerability and defiance that the band delivers with striking conviction. That resolve leads to a deeply personal and universally unsettling song that exposes the cruel realities regressive forces impose on those simply trying to live authentically.
Today, The Auricular is proud to premiere the music video for this new single. Watch it below and then read on to learn more about the vulnerable truths that drive its tone.
“I Can’t Be Your Girl” is a roving rock song that traces the precarious pursuit of expressing an identity in constant evolution, a restless search to align inner perception with outer reality. “The song is about my experience as a gay trans man,” singer Cel said, also noting that some listeners less attuned to nonconforming experiences might miss the message. “[Roughshod guitarist] Austin [Ruhf] said it confuses straight cis people because it seems like just a break-up song, but it’s not.”
The song’s catchy and electric chorus lends to that assumption (“No, I can’t be her\ No, I can’t be her\ I can’t be your girl\ I can’t be a girl“), though the more prowling verses reveal the true feeling underneath. The first line of the song casts the song in an irritable light (“Take off this dress I’ve made a mess“) before the meaning becomes clearer later. “Every part of me is screaming\ Start it all over and make me a man,” Cel declares in a raw, cathartic plea for self-recognition that helps spur the song’s compelling sound.
“My gender is complicated, though,” Cel explained further. “I prefer ‘transmasculine’ because I’m non-binary. My pronouns are (they/he) and I actually enjoy dressing feminine sometimes. I just don’t like that I come off as a woman and not a feminine man. If I were a cis gay man, it would be different.”
The song captures this constant negotiation trans and nonbinary people face in presenting themselves to the world. “Don’t you think he’d love you this way?\ Pretty, beautiful, gorgeous\ This way,” they sing, acknowledging and decrying societal pressure. But still, the strive for personal authenticity rings true, making the song feel as intimate as it does confrontational. It’s a reminder that identity is never simple and self-recognition will always come at a cost, one that should be uniform for all, and not heightened for one particularly marginalized group.
The video, made by Anxious Animals Productions, captures the band within the woods, with Cel initially absent from the shot. At the same time, the remaining members are dressed in lab coats and detective garb while playing their instruments and gazing around. Cel appears in a feminine presentation within swirling shots before emerging in similar masculine clothing in front of the band. A chase and pursuit begins, straight out of classic body horror, before acceptance breaks the norm and Cel reclaims his status with the band for a rollicking finish.
“I wanted to represent the horrors of being trans and also being disabled in chronic pain,” Cel described. “I’m a huge horror fan and October is my favorite month.” He brought the loose concept to director Benny Perkinson and let them take the reins with “their genius art skills.” Next to the validating performance of Cel, band members Austin Ruhf, Ian Marburger, Ian Atchinson, and Bram Crowe-Getty help make the video feel sharp and fun, whether by performing with bold assurance or cheekily searching the woods with a crayoned map and a comical net.
That approach positions the video alongside classic horror films that blend suspense with whimsy, presenting tension in a tongue-in-cheek way that feels relatable and unforgettable. The result is one of Richmond’s best music videos of 2025 and a song that could easily rank among the year’s most striking releases, locally or beyond.
Importantly, though, the song is not a cautionary tale nor should it be misconstrued as a subversive statement. Despite Cel recognizing that being trans comes with its risks and dreads, “I Can’t Be Your Girl” is a celebration of resilience and selfhood.
“I’m proud to be trans and refuse to back down,” they state. “Being trans is beautiful. The horrors are imposed on us from the outside.”
“I Can’t Be Your Girl” is out now on all streaming platforms. To celebrate, the band is playing a single & video release show at Gallery5 on Saturday, October 25th alongside Tentative Decisions, Dayfiction, and Slaat (tickets available here).
Make sure to follow Roughshod on social media so you don’t miss their next concert or release.
