I listen to a lot of music, both new and old. But there are only so many hours in the day, and very rarely I’ll cover a show where I am not familiar with either band on the bill. Of course Viagra Boys are well-known for their raucous sets, a bunch of Swedes fronted by an LA-born shirtless man with more tattoos than a Formula 1 race jacket, and I had a passing awareness of “Sports” (weiner dog!) and the new “Man Made Of Meat.” Die Spitz was a band I vaguely grouped in with Amyl and The Sniffers, figuring they were a contemporary female-fronted punk rock combo. Well, I had conflated that since the first Boston show they did was opening for Amyl, back in 2023.
I mostly got Viagra Boys right, but the wild card I hadn’t considered was the wildly off the wall lyrics of Sebastian Murphy. Their core sound was electro-backed rock with occasional blasts of sax, inspired by their love of The Stooges Funhouse. Unlike IDLES (and there were loads of fans with their shirts in the venue tonight), the band has a natural groove and can write some really catchy songs; “Waterboy” is one such example, but I didn’t see the rhyming of ‘nostalgia’ and ‘chlamydia’ coming.
“Return To Monke” drops references to vaccine hesitancy amidst the heavy Devo theme of de-evolution, the squall of Oskar Carls’ sax colliding with the internet trolls fears of the global elite, 5G injections and general xenophobia. “Troglodyte” hits many of the same themes. And you’ll never think of parents, OnlyFans and giblets in the same manner once you listen to “Man Made Of Meat,”
For a band known for a kinetic live show, they rely on the crowd to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Murphy isn’t a front man in the manner of David Yow or Matt Korvette or Sammy Ciaramitaro who leave nothing on stage and often put themselves at physical risk in the crowd. With his wraparound shades, Murphy looks like the younger chav nephew of Dave Vanian, clearly absent the sartorial flair of the Damned singer. That said, he’s got a definite stage presence that won’t go unnoticed. Very solid band who deserves their meteoric rise, and I will dive deeper into their world.
Hailing from Austin, Die Spitz just released their debut record Something To Consume two weeks ago via Third Man, after a handful of self-issued mostly digital-only singles and EPs. As stated earlier, in my head I imagined a band that landed somewhere between Amyl and The Linda Lindas, and when the distorted, metallic chords of “I Hate It When GIRLS Die” hit my ears, I thought that maybe Blackwater Holylight adopted a new look and a heavier sound. Entirely unexpected but also entirely welcomed.
As an opening band they didn’t have a lot of time, and they barely touched the new record; “American Porn” and “Throw Yourself to the Sword” were dished out in convincing fashion. Ava Schrobilgen brings the same vein-popping, eye-bulging vocals that Marisa Dobice from Mannequin Pussy excels at, and she can dial her tone to honey-sweet stylings as needed. For people who want more of that, they just announced a headlining show at The Sinclair on November 16, with tickets going on sale tomorrow.
