Back in March, Die Spitz's charming, passionate and always knowledgeable UK press agent James Parrish emailed me to say that Jack White's Nashville-based record label Third Man would be issuing a statement to announce that they had "won the label race" to sign the Austin, Texas quartet, which he suggested might perhaps make for an interesting news story for Louder.
Rather rudely, in a response loaded with sarcasm, I wrote back saying, "I don't think we've ever, ever, ever written a 'Record label signs band' news story James. But good for them! Their old mates at * checks Spotify credits * PoopButt Records must be devastated!"
Then I actually listened to Die Spitz's 2023 mini album Teeth, and watched some live footage of the quartet online, and instantly understood exactly why James and Third Man were so thrilled. An apologetic email followed within the hour.
Four months later, after being blown away seeing the quartet crush their first ever British gig, at a sold-out north London venue The Dome on July 10, I wrote a rave review for this site hailing Die Spitz as "the best new band in the world." For this, I will absolutely not apologise. And when you hear Something To Consume you too will understand.
Having four songwriters in the band gives Something To Consume rare depth and variety: drop the needle anywhere on these eleven tracks and you'll find something different to love. You can detect influences from Motörhead (Ava Schrobilgen/Ellie Livingston co-write Riding With My Girls) to My Bloody Valentine (Chloe de St. Aubin/Kate Halter co-write Punishers), Babes In Toyland (Down On It) to Nirvana (American Porn), but the band's own personality is always uppermost: friends since childhood, they have an instinctive chemistry that cannot be faked. "We depend on our freedom - freedom to do what we want, present the ideas we want, make the music we want," says Ellie Livingston. "Whether it’s based in metal or something soft, no matter which of us wrote the song, we all contribute and work together."
There's so much energy, passion,spirit and fire throughout Something To Consume, expertly produced by Will Yip (Turnstile/Touché Amoré/La Dispute), that it's only when you reach moody closer A Strange Moon/Selenophilia that you remember to breathe. And then you'll want to dive straight back in again. And again. And again.
Bands this good don't come around so often, and debut albums this complete, this impactful, and this thrilling are vanishingly rare in modern rock. Embrace it. Die Spitz could be your life.
