‘Indie rock’, ‘Post-punk’ – the music industry does an effective job of co-opting and commodifying terms originally defined by their reaction to stagnation, creating a deluge of so-close-yet-so-far simulacra. We’ve noticed young artists, of late, pushing back against algorithmically-pleasing confines, into creatively fertile territory. Dublin’s Spit are doing just that with their abrasive, experimental punk that conjures the essence of the movement. Guitarist Alex and bassist/violist Sarah connected with drummer Conor, and just days before their first gig, their first music was written, its credos tantamount to its sound.
Part of a crop of forward-thinking acts emerging in the wake of MOR guitar-lads-in-bands, we asked what they make of the movement: “It just comes down to the fact that we all hear them and think ‘Christ I could do better than that’, and because of that, local audiences now expect more from local artists, which is a great thing; it necessitates interesting sonic developments.” Spit were conceived from a collective feeling that “somewhere along the history of punk, a relay stick had been dropped”, guitarist/vocalist Alex tells us. “I was listening to no-wave bands like DNA and The Contortions, and British avant stuff like This Heat, and was left wondering ‘Sorry, these bands started something so exciting and instead of expanding on that, we’ve just been bandying post-punk back and forth ad nauseum.’ The great thing about experimental abrasive punk is it’s incredibly hard to co-opt because the whole drive of it is to avoid coagulating.”
Sarah continues: “We only went in with a few mutual goals: to embrace confrontation, and to avoid the macho sound that plagues a good deal of noise rock and post-punk that’s been really big the past few years. Finding an angular and sonically off-putting sound without becoming an uber-masculine band was really important to us.” No music is available to the public yet, but watch this void; it soon will be filled. Stevie Lennox
