Die Spitz

One Liner: Thrashing punky grunge from some Nirvana-loving Austin gals

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but punk and grunge

Home: Austin

Poster Position: Level 5 (25) 
Weekend One Only.
Saturday.

Thoughts:  Yeah baby.  My wife would hate this so very much, but I am digging it.  I'm sure once I start reading about the band, everyone else will be comparing it to Bleach-era Nirvana as well, but this is making me really happy.  Skuzzy, pounding, chunky riffage tied to heavy drumming.  Yummy.  The first video I spotted was this one live in studio for KUTX, where they rip right in to it.

Oh, they switch instruments!  That is cool.  "Evangeline" very much sounds like what I am talking about.  Not sure what she is saying before "you know you like that," but it totally sounds like Kurt Cobain screaming his words.  And "Hair of Dog" just freaking rules.  I love the band - the vocals, well, maybe not my favorite thing, but the music that is happening here is making my hair stand on end.

The only reference I found on Wikipedia for "Die Spitz" is that it was a German mail order franchise for apres sail wear in a BBC television drama called Howard's Way in the late 80s.  If these ladies named their punk band after that reference, I will be really impressed by how super freaking weird that would be.  But actually, here is the story, taken from a KUTX article: "“We wanted to have the word ‘spit’ in our name because it sounds epic. “Die” was chosen initially because it’s an article in German. “Die Spitz” Google translated means “the point”. After a long night of pacing the living room with a brown paper bag in our hands we were thinking of “Die Spitz” and “pig pen”. After direct correlation to “The Point”, Ringo Starr’s animated film, we went with the name. I like to imagine a grim reaper spitting when I explain it to people. Later on in our shebang we got a message in the Instagram DMS saying that “die spitz” means “die horny” in German. Spitz is slang for horny. Helps us have a name to stand the test of the time.” "

They formed the band as juniors in high school, during the pandemic lockdown, as a way to pass time together.  Their first show was at the Hole in the Wall in January 2022, and a year later they took home Austin Music Awards for Best Punk, Best New Act, and Best Residency.  Pretty awesome.

Just one album - 2023's Teeth - which is only 7 songs and 23 minutes, but my favorites on there are "Slater" and "Hair of Dog."  Oh, "Monkey Song" jams too.  The top track overall is "Hair of Dog," with 63k streams.  

That video kind of rules too.  And they have the light-up ceiling like that other good video with the dancing guys - Half-Alive.  Everybody gets to hang in the BatCave these days, man.

This is very fun - I'd love to see them play.  Feels like one of those smaller shows where the energy is wrong in the park - not enough people to truly mosh about and so it feels odd to just stand there and watch people thrash to the max on stage.  We'll see!