Live music review: Cold rain could not stop Die Spitz fans on Valentine’s Day
Rain was sprinkling down on a cold February Friday night as the moshers and crowd-surfers at Austin Red River Cultural District staple Mohawk caused crisis-level pandemonium for a sold-out Valentine’s Day gig. For local rockers Die Spitz, the usual attendees are sure to bring their worst, punk rock behavior.
Since full-capacity live shows have returned in full force in the live music hub of Austin, the Die Spitz quartet has been on a fast track with two banger-filled EPs, a handful of new singles, and multiple tours with the likes of Amyl & The Sniffers, The Spits, and Sleater-Kinney. As the local punks have ascended to fame, the hometown crowds have gotten bigger, escalating to multiple sold-out gigs that hopefully result in a good payday for a band just getting to the legal drinking age. As is usual for the modern state of live music, the results of these packed clubs have often been mixed.
The opening act for the Friday night triple bill came in the form of gritty garage trio Pussy Gillette, scene veterans at this point, provided a worthy starting expedition for the chaotic evening ahead. Singer and bassist Masani Negloria’s eccentric, often satirical banter that reaches infectious levels of absurdity, is an enlightening pump-up. Following each outrageously comedic tune introduction, the songs in the first set kept coming, all the steady and heavy drum beats, interlocked with rock-hard bass plucking and guitars accompanying Negloria’s aggressively pronounced delivery with brute force.
Next came indie-gaze hometown touring machines, Farmer’s Wife. Following the Heart Day theme, multiple semi-headlining setlist entries featured announced “love songs,” with the glossy, blissful guitar lines complimenting the ethereal, dreamy vocals from singer and percussionist Molly Masson. Drummer Jaelyn Valero is also a dynamic highlight, guiding each track, soft or loud, with dialed-in precision. You can also see her killing it on auxiliary percussion with fellow Austin psych road warriors, Daiistar. Farmer’s Wife released a new single this year, “Mildew,” available on all streaming platforms.
Die Spitz punctually took the stage at 11 p.m., ready to ransack the sold-out Mohawk among a frenzied crowd that answered to nothing but pure punk rock fury. For you out-of-towners, the crowd that the rapidly rising Austin band brings is anything but mindful music lovers. The drilling guitars and puncturing basslines bode well with the thrashing d-beat drums that make their audiences enter arrhythmic madness as soon as the first chord is struck. To reiterate the “mindful music lovers” point, the selfie stage divers are brutal, with all participants making their way onstage for the ill-informed photo opp. An all-ages show, this was a gathering for the uninitiated. A photographer was even spotted crowd-surfing with camera rig in hand, bravery or dumbassery, we don’t know.
Songs from all over the Spitz catalog appeared, (Not to be confused with The Spits, whom the Austin group toured with last year and played the same venue with the opening treatment) including “Grip,” “I hate when GIRLS die, and “My Hot Piss,” all resulting in apocalyptic empowerment that culminated in raging whirlpools of thrashing limbs whether mid-tempo or deafening DIY wall-to-wall excitement.
Singers and guitarists Ellie Livingston and Ava Schrobilgen often trade vocal duties, offering classic punk rock aptitude or sludge metal howls that seek to break the sound systems of any venue they make their way to grace. The switch-ups also include drummer Chloe Andrews and Schrobilgen for the Andrews-penned selection “Groping Dogs Gushing Blood.” Livingston even surrenders her signature SG guitar to focus on vocal duties and whatever stage antics come along the way, including climbing speaker towers to flirt with the danger the band promises with every live appearance. The finger-style bass forte of Kate Halter is also a mesmerizing focal point, a worthy low end to the abrasive deployment to the rollout of powerful music that has made their catalog grow bigger. It’s only going to keep growing as the band announced they would soon be recording a debut full-length in the coming weeks.
With Mohawk being a frequently oversold venue, the squashed-in chaos is often uncontained, with moshing participants putting their hands into the mayhem like we have free healthcare in America. While the crowds seem to be about causing mayhem and less about the activism beneath the pages of the music’s creative song structure and lyricism, the ticket sales still come, and that’s always a good thing for the fruitful music scene here in Central Texas.
Signature cut “Hair of Dog” closed the evening as the encore, sending off the Valentine’s Day onslaught with memories of the pure insanity that the Die Spitz crew brings with their now venue-filling power. Even if it did destroy the camera of our own Troy Gonzales, the Die Spitz dynasty rages on. Donate to replace The Cosmic Clash photographer Troy Gonzales’ camera here.
All photos by Troy Gonzales
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