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Ripping through a portal from the basements of Kalamazoo, Michigan, the release of The Spits VI has arrived. This full length, self recorded album from Thriftstore Records ranges from the weird to the wild. Buzz saw guitars and catchy hooks are mixed with low budget horror effects to create a unique view of a dystopian world. With songs of terror, despair, hope and heartbreak, this one has something for the whole nuclear family!
Our take: VI is the new album from the legendary and long-running punk band the Spits. Despite its title, I’m not sure whether it’s actually their sixth album… I’d say it’s more like their seventh or eighth, but regardless, they have quite a few full-length albums under their belt. When I first listened to VI, I thought about how the Spits are now in the territory of bands like the Ramones, Motorhead, and Iron Maiden. All these bands have large catalogs that more or less stick to the same style, and while a lot of listeners feel like they only need the classic albums, a dedicated contingent of fans ride hard for the entire catalog. It’s easy to dismiss these long-lived bands as successful branding exercises, or (a little more generously) to say that they found a “formula” and stuck with it. I don’t think that’s the case with any of these bands, including the Spits. I don’t want to name names, but there are plenty of bands that stick to the same style for a long time, and plenty of those bands suck and never get much better than that, no matter how long they continue plying their trade. But for a band like the Spits, it seems more like they’ve found a comfortable pair of jeans they want to wear for the rest of their lives. The jeans look good on them, can be mixed and matched with different clothing items and work in a variety of different contexts. And just as a person is not their jeans, the Spits’ are not just their sound. Inside the Spits’ fast drums, distorted guitars, and catchy keyboard lines is some fucking great songwriting. This hit me on my third or fourth listen to VI, when the track “Kop Kar” came on. This song is fucking great! I can’t imagine anyone but the Spits doing it, and it can stand toe to toe with the classics from across their catalog, whether you’re talking about “Rip Up the Streets” or “Let Us Play Your Party.” And it’s not the only good song on the album, either. They’re all good, some of them are great, and none of them suck even a little. By using the same logo on all of their albums and not giving most of them titles, the Spits invite you to dismiss any particular record as “just another Spits album.” They’re playing you. This isn’t just another Spits album, it’s another fucking great Spits album.
Our take: VI is the new album from the legendary and long-running punk band the Spits. Despite its title, I’m not sure whether it’s actually their sixth album… I’d say it’s more like their seventh or eighth, but regardless, they have quite a few full-length albums under their belt. When I first listened to VI, I thought about how the Spits are now in the territory of bands like the Ramones, Motorhead, and Iron Maiden. All these bands have large catalogs that more or less stick to the same style, and while a lot of listeners feel like they only need the classic albums, a dedicated contingent of fans ride hard for the entire catalog. It’s easy to dismiss these long-lived bands as successful branding exercises, or (a little more generously) to say that they found a “formula” and stuck with it. I don’t think that’s the case with any of these bands, including the Spits. I don’t want to name names, but there are plenty of bands that stick to the same style for a long time, and plenty of those bands suck and never get much better than that, no matter how long they continue plying their trade. But for a band like the Spits, it seems more like they’ve found a comfortable pair of jeans they want to wear for the rest of their lives. The jeans look good on them, can be mixed and matched with different clothing items and work in a variety of different contexts. And just as a person is not their jeans, the Spits’ are not just their sound. Inside the Spits’ fast drums, distorted guitars, and catchy keyboard lines is some fucking great songwriting. This hit me on my third or fourth listen to VI, when the track “Kop Kar” came on. This song is fucking great! I can’t imagine anyone but the Spits doing it, and it can stand toe to toe with the classics from across their catalog, whether you’re talking about “Rip Up the Streets” or “Let Us Play Your Party.” And it’s not the only good song on the album, either. They’re all good, some of them are great, and none of them suck even a little. By using the same logo on all of their albums and not giving most of them titles, the Spits invite you to dismiss any particular record as “just another Spits album.” They’re playing you. This isn’t just another Spits album, it’s another fucking great Spits album.