Everyone’s favorite punk rock agitators, DRUG CHURCH, have returned. Today the Albany/Los Angeles-based band announced “Tawny“: a new four-song EP due out June 25th from Pure Noise Records that acts as a bridge from their 2018 LP, “Cheer”, to Drug Church’s impending fourth full-length. “Cheer” was acclaimed by both fans and critics alike (including praise from the likes of Stereogum, Noisey, Revolver, BrooklynVegan, and more), and with “Tawny” the band push their blend of hardcore aggression and massive, ’90s-indebted hooks even further.
Drug Church have also shared the EP’s title track, a towering wall of heavy guitars and pummeling drums with an anthemic climax that hints at the band’s ever-expanding songwriting toolbox. Never one to flinch at the darker corners of the human condition, vocalist Patrick Kindlon’s lyrics remain as vitriolic as ever. “People are so happy to not be in the guillotine, they’ll cheer at anyone else’s execution”, he says. “I’ve about had it with that”.
“Tawny” is comprised of Drug Church’s crushing 2020 single “Bliss Out”, a cover of Arcwelder’s “Remember To Forget”, and two brand new songs, “Tawny” and “Head-Off”, which feature some of the band’s most dynamic songwriting to date. The tracks build on the most melodic moments of “Cheer” without losing any of the bite and energy that has made Drug Church so appealing to fans of heavy and catchy music alike. “Head-Off” opens the EP and immediately makes it clear that the band aren’t content to rest on their laurels. The song begins with a driving beat from drummer Chris Villeneuve while guitarists Nick Cogan and Cory Galusha weave unexpectedly shimmering guitar lines overtop of Pat Wynne’s propulsive bass; even Kindlon’s customary roar has taken a turn, with layered vocals and the singer’s cadences at their most instantly hooky. All of these melodic moments only serve to make Drug Church’s sound even more combustable, and “Head-Off” and “Tawny” both erupt into immensely satisfying blasts of powerhouse guitars and Kindlon’s sardonic bark.
The EP closes with Drug Church’s taut rendition of the Arcwelder song “Remember To Forget”, which again highlights the band’s growing melodicism while also nodding to their willingness to carry the torch for stubbornly outsider guitar music. “You don’t need to be the world’s best band to write a perfect song”, Kindlon says. “Arcwelder are guys who like playing guitar music. They had some small success at it. Still, this song has been in my head for a long time. And that’s a type of success that doesn’t get measured. We’re all gonna be erased when the sun expands. Chasing fame makes you dumber than you are”.
“Tawny” is just the beginning of the surprises Drug Church have up their sleeve, and luckily, with LP4 coming soon, listeners won’t have to wait long to hear more. Pre-order “Tawny” Here!
“Tawny” lyrics
Your place in the sun that shitty apartment where your friends are
That space you can run to rather than address the test to your rot
A place in the ground plywood casket next to loved ones
That space that you’re found bloated off-white blue in two feet of mud
Tragedy is comedy minus yourself
A tawny pale glow
Headlights in a ditch below
AM on route 32
Guard rail in the shape of bloom
Now here’s some bad news when you’re pressed your friends peel off from you
Add some sad news when you’re pressed your friends catch a case of self-interest
Your building burns in the distance
Your loved ones arrive
To watch from the hoods of their cars
They lower the radio to listen to you die
Your lonely gravesite nobody visits in the daylight
For fear your name might expose what we already know about those
sonsovbitches who only tell but never show
A tawny pale glow
Headlights in a ditch below
AM on route 32
Guard rail in the shape of bloom
When they come for the show
The headlines read like a joke
Tragedy is comedy when it’s someone else
Let’s laugh ourselves to death
I still find it funny
Let’s laugh ourselves to death
I can’t help myself and I won’t try
