I saw Canadian power trio The Dirty Nil play to around 60 people in Milton Keynes almost exactly a year ago. You would’ve thought they were playing to 6000.
There was pointing, muscle flexing, scissor-kicking and much banter with the audience. They were a thunderous mix of punk rock honesty and maximum R’n’B that was as tight as a cock ring. (The following day I saw Metallica play Twickenham. They played with all the passion of a bunch of millionaires ploughing through 'the hits' in a rugby stadium. The Dirty Nil: 1, Metallica: a dirty nil.)
New single Done With Drugs is an apparent piss-take of those performative Facebook posts where people claim to be changing their lives and feel the need to tell everyone about it. More importantly it’s got a huge chorus and a killer hook that had a worrying starting point.
“We were on tour with White Reaper,” says singer/guitarist Luke Bentham, “and I don't think I would've written that riff if I wasn't hanging out with [their guitarists] Tony [Esposito] and Hunter [Thompson]. They had just played with The Killers, so everyday we were always playing the Mr. Brightside riff together. I think that opened my mind to stadium-rock cheese, even more so than before.”
It’s the best anthem about getting older and giving up drugs you’ll hear this week. Funnier than your friends’ sad Facebook posturing, catchier than the Coronavirus, it’s rock music about posturing, not posturing rock music. For once.
Listen to it on your preferred music service. Or here's the video:
