Pi$$er
Getting everyone in the same room at the same time is incredibly difficult.
A raging d-beat/hardcore mashup with extra helping of saxophone abuse. Think CRAVATS and X-RAY SPEX meeting furious Swedish hardcore and d-beat and you’ll be somewhere close-ish.
Biography
James Domestic had the idea for PI$$ER back in late 2016. Punk history has obviously been sprinkled with a few saxophone abusers (X-RAY SPEX, CRAVATS, SIEGE, ARMIA, and THE CONTORTIONS to name but a few), but had anyone ever really incorporated a sax into a full-on d-beat hardcore band? In a kind of soul-revue-that’s-been-on-the-absinthe-and-speed way? As far as James knew, no one had (and any subsequent examples that emerged were very few and far between and not really using the instrument in the same way at all. This band doesn’t really sound like anyone else).
Having easily recruited his bandmate, Rhodes, from THE DOMESTICS, the idea was cemented in Charlie’s head on a day out drinking in Gothenburg on THE DOMESTICS’ 2017 Euro tour. Matt was recruited next at a gig in Salford later that year and Eddie a few months after that. So that was it – it looked like a full band so now James had to write some material – songs that were going to be virtually impossible to rehearse as a group with members spread across the UK and Sweden. Bri Doom and Studio 1 in 12 in Bradford were booked for recording the debut 7” E.P., ‘Wretched Life’, and it just seemed natural to ask Bri to join too!
Not resting on their laurels, the band released the ‘Crushed Down to Paste’ mini LP in July 2020, integrating the saxophone into the maelstrom more fully than on ‘Wretched Life’ whilst maintaining the fury of the debut. Fast forward to 2021, the band had intended to have released their full length LP by now, it having been written by the time ‘Crushed Down to Paste’ was released, but due to the Covid19 pandemic, have been unable to record it.
Never ones to take an obvious path, instead they released ‘Carved Up For Yuks’, a 28 minute 12″ of radical remixes of tracks from the first two records. Described as sounding like “Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and King Tubby fighting over how to mix a Discharge record”, it has surprised, confused, and delighted their audience in equal measure.
The band have still never rehearsed.
Reviews
“The saxophone here (is) a genius move that adds something fresh and exciting to a 40-year-old formula…that’s not to say that the saxophone is the sole highlight here, it would mean nothing if this release wasn’t packed from start to finish with strong memorable riffs and a vicious vocal performance full of conviction and bile.” Shout Louder
“PI$$ER have their own sound… this is not yet another D-beat band struggling to be noticed in a sea of black clad competitors… I love the ingenuity of mashing a saxamophone into a noisy D-beat band. It’s something new. At times the way it pokes through the wall of guitar conjures up a mental image of a goose being chased by a swarm of bees”. Louder Than War
“PI$$ER might best be described as a supergroup. I could fill this review with the names of the bands that the members have been in. This collaboration will be exciting news for fans of the more extreme end of the punk spectrum. What sets this apart from other hardcore is the sax of Eddie O’Toole, which adds a dash of the free-jazz/no wave of James Chance or John Zorn’s Painkiller to the mix. I certainly hope this is not a one-off.” Outline
“D-Beat-‘core given new life… (it) verbally accosts you with such sheer rage and conviction-laced emotional strife that you are transfixed by the ‘core to the core. This band are born for Hardcore Heavyweight status…a hardcore band off the beaten track” Ear Nutrition
“The only thing about Wretched Life which worries is that there might be the chance it is a one-off affair. We truly hope not because there is already uncontrollable greed in our hunger for PI$$ER and their unique magnificent sound.” Ringmaster