DIIV + DITZ – CHALK, BRIGHTON 22.8.22
Brooklyn, New York jangly guitar post-punk outfit DIIV jetted across the pond and were back in Brighton at Chalk this evening in support of their recently expanded debut album ‘Oshin’ which dropped back in June. The original thirteen track release has now been extended to include no less than 28 recordings. This special 10th anniversary release includes the original 13 songs as well as a bonus LP of 13 ‘Oshin’ demos, and 2 live cuts recorded at Shea Stadium Brooklyn in 2011, including the previously unreleased track ‘Yuk’. It’s an essential purchase for fans of the band – Order your copy HERE.
DIIV were initially called ‘Dive’ (after a 1992 Nirvana song) and was originally a solo project born in the Brooklyn bedroom of Zachary Cole Smith in 2011. But Smith decided to change the band name so as not to be confused with Belgian industrial artist Dirk Ivens’ solo project of the same name.
Over the last decade, DIIV have established themselves as one of rock music’s most fascinating bands, exploring new textures while pushing their songcraft forward in a way that continues to draw in larger audiences worldwide. They combine beauty and noise to the point of approaching a lush oblivion—a searing sound building on elements from dream-pop luminaries like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Smashing Pumpkins. it’s becoming increasingly hard to establish a distinctive approach within popular music in general, and yet throughout their discography, DIIV’s sound and emotional tenor are unmistakably theirs.
Emerging from the fertile early-2010’s Brooklyn music scene, DIIV quickly proved themselves as one of the city’s most prominent live acts and have since widened their aesthetic with every successive release. Over the course of the initial three albums, they have incorporated the driving gait of British guitar pop, the minimalist structures of German psychedelia, metal’s lush fury, and the sonic immersion of shoegaze into their inviting world of sound.
Possessing a bracing and immersive live presence, DIIV are firmly situated within a deep legacy of boundary-pushing rock bands as they continue charting their own path. Their influence can be felt across a new generation of artists pursuing their own punishing bliss, and has left its mark on shoegaze and guitar-driven music as DIIV themselves continue to cement their legacy as one of North America’s most formidable rock acts.
DIIV are back at Chalk after a Covid filled gap of 30 months and this evening is kicked off by Brighton heroes DITZ who are also supporting DIIV for their forthcoming Nottingham and Bristol dates. It’s fair to say that DIIV have certainly got behind DITZ and can see what a great prospect they are. During this evening’s DIIV performance they informed us that “We get many requests for opening bands and DITZ was an immediate yes!”. Plus at the conclusion of their set, they added “Thanks to DITZ, an incredibly good band!”.
When I first saw DIIV live in Brighton, it was six years ago (23rd September 2016 to be precise) and one of the support acts that night in the Concorde 2 was IDLES, so DIIV are pretty on the ball when discovering new talent.
The punters this evening in Chalk are a mixed bunch of varying ages, which is encouraging for both of tonight’s acts, although scanning around the expansive floor leads me to the conclusion that this evening has not quite sold out.
DITZ grace the stage at 7:32pm, which is 2 minutes later than planned, but thankfully depart 10 minutes later than were indicated on the flyers. This was a result, as it allowed the band to offload an awe inspiring ten track, 38 minute set, comprising of no less than 8 cuts from their new debut album ‘The Great Regression’.
No doubt the growing DITZ faithful in amongst the crowd would have clocked an addition on stage this evening, in the form of a Minimoog synth. This was occasionally utilised by bassist Caleb. Also, the layout of the quintet was perfect! They were all in a line (Kraftwerk style), with even drummer Sam taking centre stage and side on. After their set concluded, one of my friends, who has witnessed live performances from DITZ, owned up to previously not noticing exactly how brilliant a drummer Sam actually is. I, myself, had noticed from the first gig after their reshuffle a while back, which saw the tall slender former drummer Jack, vacate his seat and move onto shared guitar duties with Anton, the two of which were the pillars of the unit. Vocalist Cal was slightly to the right (stage left) and mirroring him on the opposite side was Caleb. I really like this visual layout and would urge the band to continually adopt this, whether they are a support act or the main headliners!
They open (to a room more than half full) with ‘Drone’ which I believe is unreleased and it lives up to its name, before they launch into ‘Clocks’, the first tune this evening from ‘The Great Regression’ album. The Chalk sound system allows the lads to offload their heavy wall of noise, whilst being bathed in different coloured lighting from time to time from above.
As always, Cal conveys the lyrics via his nonchalant deadpan delivery, which explodes into powerful vocals when some least expect it. His chums mirror this, with Sam beating his drums to within an inch of their life, with Caleb concurrently rarely straying from the top bass guitar string, and guitarists Anton and Jack, holding it all together in a really tight delivery. Here is a band that at the moment are very much in harmony musically with each other, and as they work their way through the tracks from the new album, the punters are most certainly on board! In fact, I personally know a few who have come here this evening solely as DITZ are on the bill, thus DIIV are a bonus to them.
Moments of calm within the set are destroyed with explosive periods of energy. You know the ones, where you inadvertently bust the cone and dust caps of your speakers as you had them too loud. Having said that, every DITZ note can be heard perfectly tonight. Their performance was yet again, terrific, and just as good as my previous encounter with them at The Official Jordan Mooney Charity Memorial Concert back at the end of May. Tonight, however, reaffirms my belief that Sam is one of the best drummers in the business and DITZ are destined for greater success. At 8:10pm they were done.
Catch DITZ live in Brighton at Resident music on Saturday 24th September at 6:30pm for their instore performance for the eventual launch of their debut ‘The Great Regression’ album – Information HERE.
DITZ:
Cal – vocals
Anton – guitar
Jack – guitar
Caleb – bass and keys
Sam – drums
DITZ setlist:
‘Drone’ (unreleased)
‘Clocks’ (from 2022 ‘The Great Regression’ album)
‘Gayboy’ (from 2020 ‘5 Songs’ EP)
‘The Warden’ (from 2022 ‘The Great Regression’ album)
‘Three’ (from 2022 ‘The Great Regression’ album)
‘I Am Kate Moss’ (from 2022 ‘The Great Regression’ album)
‘He He’ (from 2022 ‘The Great Regression’ album)
‘Teeth’ (from 2022 ‘The Great Regression’ album)
‘Instinct’ (from 2022 ‘The Great Regression’ album)
‘No Thanks, I’m Full’ (from 2022 ‘The Great Regression’ album)
When I saw DIIV back in 2016, their live lineup consisted of Zachary Cole Smith on vocals and guitar, Devin Ruben Perez (bass), Andrew Bailey (guitar), Colin Caulfield (keyboards, guitar) and Ben Newman (drums). At my last encounter back in 2020 and this evening, Colin Caulfield replaced Devin Ruben Perez on bass and the other trio remained the same. Although it is evident that none of the guys have been anywhere near a barbers since my last encounter, despite an old film clip being projected on the rear of the stage behind them, clearly showing one band member cutting the back of another’s hair. Each tune this evening has an accompanying film to add to the overall enjoyment, but I personally was more absorbed as to what the American quartet were up to.
Their chosen intro tape blasted out of the speakers from 8:32pm. It was an unusual choice in being ‘#2’ from Aphex Twin. After three minutes, the ordinary looking lads arrived and threw their given choice of Fender’s over their shoulders and Ben sat behind the drumrise with laptop entail. As I arrived at the venue, I had spotted the quartet hanging around outside and was wondering to myself, as to how many of the punters attending this evening that were walking by had actually recognised them.
They kicked off just 25 minutes after DITZ had vacated the stage, as it is a 10pm curfew this evening. Their chosen opener being ‘Loose Ends’ from the 2016 ‘Is the Is Are’ album. Immediately I noticed that in comparison to which my ears had enjoyed less than half an hour prior, that DIIV were a rather much more jangly guitar affair. It was American summer beach breezy music akin to a 21st century version of The Byrds ‘Eight Miles High’, especially tune four ‘For The Guilty’ from 2019 ‘Deceiver’ album.
Talking of stage layouts as I was with DITZ, head honcho Zachary Cole Smith was this time positioned stage left (our right) instead of centre stage and thus furthest away from me, as I was stationed front left as you look at the stage. The result was me craning my neck in order to successfully watch him. He looks so different this time around now that his hair has grown back to the circa 2016 look.
As their set went on, the more the unit were heading towards Nirvana territory on the music front, but certainly not on the aggression and vocals. The mid set highlights of ‘Oshin (Subsume)’ and bass ladened ‘Doused’ (both now found on the ‘Oshin – 10th Anniversary Reissue’ album) were corkers, with the former sounding as though it quite possibly had been penned by Robert Smith of The Cure, other than “Uh f*ck the world” lyrics. There’s slight nods to U2’s guitar work in there somewhere as well. I reckon that they should have concluded their set with these two numbers.
DIIV’s material is strong sounding with sweet vocals which are in juxtaposition and it works rather well especially for ‘Like Before You Were Born’, which was one of the last four numbers, all of which were culled from 2019’s ‘Deceiver’ album.
At 9:40pm they were done, having encored with ‘Blankenship’. Cue outro tape of ‘Suicide Is Painless (M.A.S.H Theme)’………………….
DIIV:
Zachary Cole Smith – vocals/guitar
Colin Caulfield – bass
Andrew Bailey – guitar
Ben Newman – drums
DIIV setlist:
‘Loose Ends’ (from 2016 ‘Is the Is Are’ album)
‘Skin Game’ (from 2019 ‘Deceiver’ album)
‘Between Tides’ (from 2019 ‘Deceiver’ album)
‘For The Guilty’ (from 2019 ‘Deceiver’ album)
‘Under The Sun’ (from 2016 ‘Is the Is Are’ album)
‘Air Conditioning’ (from 2022 ‘Oshin – 10th Anniversary Reissue’ album)
‘Oshin (Subsume)’ (from 2022 ‘Oshin – 10th Anniversary Reissue’ album)
‘Doused’ (from 2022 ‘Oshin – 10th Anniversary Reissue’ album)
‘Take Your Time’ (from 2016 ‘Is the Is Are’ album)
‘Taker’ (from 2019 ‘Deceiver’ album)
‘Like Before You Were Born’ (from 2019 ‘Deceiver’ album)
‘Horsehead’ (from 2019 ‘Deceiver’ album)
(encore)
‘Blankenship’ (from 2019 ‘Deceiver’ album)
