Hotly-tipped Brighton noise-rock band DITZ which comprises Cal (vocals), Anton (guitar), Caleb (bass), Sam (drums) and Jack (guitar) have today announced that they will be dropping their next album early next year and will support this via a UK tour.
We have been singing the praises of DITZ for a number of years now! They were even selected as one of the select few bands who performed live at punk icon Jordan Mooney’s Charity Memorial Concert back in 2022 (Review HERE). IDLES frontman Joe Talbot on more than one occasion has flagged up DITZ as Brighton’s best band and so it comes as no surprise that DITZ were selected as tour support with IDLES right across Europe.
The forthcoming DITZ album is titled ‘Never Exhale’ and will be released on 24th January 2025. There are two vinyl versions; a pink 180g vinyl and a ‘Dinked’ version in collaboration with a whole group of UK record shops. This version comes on marbled purple 180g vinyl with an exclusive design of DITZ socks and a ‘Never Exhale’ air freshener. There are also CD and Cassette versions too.
‘Never Exhale’ is the sound of a band that hasn’t stopped for a breath. DITZ have toured relentlessly since the release of their first album ‘The Great Regression’. The songs that form their newest offering were written across Europe, often on off days and in borrowed rehearsal rooms. It could be said that the band treat recording and release of music as an afterthought. Often playing songs live years before their release, tweaking them as they go. The songs on the final record may change before they are ever heard as part of the album.
‘Never Exhale’ was largely recorded at Holy Mountain studios in London during a freezing cold January. The process was fraught with obstacles, the original plan, to go and record in Rhode Island, was abandoned when DITZ were offered a support tour with IDLES, although the album was still mixed by the originally intended engineer, Seth Manchester (Model/Actriz, Lingua Ignota, Big Brave). The result is an album hardened by the pressure of its own making. Laboured but not loved.
The tracklisting reads: ‘V70’, ‘Taxi Man’, ‘Space/Smile’, ‘Senor Siniestro’, ‘Four’, ‘God On A Speed Dial’, ‘Smells Like Something Died In Here’, ‘18 Wheeler’, ‘The Body As A Structure’ and ‘Britney’.
Sonically the album, which can be pre-ordered HERE, has its roots in the usual DITZ influences, classic noise rock such as The Jesus Lizard or Shellac, or the obtuse post punk of the Fall, but also brings in fresh influences. The closing track ‘Britney’, could be compared to Radiohead or Mogwai. Overall the album is a clear development from their first effort. A sign of things to come.
And talking of “things to come”….there’s the 9 UK tour dates which kick off in Glasgow on 25th March, and then calling in at Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield, Norwich, Manchester, Birmingham, London and concluding with a homecoming gig at Chalk in Pool Valley on 4th April courtesy of Lout promoters.
Tickets for all DITZ concerts can be purchased HERE and tickets for the Brighton concert go on sale at 10am on 22nd October and can be located via Lout HERE and from Dice HERE.
In order to keep you going until the album drops, DITZ have dropped their new single ‘Space/Smile’ which is out now. Check it out HERE.
