DITZ – RESIDENT, BRIGHTON 24.1.25
Brighton five-piece DITZ are back in action at Resident in Brighton for the launch of their brand new ‘Never Exhale’ album, which dropped today. DITZ are a band who are very much on the rise and their solid lineup features Cal Francis (vocals), Caleb Remnant (bass guitar, keys), Anton Mocock (guitar), Jack Looker (guitar, keys) and Sam Evans (drums, Roland presets).
The brooding power of their dark post-punk soundscapes, coupled with ferociously energetic performances, has won them a growing army of followers since their first EP in 2016. Their debut album ‘The Great Regression’ was finally released through Alcopop Records on 4th March 2022, to great acclaim and they back then celebrated with a performance here at Resident.
This evening they are playing their new platter in its entirety in running order and it’s many of our first hearing of several of the new tunes. The shop is full of eager fans who collect their ‘Never Exhale’ albums on entry to the store and get them signed by the band afterwards.
Proceedings are running a tad late and the quintet finally grace us with their presence at 7:07pm. Cal informs us that the album was recorded a year ago and that it’s good that it’s finally out. Thankfully I’m one of the lucky souls who are at the very front and I’m inches away from bassist Caleb and his Moog Sub Phatty Analog Synthesizer. Behind him is Sam on the drumkit, we are located on aisle one and aisle two is for the other trio. The store is packed and our photographer Cris Watkins is doing his best to try and grab a few shots as the store lights are extinguished and the band simply reply on a trio of circular seven bulb floor lights, which are initially set to white, but after a while there is a colour variation. The atmosphere is set….
Cal says that they have to tune up first and this is actually ‘V70’ which is the first song on the album and before we know it, the quintet have slipped into tune two which is ‘Taxi Man’. As I was at the very front, the speakers were very powerful and the one closest to me made my chest reverberate! Their sound is so powerful! Fabulous stuff! Drummer Sam is attacking his kit with vigour and Caleb’s rumbly bass is sounding as good as IDLES, who incidentally seriously rate DITZ themselves!
There is more of the same power with the arrival of track three ‘Space/Smile’ which benefits from a faster beat and a truly sharp ending that caught everyone out. There’s some decent twangy guitar work on ‘Senor Siniestro’ and during this number Cal went for a wander into the packed crowd. Tune five is actually called ‘Four’ (missed tracklisting opportunity here methinks) and the beat on this builds and then gives way for a brief vocal interlude before blasting our ear holes again and then they segue straight into the next track, this being ‘God On A Speed Dial’. This witnesses Cal playing with the light and holding it up to his face. This song truly does have an IDLES vibe going on. On conclusion Cal informs us “Well we’ve made it to the end of side one”.
Side two arrives with track 7, ‘Smells Like Something Died In Here’, which sees the Korg keys getting an outing. Caleb’s top bass guitar note goes into overload whilst Sam concentrates on the cymbals which are used as a speedy backing whilst Cal delivers the characteristic drool style vocals that float over the top and crouches down in order to scream out the repeated “Smells Like Something Died In Here” lyrics.
After this, I thought that Cal introduced the next number as “Bordeaux”, but on the album it’s titled ’18 Wheeler’ and was the first tune they had written for the album and the first they had previously played live from it. There’s a slow chugging bass and plinky guitar action going on here and then these explode into action. The track has false endings which keeps us on our feet. The penultimate number from the LP is ‘The Body As A Structure’ and this has a slower booming bass and drums beat which is then joined by linking guitar work. The beat of this number builds nicely and again this tune has a sharp ending. After this Cal finally says the trademark “We’re DITZ from Brighton” which is an often repeated quote from past gigs, and they launch into ‘Britney’ which starts quietly and then characteristically gets loud, but then goes quiet again, until they offer a heavy rocked psyched out beat which includes the use of the Moog keys. That’s the album done!
However, Cal then informs us that this very day, their ‘Seeking Arrangement’ single from 2018 has hit one million plays on Spotify, cue hearty applause from the crowd. After a brief conflab, it’s felt only proper that DITZ played the tune and so we were rewarded with an unexpected encore tune. This is relatively shorter in length than many of their newer material, but it’s still a heavy number! It’s now 7:55pm and that’s our lot. It’s been, yet again, a rather enjoyable experience!
You can next see DITZ live in Brighton on Friday 4th April when they will be headlining Chalk courtesy of Lout promoters. Grab your tickets HERE.
DITZ:
Cal Francis – vocals
Caleb Remnant – bass guitar, keys
Anton Mocock – guitars
Jack Looker – guitar, keys
Sam Evans – drums, Roland presets
DITZ setlist:
‘V70’ (from 2025 ‘Never Exhale’ album)
‘Taxi Man’ (from 2025 ‘Never Exhale’ album)
‘Space/Smile’ (from 2025 ‘Never Exhale’ album)
‘Senor Siniestro’ (from 2025 ‘Never Exhale’ album)
‘Four’ (from 2025 ‘Never Exhale’ album)
‘God On A Speed Dial’ (from 2025 ‘Never Exhale’ album)
‘Smells Like Something Died In Here’ (from 2025 ‘Never Exhale’ album)
‘18 Wheeler’ (from 2025 ‘Never Exhale’ album)
‘The Body As A Structure’ (from 2025 ‘Never Exhale’ album)
‘Britney’ (from 2025 ‘Never Exhale’ album)
(encore)
‘Seeking Arrangement’ (a 2018 single)
You can catch DITZ performing live at the following dates:
Headline tour:
5th Feb 25 – Music Box – Lisbon, Portugal
6th Feb 25 – Sala El Sol – Madrid, Spain
7th Feb 25 – Sala Upload – Barcelona, Spain
10th Feb 25 – Lido – Berlin, Germany
12th Feb – Hus – Stockholm, Sweden
13th Feb 25 – Huset-KBH – Copenhagen, Denmark
14th Feb 25 – Kent Club – Hamburg, Germany
15th Feb 25 – UT Connewitz – Leipzig, Germany
17th Feb 25 – Chumury – Warsaw, Poland
18th Feb 25 – Cafe V Lese – Prague, Czech
19th Feb 25 – Rhiz – Vienna, Austria
20th Feb 25 – Kranhalle – Munich, Germany
22nd Feb 25 – Bogen F – Zurich, Switzerland
23rd Feb 25 – Arci Belleza – Milan, Italy
25th Feb 25 – Club Transbo – Lyon, France
26th Feb 25 – Astrolabe – Orleans, France
27th Feb 25 – Antipode – Rennes, France
1st Mar 25 – La Maroquinerie – Paris, France
2nd Mar 25 – Witloof – Brussels, Belgium
3rd Mar 25 – Rowtown – Rotterdam, Netherlands
4th Mar 25 – Gebaude 9 – Cologne, Germany
5th Mar 25 – Rockhal – Esch-zur-Alzette, Luxembourg
6th Mar 25 – Paradiso THT – Amsterdam, Netherlands
7th Mar 25 – Vera – Gronigen, Netherlands
8th Mar 25 – L’Aeronef – Lille, France
25th Mar 25 – Hug & Pint – Glasgow
26th Mar 25 – Brudenell Social Club – Leeds
27th Mar 25 – Bodega – Nottingham
28th Mar 25 – Yellow Arch – Sheffield
29th Mar 25 – Voodoo Daddy’s, Norwich
1st Apr 25 – YES Pink Room – Manchester
2nd Apr 25 – Hare & Hounds – Birmingham
3rd Apr 25 – The Garage – London
4th Apr 25 – Chalk – Brighton
7th Apr 25 – Control Club – Bucharest, Romania
8th Apr 25 – Pave Club – Sofia, Bulgaria
9th Apr 25 – Rover Bar – Thessaloniki, Greece
10th Apr 25 – Arch Club – Athens, Greece
11th Apr 25 – Zō Centro Culture Contemporanee – Catania, Italy
12th Apr 25 – Wishlist, Roma, Italy
