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I couldn’t find any live videos from Dirtnap 2025 of Personality Cult but here’s one from Dirtnap’s 20th at High Noon in Madison, May ’22 (which we also attended):

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YouTube isn’t cooperating to embed this video but it’s early/live(ish) X performing “I Don’t Wanna Go Out.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGc02KW4fFg

Here’s a 2022 video of “Suck Suck” (not sure which band members are original, definitely not all of them: the bassist looks young enough to be the singer’s or guitarist’s son)

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They also played their single “Give My Regards to the Dancing Girls,” the 60’s style garagey “Looking for Porno?” which weirdly is a total ear worm (I woke up with it playing in my head this morning), the anthemic “Dry Cider,” the rager “Full Dollar,” and “Haunted Neighborhood” plus a slew of other hard pub rockers.

Their bio from their Bandcamp: “When Irish-born Count Vaseline/The Mighty Stef songwriter Stef Murphy met Stiff Little Fingers guitar tech Jamie Mechan in Nashville, Tennessee, it began a musical partnership of the highest order. After cranking out a few tunes at Mechan’s fledgling studio, 302 Sound, the duo started recruiting other musicians. The band was rounded out by drummer Ryan Sweeney (Cheap Time) and Eli Steele (Sweet Knives.) Dubbing themselves The Sleeveens, an Irish term for a trixter, the band got to work. After recording and releasing their highly-touted “Give My Regards To The Dancing Girls” 45rpm single on Sweeney’s Sweet Time Records, they finished off their 11 track debut LP. The quartet were soon approached by longrunning punk label Dirtnap Records (Marked Men, Exploding Hearts) for the album’s 2024 release. The resulting LP is an homage to the kind of classic punk Chiswick, New Rose and Stiff Records were releasing 45 years before The Sleeveens existed. With earworm melodies and screaming guitars, the foursome have crafted one of the best albums of the year. Murphy’s penchant for charmingly brilliant, matter-of-fact lyricism has a similar poetic quality as Mark E. Smith or Jonathan Richman. With expert mastering by Jim Diamond (The White Stripes, The Dirtbombs) to put the finishing touches on the sound, The Sleeveens is a record that is simultaneously uncompromisingly raw and thoughtfully crafted.”

I got a chance to chat with Ryan Sweeney and James Mechan before the show – both super-nice guys! – mostly about touring the Midwest in February (them – “Milwaukee is cold!”) and Nashville (me – “there’s a great yoga studio there!”) (all of us – “the gangs of bachelorettes are the worst!”). We nabbed a couple of t-shirts and stuffed some bills in the pitcher passed around by the green mohawked owner(?)/bartender: Last Rites doesn’t sell tickets or collect at the door (at least not for this show). I hope The Sleeveens had a great time in Milwaukee and come back again soon – they totally rock!

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O-D-EX’s Breaker is the debut release from this solo/collaborative project of The Marked Men’s and Mind Spider’s Mark Ryan (we caught him play at 2022’s Dirtnap Fest) and Micah Why (Kitbashes, Mission Giant, Faux Fox). Copy/pasting Ryan’s summary of the project from a piece on Brooklyn Vegan: “Using my old Electribe sampler and weird digital guitar synth pedal, I can usually bash out an idea and almost have it complete as I’m working on it. I don’t have to bring it to the band to flesh it out. I’ve been obsessed by harsh digital noise and letting go of worrying about analog warmth when recording.” And from the Bandcamp page: “Born out of frustration with analog fetishism and too many human band mates, O-D-EX uses the immediacy of digital noise and trashy drum samples to transmit ideas directly into existence. Main influences: Chrome and Mantronix.” It is VERY electric, super-dark, a very underground 80’s club vibe. Besides “Ley Line,” my top tracks are the opener “Spring Break,” “S Drive” and the breakneck “So Nice” which totally reminds me of Industrial Dance night at the Option back in ’88.

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They released the first single from Punch Drunk, “Animal,” last month and my decidedly non-high-brow review of it was “I freaking love it!!!! “Animal” ticks every one of my boxes: punchy power pop/garage, a bit psychedelic and relentlessly catchy and ass-shaking.” That sentiment hasn’t changed at all – I love this song so much and it’s making its way onto a few of my playlists immediately. It’s definitely one of my top tracks on the album. “Terminal Love” is another great one: a bit of a loud-quiet-loud vibe, melodic and danceable. “Seven Ways” is a bit edgier with great driving guitar (James Sullivan) and bass (Paolo Mantovani) riffs, and some serious beats (courtesy of drummer Kris Hood). “Come Home” is upbeat jangly garage pop, “Colour Me Stupefied” has a Byrds meets 60’s Beatles Britpop sound while “Good Enough” is an all-out pop-rocker. “Phoney Middle Aged Art” wins for best song title on the record and “Rest of Our Lives” for best use of killer 60’s style organ.

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More Kicks “Animal” 2022. Dirtnap Records. Limited edition (100) Green Noise/Stardumb Records 7″ green vinyl. “Animal” is the first single from More Kicks’ forthcoming LP Punch Drunk and I freaking love it!!!! “Animal” ticks every one of my boxes: punchy power pop/garage, a bit psychedelic and relentlessly catchy and ass-shaking. I fell in love with these Londoners at Dirtnap Fest this past June; it was the first time we saw them perform (I think it was their first US tour) so getting this new release in the mail yesterday was an excellent treat. Side B has two single-exclusive tracks: “The Wind Up,” a crashingly hard all-out rocker with a twangy psychedelic bridge (it’s awesome), and “Ten Miles High,” a sweetly acoustic 60’s-style Americana-ish folk song that Green Noise’s website describes as “Alex Chilton strolling across Abbey Road.” Stay tuned for more about More Kicks on September 15th, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to write about their upcoming LP release on that date 😉

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Feral Coast is loud, fast and dirty (one might even say…feral). I love the loud-quiet-loud buzzy fury of “New What” and “Absolute Maximum” has head-banging rhythm and a killer hook. Also notable are the ominous opener “The Houseplant” and the screaming then slow burning “Wildlife.”

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While probably a bit biased, the reviewer on the Green Noise Records website totally nails it and is worth quoting here: “…holy fuck, holy fox face, this album rips, ripped out my brain and made my day, scraped my brain from my skull and slapped it on a platter, red and black swirl indeed, stick my head in that batter and call me baked, slap a bow on my ass and call it an early Christmas, these women are obviously not messing around, the goods have been delivered, teeth fang and claw, once bitten twice delighted, welcome to the planet of Fox Face, this is obviously their world, and I’m just happy I get to live on it…As the sleeve art suggests this is a monster from the Rust Belt, impossible to ignore as it thunders into your eardrums, driving riffs into the punk rock, lifting it up on a bottom thick as plate iron and powering forward, shaking like an earthquake.  Take cover, a big one is coming.”

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