A man calls his mom and pretends to be held hostage so he can get money to spend on drugs. A man is haunted by a bulletin board of missing kids in a Walmart. A man watches videos of dogs working and feels envious of their sense of purpose. A man gets shot trying to rob a liquor store. A man scoffs at the freaks surrounding him at a bus station, telling himself he’s nothing like them. Welcome to the world of Drug Church’s new album Prude.
In 2018, I was looking for anti-establishment punk and post-hardcore without the gimmicks or corniness that typically accompany it. Drug Church’s breakthrough third album Cheer arrived as an obvious answer. As I cycled through shitty jobs in retail and food service with a vague sense of resentment toward everyone and everything, I shouted along to Patrick Kindlon’s proclamations in “Weed Pin”: “Fuck you at $12.50 an hour/ I should’ve started a chemical fire/ I should’ve burned this fucking place to the ground.”
The band — made up of Kindlon on vocals, Nick Cogan and Cory Galusha on guitars, Pat Wynne on bass, and Chris Villeneuve on drums — maintained the hype with 2022’s explosive Hygiene. Prude takes them even higher.
When I listen to Prude, I wonder if anything’s stopping them from reaching Tunstile-level fame. It’s loud, it’s catchy, it’s smart. Opener “Mad Care” encapsulates the vigor of the start of a show: The wave of adrenaline running through the crowd, the push that sends people stumbling, the euphoric madness beginning, heightened by Kindlon’s infectious refrains: “This is your situation/ This is your circumstance/ This is your fork in the road/ This is where pathways branch.”
The best song on Prude, and maybe one of the best songs of the year, is the brilliant “Business Ethics.” It starts with Kindlon recounting his cousin faking his own kidnapping to get money for drugs from his mother; then Kindlon borrows the idea when his boss doesn’t permit him time off from work. “Kidnap yourself/ You’re the hostage here,” he sings cheekily. Kindlon told Rolling Stone that it’s based on his friend, and he explained why he found inspiration in it: “For a guy that never messes with drugs, I’m very sympathetic to people who find themselves deeper in on a thing than they anticipated.” He makes light of the situation, especially by ending the anthem on a hilarious kicker: “My cousin is full of ideas/ He needs money for drugs/ He found a scheme to rely on/ Now he works in finance.”
Prude overflows with the combination of energy and intelligence that makes Drug Church so addictive. The latter especially shines on the finale “Peer Review,” a portrait of a man who can’t get off his moral high horse: “Shoulder to shoulder with total scum/ Can’t they see I’m nothing like them?” Drug Church have never been here to preach, only to communicate universal frustrations. “You can’t feel superior to people you’re in it with/ These are your peers and you just gotta deal with it,” Kindlon concludes, a refreshing position from a musician. Like the way concertgoers will jump onto and off of the stage at their shows, Drug Church do not stand on a pedestal above their fans, everyone is on the same level.
“The Bitters” is a call for a circle pit with rapid-fire riffs and Kindlon’s sardonic shouts. “Slide 2 Me” ricochets with crashing guitars as Kindlon narrates a liquor store robbery in rasping yells. Above all else, Prude is loud, which is all you can ask for from Drug Church. But Kindlon also said sadness is a big part of the record. On the turbulent “Chow,” Kindlon expresses disillusionment with interpersonal relationships, declaring in a defeated intonation, “Don’t break your neck/ Jumping into people’s lives/ There’s rocks below the surface but not much else/ Keeping your circle small is how you rescue yourself.” Like Drug Church proclaimed on their 2015 tune “But Does It Work?,” Kindlon maintains, “Nothing ever works.” It’s true that people are disappointing, but Kindlon still ultimately wants the best for them, yearning to understand them and offering them volcanic pieces of music to possibly provide relief. That does work, thank god.
Prude is out 10/4 on Pure Noise.
Other albums of note out this week:
• The Smile’s Cutouts
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD”
• Coldplay’s Moon Music
• The Hard Quartet’s The Hard Quartet
• Blood Incantation’s Absolute Nowhere
• Wild Pink’s Dulling The Horns
• Tucker Zimmerman & Big Thief’s Dance Of Love
• Caribou’s Honey
• Balance And Composure’s with you in spirit
• Pharmakon’s Maggot Mass
• Chubby And The Gang’s And Then There Was…
• Fred Thomas’ Window In The Rhythm
• Desire’s Games People Play
• A Place To Bury Strangers’ Synthesizer
• Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn’s Quiet In A World Full Of Noise
• Half Waif’s See You At The Maypole
• Undeath’s More Insane
• Verböten’s Verböten
• Sugar Horse’s The Grand Scheme Of Things
• Carbon Leaf’s Time Is The Playground
• Casiokids’ Tid for hjem
• OneDa’s Formula OneDa
• Abstract Crimewave’s The Longest Night
• The Wild Feathers’ Sirens
• Torena’s No Control
• David Shaw’s Take A Look Inside
• Mariam The Believer’s Breathing Techniques
• Alison Moyet’s Key
• Thee Sacred Souls’ Got A Story To Tell
• Balancing Act’s Tightropes And Limericks EP
• Devarrow’s Heart Shaped Rock
• Human Impact’s Gone Dark
• Memorials’ Memorial Waterslides
• Public Service Broadcasting’s The Last Flight
• Sex Swing’s Golden Triangle
• fastmusic’s I want to love, and I love
• Casual Male’s Casual Male
• Chris Berardo’s Wilder All The Time
• Nick Ward’s House With The Blue Door
• Presence’s TEARS IN THE MOSHPIT
• RAT BOY’s SUBURBIA CALLING
• The Clearwater Swimmers’ The Clearwater Swimmers
• Vitesse X’s This Infinite
• Robert Glasper’s Keys To The City Live Album
• Yasmin Williams’ Acadia
• cumgirl8’s the 8th cumming
• Matt Karmil’s No Going Back
• Orla Gartland’s Everybody Needs A Hero
• Bicurious’ Your Life Is Over Now…
• Jonah Yano’s Jonah Yano & The Heavy Loop
• Allt’s From The New World
• SIRA*’s Songs For The End Of The World
• Michael Love Michael’s Bruiser
• Leonardo Genovese’s Forward
• Bronze’s Bronze
• Spirit Night’s Time Won’t Tell
• Alessandro Cortini’s NATI INFINITI
• Naked Giants’ Shine Away
• Joy Clark’s TELL IT TO THE WIND
• The Barbarians Of California’s And Now I’m Just Gnashing My Teeth
• Finneas’ For Cryin’ Out Loud!
• Cosmic Putrefaction’s Emerald Fires Atop The Farewell Mountains
• Brooke Alexx’s BIG MOUTH
• Anna Butterss’ Mighty Vertebrate
• Palomino Blond’s You Feel It Too
• Fever 333’s Darker White
• Justin Webb & The Noise’s Stupid Young
• Andy Grammer’s Monster
• Katastro’s Until The End Of Time
• Greenwitch’s Forced Out of Existence
• Sink To The Sea’s A Gift Carried By The Left Hand
• Geordie Greep’s The New Sound
• All Feels’ This Place Is A Message
• LVNDR.SOUND’s In The Dark
• The Bug’s Machine
• George Steel’s Desire On The Range
• Justin Webb & The Noise’s Stupid Young
• Tony Vaz’s Pretty Side Of The Ugly Life
• IVY 2’s Less Precious
• God Bullies’ As Above, So Below
• Medicine’s Medicine
• Felix Henkelhausen’s Deranged Particles
• OP-ART’s The Final Act
• Telescreens’ 7
• Lisa Schonberg’s Old Growth Playback
• Kylie Spencer’s Everything And Nothing
• Sonsombre’s Eulogy
• Disintegration’s Shiver In A Weak Light
• KillerStar’s KillerStar Reimagined
• Kit Orion’s Bottle Grin
• 310babii’s 310degrees
• Why The Eye’s Inspirex
• Christopher Ardra’s Sometimes Other Times
• Paul Spring’s Kind Of Heaven
• The Smashing Times’ Mrs. Ladyships And The Cleanerhouse Boys
• John Roseboro’ Fools
• Gaudi Kosmisches Trio’s Torpedo Forward
• Midland’s Fragments Of Us
• Little Big Town’s The Christmas Record
• The Better Than Jail compilation
• The Jazz Is Dead 021 compilation
• The Bad Monkey soundtrack
• Animal Collective’s Sung Tongs Live At The Theatre At Ace Hotel live album
• Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit’s Live From The Ryman Vol. 2
• The White Buffalo’s A Freight Train Through The Night live album
• Joni Mitchell’s Archives, Vol. 4: The Asylum Years (1976-1980) Box Set
• Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works II (Expanded Edition)
• Suede’s Dog Man Star 30th Anniversary Deluxe
• Mastodon’s Crack The Skye (15th Anniversary Edition)
• Victoria Monét’s JAGUAR II (Deluxe)
• Sleater-Kinney’s Little Rope Deluxe
• Cadence Weapon’s ROLLERCOASTER (Deluxe)
• Hanson’s Underneath: Complete
• Sixpence None The Richer’s Rosemary Hill EP
• Joan Shelley’s Mood Ring EP
• Frost Children & Haru Nemuri’s Soul Kiss EP
• yunè pinku’s Scarlet Lamb EP
• Noeline Hofmann’s Purple Gas EP
• Temples’ Other Structures EP
• Lynda Dawn’s Lynda Dawn EP
• Ada Lea’s Notes EP
• Chrissy Costanza’s VII EP
• Cindy’s Swan Lake EP
• 34 Trolley’s Relaxation EP
• Tucker Wetmore’s Waves On A Sunset EP
• Bike Routes’ Rush Of Energy EP
• Jett Holden’s The Phoenix EP
• Amnesia Scanner & Freeka Tet’s HOAX
• The Smashing Times’ Mrs. Ladyships And The Cleanerhouse Boys
• Joyer’s See Forward And Back EP
• Ovrkast’s KASTGOTWINGS EP
• Maya Hawke’s Clipped Wings EP
• Mötley Crüe’s Cancelled EP
