Critically positive punk

With everything happening in the world it’s easy to forget that terrible things can also lead to something beautiful. Like a flower that manages to bloom amidst the rubble of a collapsed building. As Daniel Johnston so often and beautifully wrote in his drawings: “where there is life, there is hope.” If there’s one band that embodies that credo, it’s DISHES.

Activist punk as we know it well from the Dutch scene, with razor-sharp, straight-to-the-point lyrics and a healthy dose of power-pop. What makes DISHES truly special is their exquisite sense of melody and their ability to simply write great songs. For regular Downstage-goers, musically they’ll fit right in alongside The Prize; for true Groningen fans, they wouldn’t look out of place on a double bill with CAW CAW; and for old-school listeners, you might even hear shades of Shop Assistants.

Their debut album DRAMA drops on March 20 via Subroutine Records and is packed with hits, with “Machine Learning” in particular having been stuck in my head since The Sound of Young Holland. Mosh against the patriarchy, the war machine, xenophobia, and everything else that could use a good elbow to the ribs. April 11, basement!

DISHES | Bandcamp