After a pulsating Saturday slot at this year’s Download Festival, Die Spitz travelled south to blast their genre-blending, high-octave chaos into the hungry faces of an animated and feral Bristol crowd this evening. What unfolded was a ferocious testament to not only the band’s prestige as one of the best new bands around, but also to Bristol’s well-earned status as, arguably, the best city for live rock music in the UK.
Since releasing their riotous debut EP, Teeth, in 2023, the superlatives for both their songwriting and live performance chops have been unceasing. The four-piece have successfully navigated the stratospheric hype and eclipsed expectations throughout a relentless tour schedule and the release of their blistering debut LP, Something to Consume in late 2025.
Hailing from Austin – a vibrant college town in the US state of Texas – friends Ava Schrobilgen, Eleanor Livingston, Kate Halter, Chloe de St. Aubin summoned up the band as an effective way to spend more time together. Since those humble beginnings, the band that became Die Spitz – a slightly misspelled German word translated as “the spike” or “the sharp” – have quickly established a reputation with their tear-it-up punk energy during live shows playing songs which deftly blend elements of grunge, metal, alternative rock, and more.
As we approach start time, suddenly the lights darken and upbeat dance music explodes from the sound system (was that ABBA, I heard?) then bassist, Kate Halter, saunters onto the stage with her bandmates. But unlike the other three, she does so while walking on her hands. It’s an impressive feat and offers an honest window into the confident swagger of a group of friends creating some of the most scathing, rebellious and exciting rock music today.
No sooner have the guitars groaned their first notes into the ether, than a deluge of beer is tossed in the air from plastic cups drenching the febrile bodies of a developing mosh pit building into a fierce whirlwind. ‘Gripe’ follows with its short, slow build-up until the guitars and percussion deliver a thundering smack in the mouth, with Livingston’s searing acid bath vocals acting as the lightning in the storm.
As the band rattle through their set, keeping pulses races and sweaty bodies crashing into one another, the eclectic mix of influences become discernible. From the dense, rumbling grunge guitars of ‘Monkey Life’ to the thrash metal style of crowd favourite, ‘Riding with My Girls’ which throws you inside a blender with metal trash cans and James Hetfield.
The girls also tap into their inner Sabbath with ‘I hate when GIRLS die’, a song that conjures up an army of Tolkien’s Orcs trudging, unrelentingly, through thick mud on their way to battle. Incidentally, this is the moment I took my own unrelenting journey above a sea of spectators’ heads (my first crowd surf in 18 years).
What can sometimes be missed is the remarkable sophistication in the girls’ songwriting at such an early career juncture. They are adept at crafting melodies as well as stunningly hooky riffs. This former is no more evident than in the mid-show delivery of the layered, and hauntingly melancholic ‘Go Get Dressed’. It’s a song with dark shades of Deftones at their most introspective, but much less expansive in instrumentation. The audience dutifully respects the dramatic tonal shift as things settle down and we are all enraptured into a gentle ritualistic sway.
Everyone played their part in a superb night of rock euphoria. The band withheld none of their elation on stage, sharing every second of hot and sticky breathlessness with the crowd. Halter even balancing her bass upright on her chin, following up on her earlier hand-walking entrance, in her assumed role as the band’s cheery clown.
By the time the group return to the stage for their two-song encore, under a volley of “ten more songs” chants, the walls of Electric are figuratively bulging under the strain of containing the euphoria.
As the band near the end of the caustic ‘Throw Yourself to the Sword’ with Livingston’s growling vocals still at full steam, I show my appreciation for the night’s carnage in the only way that seems appropriate: once more over the top for another crowd ride!
Dan Adshead
