[staff spinz] Northampton's Potty Mouth deliver a belated Christmas gift in "Damage"

Northampton’s POTTY MOUTH bestowed a belated Christmas gift on listeners late last week, previewing a track off their upcoming LP. “Damage” (not to be confused with their summer EP, Sun Damage) is a slow-burning bundle of shaky nerves; reverb-laden guitar leads riding shotgun with antsy overdriven guitar and bass, all pushed along by tom-heavy drums. Busy high-hats and cymbal crashes open up each verse and punctuate subsequent choruses, throughout which vocalist Abby Weems questions the subject of the song on the choice to obscure their personal struggle from the song’s speaker. The lyrics are plaintive, but the tone of the track is decidedly reactive, with Potty Mouth’s by-now-signature punkitude pulling any melancholic overtones away from trad-emocore’s lamentations and more toward an early-'90s reflective-if-aggressive Sonic Youth approach.

RELATED READ: Potty Mouth spring out of Northampton, August 22, 2012

It’s always refreshing to watch a band that manages to push themselves a bit between releases without losing what drew an audience to their sound in the first place. If “Damage” is any indication, Potty Mouth are doing just that, lining up a worthy crowd-pleaser for 2013 on the heels of one of 2012’s most highly-regarded Massachusetts records.

Tell any friends you might have in the cities below to catch them as they work their way through a mostly-East-Coast tour with like-minded South Carolina garage punx Chemical Peel that’ll be wrapping up next month. Full tour dates after the track.

Potty Mouth/Chemical Peel Tour

Dec. 29 - WASHINGTON D.C. @ CASA FIESTA
Dec. 30 - RALEIGH, NC @ SLIM’S DOWNTOWN
Dec. 31 - CHARLESTON, SC - NEW YEAR’S EVE SHOW @ Tivoli
Jan. 1 - JACKSONVILLE, FL - NEW YEAR’S DAY SHOW @ SHANTYTOWN PUB
Jan. 2 - TALLAHASSEE, FL @ THE HIDDEN HAND
Jan. 3 - NEW ORLEANS, LA @ THE STRIPPED MALL
Jan. 4 - TUSCALOOSA, AL @ THE GREEN BAR
Jan. 5 - NASHVILLE, TN @ TBA
Jan. 6 - CHATTANOOGA, TN @ SLUGGO’S
Jan. 7 - ATHENS, GA @ THE GLOBE
Jan. 8 - ASHEVILLE, NC @ MURDER BASEMENT
Jan. 9 - BOONE, NC @ ESPRESSO NEWS
Jan. 10 - HARRISONBURG, VA @ CRAYOLA HOUSE