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| Third image, first best. |
Where’d I hear about On Drugs? No goddam idea, which is exactly the problem with moving fast. Then again, they committed to treading lightly onto the internet - and by choice - and it hardly helps their name gets buried under a bigger act like War on Drugs. On the plus side, I might finally know how Kurt Vile had that huge head start I missed…
As hinted at above, finding much of anything beyond bare-bones promotion is damn near impossible with On Drugs. You have to double-check every headline just to find the band members - Elias Avila, Derek Housh, Cameron Gates, and Steve Gartman, which I found on something like the third link I found (a San Diego Reader plug), and without any mention of who does what - so they really do live the brand. On the other hand, a whiff of novelty isn’t the worst selling point:
“From their experimental punk drone to their intentional lack of an internet presence, they're the band you may not have known existed until you saw them…”
Because they titled an album titled Uckhole Futah, I assumed On Drugs came out of Utah, but, nope, they started in Portland, Oregon. I have a loose sense they relocated to San Diego, California upon signing with Postmark Records - none of the entries on that site last real long - but, based on the venues they played on a 2019 tour, where they come from matters less than where they can play. (Something I mean in the best possible way, because that’s where I’ve found most of the bands - i.e., people who play off the beaten path, but not too far.)
For what it’s worth, I don’t think the “experimental punk drone” holds up because they have a decent range - included in the sampler - between something that fits that bill to circle-into-a-circle perfection like “Squish,” to a pure old-school punk number like “Tony Hawk,” to the dreamy lo-fi number “Scaredy Cat” (which gave me Modest Mouse with less distortion and gave my wife, “I don’t know, something 80s, but also boring”), to garage-rock tear/cover like “Tequila.” Even if those aren't the hardest genres, there’s some decent musicianship going on, basically, a band with the chops to build a live-set around a couple spins around the genre-wheel, only without using the internet for promotion.
As hinted at above, finding much of anything beyond bare-bones promotion is damn near impossible with On Drugs. You have to double-check every headline just to find the band members - Elias Avila, Derek Housh, Cameron Gates, and Steve Gartman, which I found on something like the third link I found (a San Diego Reader plug), and without any mention of who does what - so they really do live the brand. On the other hand, a whiff of novelty isn’t the worst selling point:
“From their experimental punk drone to their intentional lack of an internet presence, they're the band you may not have known existed until you saw them…”
Because they titled an album titled Uckhole Futah, I assumed On Drugs came out of Utah, but, nope, they started in Portland, Oregon. I have a loose sense they relocated to San Diego, California upon signing with Postmark Records - none of the entries on that site last real long - but, based on the venues they played on a 2019 tour, where they come from matters less than where they can play. (Something I mean in the best possible way, because that’s where I’ve found most of the bands - i.e., people who play off the beaten path, but not too far.)
For what it’s worth, I don’t think the “experimental punk drone” holds up because they have a decent range - included in the sampler - between something that fits that bill to circle-into-a-circle perfection like “Squish,” to a pure old-school punk number like “Tony Hawk,” to the dreamy lo-fi number “Scaredy Cat” (which gave me Modest Mouse with less distortion and gave my wife, “I don’t know, something 80s, but also boring”), to garage-rock tear/cover like “Tequila.” Even if those aren't the hardest genres, there’s some decent musicianship going on, basically, a band with the chops to build a live-set around a couple spins around the genre-wheel, only without using the internet for promotion.
I can’t say whether or not On Drugs survived COVID-19. What I do know is that would love to see them live, because they sound super-goddamn fun. I’ll leave it to the Postmark Records plug to tell you why:
“Making songs straight out the loony bin about self-deprecation, getting high with your pets, breaking bones, IVs filled with tequila, and more. Designed to get teenagers grounded, making grandma cry, and leaves dad sweaty like a hooker in church.”
As much as it’s literally impossible to find much more to say about On Drugs, the one thing I know for sure is that I’ve got four of their songs saved to my “liked songs” and I’m having one hell of a time figuring out how I cut even one of them out of the 2020 Top 100. For the record, I already named two of them abov -“Tony Hawk” and “Tequila” - but there’s also “Like Everything” (which recalls…some form of art punk that I just can’t place…dammit), and “Chain Smoke”…of which, same vibe, but these lyrics get at something about them I’ve always connected to:
"I'm gonna chain smoke cigarettes/
I'm gonna binge drink my 40/
I'm gonna get high with all your pets/
They don't ask me questions"
Whatever it is, it’s related to exhaustion.
The Sampler (or the Rest of It):
On Drugs has only the two albums - Stay Yuck, their earlier album (2017), is the other one - so there isn’t a wealth of input. Outside the songs already noted above, here’s the rest of the sampler (with notes): “Smush” (like “Squish,” a mix of new wave and something sharper), the 70s punk, “Feels Like Trash,” the monster, multi-faceted long-jam of “Grim Reefer,” and the subtle “Space Cadet Reject,” that feels like the same thing in less time.
On Drugs isn’t a band for everyone, but they also push enough indie-rock buttons to make it possible for a larger group of people to find something to love in their catalog. A strong tolerance for low-fi sounds and sharp edges is required, but they’ve done some fun stuff with the traditional rock set of instruments.
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