[ATTENDED: September 24, 2026] PISS
I wasn’t too impressed when I heard the opening band was called PISS, (some names just rub me wrong), but I listened to their song “blocking a scene you can’t remember” and holy cow it is one of the most intense songs I’ve heard in a long time. The way it is constructed combined with the way the noise builds and builds. Wow. And the lyrics. Jesus.
So who are they? And how are they signed to SUB POP already?
PISS is a noisy, genre-bending four-piece band from Vancouver, B.C. Combining punk, poetry, sound collage, performance art, and visual art, the band creates a multidisciplinary body of work that blurs the line between personal and political.
Powered by thoughtful musicianship, energetic live performances, and a crystal-clear artistic mission, PISS writes punk music that aims to transcend the limitations of a well-established genre. Their work draws inspiration from a range of unexpected influences: literary giants, philosophers, filmmakers, painters, psychoanalysts, activists, children, members of a German anarcho-feminist militant group, and conversations with audience members. These voices represent varying ideological beliefs about gender-based violence and enable PISS to create art that depicts challenging and controversial issues such as sexual violence and enculturated gender norms without reduction, romanticization, polemics, or dogmatism.
This is radical feminism bathed in noise.
The band came out on stage and while the rest of the band was getting their gear ready, lead singer/screamer taylor zantingh stood front and center, stretching. She stretched her arms, her back and some intense leg stretches (with knee pads). I knew this was going to be an intense performance.
The band crashed to life, gavin moya feedbacking the bass, tyler paterson standing in front of the amp generating guitar sounds and garreth roberts smashing the drums. After a 30 second intro of loud noise, taylor said “hi everybody.” She was polite and a bit quiet.
Before the set began, she gave us a trigger warning, that these songs are about sexual assault. And also to let us know that if a mosh pit forms and you don’t want to be in it, to raise your hand and people will make sure you get out of the way safely. She also said it was going to be very loud, so put in earplugs.
taylor played some samples–sometimes harrowing, sometimes empowering. And then the songs started. An erratic but catchy guitar melody followed by 13 crashed of distortion and cymbals. taylor spoke the lyrics of i wanted to be a singer, and as the song took off more and got louder taylor screamed with an unhinged intensity that was amazing.
And if you listened to the words, they hit hard
I wanted to be a singer
I spent my life learning the right way to scream so people would listen
Listen to me please
I learned that some people only believe you when your knees are bleeding
I learned some people only listen when you’re screaming
But i wanted to be a singer
Song two time loop at hot slit, started with some chord and then turned into feedback. And taylor threw herself around the stage, intensely singing about her body, women’s bodies, until the song ended dramatically, abruptly, with taylor oner knees saying
Some words are big, some words are bigger than bodies
I never learned how to get them out of my mouth
a little girl’s horse craze betrays her, was a short blast of intensity with taylor again, on her knees in front of the sampler, panting from the intensity of her exertions. Her braided hair is super long and she whips it around, sometimes wrapping it around her arms along with the microphone cord.
Up next was a how can you act opposite to this emotion, a song that switched between single notes and walls of feedback and noise as taylor switches between spoken word and screamed dialogue.
Then came blocking a scene you can’t remember and it was more intense live than on record. Quiet bass, quiet guitars I genuinely don’t know how taylor can relive (I assume) these moments–the emotional weight is massive. And the way this song is constructed is somehow even more harrowing.
Interior, a girl’s bedroom, nighttime
A girl lies on her back in the dark, staring at the— cut, uh
Sorry, I can do better, again
Interior, a girl’s bedroom, nighttime
A girl lies on her back in the dark, staring at the ceiling
Something has been— cut
Sorry, again
A girl lies on her back in the dark, staring at the ceiling
Something has been weighing on her for a long time
The room is lit by the face of her cellphone, his number is dialed
She’s finally going to— cut, again
This was all spoken for a few minutes until it gets angrier and angrier the intensity of all members getting louder and louder.
Rote Zora. “Resistance is Possible.” Emma, no. 6, June 1984, pp. 39-41. started with just washes of sound but it alternated with a pounding as the song concludes: Resistance is possible,”
The final song, I keep trying to change the ending, was disarmingly quiet–a soft guitar line that ended with what seemed like taylor having an actual breakdown on stage–like she couldn’t go on–but she did, quietly stating the ending lines
I won’t bleed forever
Horses, soft hands, singing, bodies
Wow. What a set. They were incredible.
I spoke to gavin at the merch table and he was super friendly and seemed quite pleased with the reaction that people have been giving them. I really can’t wait to see how they do and I do hope to see them again.
The world needs more aggressively feminist bands.
| 2026 (Underground Arts) | |
| i wanted to be a singer ⊕ | |
| time loop at hot slit ⊕ | |
| a little girl’s horse craze betrays her ⊕ | |
| how can you act opposite to this emotion ⊕ | |
| blocking a scene you can’t remember ⊕ | |
| Rote Zora. “Resistance is Possible.” Emma, no. 6, June 1984, pp. 39-41. ⊕ | |
| i keep trying to change the ending ⊕ |
⊕ you made me / skin on linen (2026)
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