PISS played their first show at Red Gate in April 2024. Their debut, you made me / skin on linen, now brings songs, spoken passages and archival material together in an account of violence and its aftermath. The Vancouver quartet have carried the project from a local DIY venue to an international label without dropping that difficult subject.
Taylor Zantingh sings, with Tyler Paterson on guitar, Gavin Moya on bass and Garreth Roberts on drums. They recorded with Colin Stewart at Hive Creative Labs in January 2025. The album arrived on October 30 through Paper Bag in Canada and Sub Pop elsewhere, roughly two and a half years after that first Red Gate show.
The record sets a 1984 interview with the German feminist militant group Rote Zora to music. The band describe another track, blocking a scene you can’t remember, as a rehearsal for a confrontation interrupted by trauma. Those sources place public resistance beside an account of somebody struggling to speak. The distinction gives the speeches a purpose beyond adding atmosphere between songs.
Katie Kurtz’s Bandcamp Daily review connects PISS to Miranda July’s early spoken-word recordings for Kill Rock Stars. The band describe carrying the album’s narrative through their live sets, including the passages between songs. That matters for a record about childhood violence and its effects on adult life: the interrupted confrontation is part of the story, not dead time before the next song. Keeping it in asks the audience to stay with what cannot be easily said.