Bad Waitress – No Taste

Bad Waitress originally started life as The Nude Dogs back in 2014, swiftly expanding from the original duo they released their debut EP, Party Bangers, in 2018 prior to the current four piece line up of Katelyn Molgard, Nicole Cain, Kali-Ann Butala and Moon clicking into place. Now they are set to release their long awaited debut album, No Taste, via Royal Mountain Records on the 3rd September. The band name and album title might sound like a bad restaurant review on Trip Advisor, but what you get is a jagged art school post punk that deviates far from whatever you were expecting.

The first taste of the album takes you down an unsettling Rabbit Hole, a track that embraces DIY punk and post punk and blends it with jammed riffs and interludes that keep you off balance. From this point you are spiralling down the rabbit hole and like Alice the characters and experiences you encounter are beyond your control. From the claustrophobic Yeah Yeah Yeah to the closing track, Restless Body, you are hit by a disorientating blend of influences, whilst grounded in the art school side of punk, there is so much more on display. The improvised nature of their compositions has an almost jazz like quality, but for those of you who are averse to jazz this is not a bad thing in this case.

There are obvious touchstones in Bad Waitress’s sound, the likes of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, L7, Sonic Youth and Screaming Females are all present in the sound, but Bad Waitress are not stepping into anyone’s shoes. With No Taste they have released an idiosyncratic debut that is equal parts bewildering, and exhilarating, it’s an album where the band sound like they are making exactly the record they want to make with no nods to radio friendliness of commercial appeal. Bad Waitress veer between off kilter and beguiling, stark and savage and at times they sound like they are still stuck in that rabbit hole.

You can pre-order No Taste from the menu here