New album ‘Dial M For Meds’ due out 09/01 via Smartpunk Records. Upcoming tour dates w/ Smoking Popes, Born Without Bones.

Taking Meds are gearing up for the release of their new full-length, ‘Dial M For Meds’, due out this Friday, September 1st via Smartpunk Records, and they’re back with one more early single, ‘The Other End’. Produced/recorded by Kurt Ballou at God City Studios (The Armed, Joyce Manor, NAILS) the album finds Taking Meds at their very best, leaning into college rock hooks while maintaining the energy and bite of their post-hardcore roots. Sarkis discussed the new track, saying:

“‘The Other End’ was one of the first songs we wrote for this record. I’ve had the chorus melody in my head for a couple years. I’m really glad it came together the way it did. One of the main themes in this song is mundanity. When you have a vision for how something should go, or even how your entire life should go, it’s always going to get filtered through reality and come out looking pretty different. There is, of course, something wonderful about that, but this song talks about about how disappointing and empty that can feel.”

Punk’s most stubborn band is finally ready to play nice. Well, not quite. But Taking Meds have written one of the best and most welcoming guitar albums of the year, without sanding off all of the edges that makes this obstinately singular band so compelling in the first place. If you’ve ever felt like a total outsider in a room of people who share your interests, a weirdo in a subculture that’s supposed to harbor the weirdos, or maybe you just really love loud guitars and big choruses–you need to hear ‘Dial M For Meds’. Since forming in 2013, Taking Meds have often been a band that doesn’t neatly fit into any one category. Now on ‘Dial M For Meds’, the group have channeled all the inventiveness of their past work into the most direct and hook-driven songs they’ve ever written. The album manages to be instantly memorable and accessible while still having the teeth and eccentricity that longtime fans have come to expect from them. Its ’90s-influenced sound makes for the perfect delivery system for Sarkis‘ lyrics which provide cynical, hilarious, and deeply human commentary on spending your adulthood chasing the often intangible high of creative pursuits. The result is one of the most incisive and satisfying rock albums of 2023.

‘Dial M For Meds’ tracklist:
1. Memory Lane
2. Outside
3. Aftertaste
4. Life Support
5. Long Tooth
6. Something Higher
7. Wading Out
8. The Other End
9. Kindness
10. See The Clowns

Upcoming Shows:
08/30 Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom *
09/02 Brooklyn, NY @ Meadows *
09/03 Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall *
09/05 Ottawa, ON @ New Sodom +
09/06 Montreal, QC @ Casa del Popolo
09/07 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar ^
09/08 Cleveland, OH @ Mahall’s ^
09/09 Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen ^
09/10 Detroit, MI @ Lager House ^
09/24 Birmingham, AL @ Furnace Fest
10/27 Gainesville, FL @ The Fest

* w/ Smoking Popes
^ w/ Born Without Bones
+ w/ Spite House

photo credit: Samuel David Katz