Poetry, Cinema, PISS: Getting To Know Hardcore's Most Exciting New Band
Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Written by James Palaczky
Photo: Megan Magdalena
Around the corner from Womanby Street, long the heartbeat of Cardiff’s live music scene, you’ll find the City Arms. Downstairs, punters sink pre-gig pints. Upstairs, in a quiet corner, Canadian hardcore experimentalists PISS are in quietly good spirits, munching on Haribos and enjoying a cup of tea before their set at Sŵn festival.
But it’s a brief moment of respite. Speaking openly and passionately about their music, drummer Garreth Roberts stumbles upon a stark realisation. When he joined the band, no one told him the subject matter of the project. “When we started playing, I was like…“What did you say?” he recalls.
Well, Garreth, imagine how the rest of us feel. Later on at Clwb Ifor Bach, the crowd is left disoriented and rattled as the band rip through the most polarising, blistering and downright soul-shattering set of the weekend.
Merciless drums rattle skulls. Screeching guitar riffs stab and bite. At other times, agonising tension builds as patient chords pull you into the narrative and spit you back out again. All the while, Taylor Zantingh’s gut-wrenching vocals conjure feelings of fury and sadness. You will struggle to find a more intense band anywhere.
Before their sets, which recall UK noise-rock acts University and The None along with the raw intensity of ‘Bleach’-era Nirvana, they offer a disclaimer, and it’s not a gimmick. Every song wrestles with complex themes of sexual violence as Taylor channels her own experiences into a mesmerising, harrowing performance. “Something that I really love and I’m very proud of about the project is that people who don’t normally listen to hardcore will still come up and say they can take something from it,” Taylor says.
And what you take from it is completely up to you. Taylor hasn’t pulled these themes out of a hat. Every lyric, narrative and sample has been contemplated — it is deliberate. “Because of the breadth of different influences and samples and voices, there are a lot of different ways that people can feel about it,” she continues. “Any of those ways are, in my opinion, not really my responsibility. I’ve created something that is trying to be very true to what my experience was.”
Scanning the various reactions during the set at Clwb, the only unifying factor is genuine admiration for an artist expressing delicate subjects in such a powerful and unique way. Chatting to PISS, it becomes apparent just how much respect and trust there is between the four of them, with the band completed by Tyler Paterson on guitar and Gavin Moya on bass.
While the writing process offers some playfulness and experimentation, their live shows are pre-planned and meticulously rehearsed to allow Taylor to become fully immersed in the performance. “These guys are masters of what they do,” she says. “They really hold everything together so that I can feel safe and comfortable to run around and be a maniac.”
A combination of chance encounters led to the current line-up. But when Tyler attended one of Taylor’s poetry readings, they knew there was something to chew on as a full band. Taylor would write her songs like poems or short fiction, while Tyler attended film school and took an interest in film scores. Instead of considering their art in a linear format, they utilise their dynamic influences to do justice for what Taylor is trying to express. “Sonically it feels more like scoring a film,” Tyler says. “The narrative is there, and you’re trying to find the sonic aesthetics that push the story forward and not necessarily distract you from it.”
At the moment there are only three demos available on streaming services, plus a few live sets online. But an album is ready and set for release next year, so now is a good time to invest. While there is gratification in watching a band slowly build their signature sound over time, PISS are fully formed. Their compact, poetic, cinematic performance is layered and revelatory. Fortune favours the bold, and there’s no-one bolder out there right now.
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