In 2022, No Trigger released their third studio album, Dr. Album, a decade after their sophomore record. Filled to the brim with melodic hardcore anthems, they’ve been playing around the world to bring it to the live stage, gracing us with a gig at Badehaus.
“We don’t want a civil war, we want love and peace and record stores” is a main takeaway off Dr. Album’s opener, Antifantasy. No Trigger made clear their dismay with the current state of the world and the punk scene they feel has lost their political grit during their performance. “The one true leftover punk band”, they called themselves. And they’re not wrong: Tucked away on the cozy concert floor of Badehaus, they did an excellent job making us forget about the world outside. Half of No Trigger’s song catalogue is on fighting alt-right politics (Antifantasy) and the numbing sensations of change (My Woods, Acid Lord), whilst the other half – written on acid, as vocalist Tom Rheault informs us – reflects this altered state of mind (Too High To Die). We get a little comedy stand-up by him as the rest of the band leaves the stage for Tom to play a solo acoustic version of Euro Coke, his account of travelling and consuming around Europe. About half the set is new songs off Dr. Album, the other half early material from No Trigger’s debut album Canyoneer. By the end of the show, made brilliant by the excellent sound engineering, we feel ready to realign the threads of society that have come undone.
No Trigger were supported by CF98 from Krakow, who lit the mood with their early 2000’s pop punk reminiscent sound and brought a group of loyal fans with them, and Uberyou, moody punks from Switzerland. No Trigger are back in the US now where they will play a handful of shows in the Fall.
