Lying Battery Presents
Imp Cru, Gassed (Queens), Duel (NJ), Psychopomp
The Pouch
Nov 5. 2026
Philadelphia
Typically, when writing about DIY, I would spend most of my time talking about local groups — but this drizzly Thursday night show had me flipping the script. The touring bands were both fantastic, Duel (NJ) and Gassed from Queens, New York, brought a manic energy. They definitely shocked us out our sleepy, rainy mood. The performance had a defibrillating effect on the crowd and prepped our collective headspace for the piss-obsessed antics of Imp Cru.
I've talked with many touring bands from NYC and a lot of them have expressed the difficulties in staying afloat there. However, despite the rising cost of living and the headaches of finding housing, work and a place to practice and venues to play, NYC still puts out an incomprehensible amount of incredible new music. Gassed is a great example of that wild creative spirit. They don't seem intent on inventing new genres; rather, they're adept at breathing new life into familiar sounds. It's lucky for us that they brought their music to this little basement here in Philly (I'm talking about DIY spot, The Pouch). I was socializing on the porch when they started, and I remember hearing a particularly alarming guitar tone cutting through the walls from downstairs. Their level of unhinged performance made me recall the noise rock scene of 15+ years back, featuring bands like Drunkdriver or Sex Vid from Olympia, Washington. The front man, Micha, committed to the bit so hard you could see the crowd move into a "U" formation, backing away from the stage out of fear or fascination. His lyrics had a political bent to them, righteously venting his anger and aggression. Just when I thought I couldn't like this band more, near the end of the set they threw in a loud ramped-up and unlikely cover of Neil Young's late '80s banger "Rockin' in the Free World." There was an older gentleman that thanked the band after the show saying, "That was therapy man, I didn't know, but I needed that." It was a pleasure to experience some genuine shock and awe from a band I didn't know existed before tonight.
Preceding Gassed's blowout performance was also a surprising banger band from New Brunswick, NJ, named Duel. New Brunswick never lacks for hard and fast DIY, and it's cool to see newer creatives taking that and running with it. It was also great to see some powerful femme energy in the room. The guitarist Kate ripped a confident and solid stream of SG distortion that was thick like paste, and the vocals met the glaring volume and rigid fast drum kicks head on with an equitable growl. Her delivery was gutsy and badass. The crew, like Gassed, had an appropriate angry political bent to them as well.
A word of praise to the openers Psychopomp, who started the whole show out, setting the tone with an intense and raw set. The closers were the notorious Imp Cru, whose antics I've written about at length previously. The Cru have not for a second dropped their obsession with singing about piss jugs (yes, they are a piss jug themed band). What I saw as different about this performance from the last was that they brought a kind of experimental carnival atmosphere. Cam, the singer, adorned a clown mask and most of the band were dressed in zany attire. The electric violin player filled in some great wispy treble and, when combined with Gr3yboy's electronics, it reminded me of "Willie the Pimp"-era Zappa. The performance had a gypsy-circus vibe. Cam still sang unrelenting and unapologetic verbal homages about drinking piss with lines like, "It's in a plastic jug. It's just for you to chug. It's yellow and it stinks. It's just for you to drink," with a conviction that I believe very few of us could muster. The following clip exhibits this:
All in all, tonight had an irreverent, angry, and untethered quality to it that felt on the nose. Shout-out to Paul who is 'Lying Battery' and has been in the background working hard on organizing a ton of great punk shows this year.
