I’m currently en-route to Rouyn-Noranda, Québec to cover the 24th edition of FME. In case some of y’all are new here, you can check out the full lineup for this years’s edition and my preview of the festival here:
But as always, the show must go on. . . .
Over the past decade, the Toronto-based psych punk outfit Wine Lips — currently Cam Hilborn (vocals, guitar), Aurora Evans (drums), Jordan Sosensky (guitar) and Charlie Weare (bass) — have quietly become one of their homeland’s most successful indie acts: They’ve amassed over 50 million Spotify streams, while receiving praise from Iggy Pop on BBC Radio and landing material on film, television and video games. Adding to a growing globally recognized profile, the Toronto-based quartet have relentlessly toured a sweat-soaked, high energy live show across North America, the European Union, the UK, Hong Kong and China while sharing stages with the likes of Frankie and the Witch Fingers and Death From Above 1979. Throughout their history, the Canadian punk rockers have carved their own lane, where fuzz pedals, frantic energy and razor-sharp songwriting coexist in a perfect balance.
Wine Lips’ fifth album, TV Dinner was released last Friday through Stomp Records. Drawing from an The Hives, Osees, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, Bad Nerves and the melodic punch of Nirvana at their most immediate, the new album may arguably be their most observant, strangely relatable and complete statement to date while still rooted in their signature blend of garage punk, blown-out psychedelia and fuzzy rock.
TV Dinner superficially features 13 adrenaline-fueled, loud, hook-driven rock songs. But if you deeper, the album offers a snapshot of what it feels like to live right now in our dystopian, late-stage capitalist hellscape: Everyone and their mom and cousin are selling shortcuts. Everyone is an expert. Your phone constantly pings with updates. Your rent and grocery bills rocket skyward while the apartments somehow get smaller. Dopamine arrives in short bursts through nicotine, sugar, social media feeds, alcohol, dreams of escaping the rat race and whatever else gets you through another day. Somewhere between the doomscroll, another trip to the doctor, another dead-end job, and another microwaved meal, Cam Hilborn found thirteen songs hiding in plain sight. The songs are written from the perspective from someone who’s neck deep int the shit, like everyone else, desperately trying to make sense of a mad, mad, mad world.
Recorded at London Ontario‘s The Sugar Shack with longtime collaborator Simon Larochette, the new album captures the band trusting instinct over perfection. Mistake sand happy accidents stayed. So did strange noises. They left the edges and roughness because they believe that’s where the life lives. The album also sees the band’s Aurora Evens taking up lead vocal duties on album track “Projector.”
The album’s latest single “If You Don’t Know” is a punchy and anthemic blend of garage punk, glam rock and pub rock, showcasing the band’s unerring knack for crafting catchy hooks paired with fuzzy power chord-driven. shout- along-with-an upraised-beer-in-hand choruses. Arguably the most direct, in-your-face ripper the band has released to date, the song features a narrator wrestling with something familiar to me — and to most of y’all — growing older. Yes, there’s the tacit realization that time races by, but it’s rooted in something far deeper — that age is supposed to come with some earned wisdom, some sort of forward progression and a shit ton of nostalgia. But what if there isn’t much wisdom and no real forward progression? Is the dream of being a rock god childish? Who the fuck really knows?
The accompanying video follows a man-child living out his fantasy of being a superhero in a very real world, including his seemingly real super powers, which help him save lives and do good.
The band are currently in the middle of a rather extensive European tour. They’ll tour across North America to close out 2026 and their North American tour includes a December 4, 2026 stop at Warsaw. Check out the tour dates below.
Wine Lips On Tour
With The Boojums
Sept. 4 – Siegen, DE – Vortex Surfer
Sept. 5 – Eeklo, BE – N9
Sept. 6 – London, UK – The Dome
Sept. 8 – Margate, UK – Where Else?
Sept. 10 – Brussels, BE – Botanique
Sept. 11 – Enschede, NL – Metropool
Sept. 12 – Merksplas, BE – Backyard Festival
Sept. 13 – Asten, NL – Misty Fields Festival
Supporting Death From Above 1979
Oct. 13 – Detroit, MI – Lager House
Oct. 15 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl
Oct. 16 – Baton Rouge, LA – Chelsea’s Live
Oct. 17 – Houston, TX – Dan Electro’s
Oct. 19 – Austin, TX – 29th Street Ballroom
Oct. 20 – Marfa, TX – Larry’s
Oct. 22 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
Oct. 23 – San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
Oct. 24 – Las Vegas, NV – Swan Dive
Oct. 26 – San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop
Oct. 27 – Santa Cruz, CA – Moe’s Alley
Oct. 29 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
Oct. 30 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
Oct. 31 – Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre
Nov. 2 – Calgary, AB – Palace Theatre
Nov. 3 – Edmonton, AB – Midway Music Hall
Nov. 5 – Winnipeg, MB – Park Theatre
Nov. 6 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line
Nov. 7 – St. Louis, MO – Old Rock House
Nov. 8 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
Nov. 25 – Waterloo, ON – Maxwell’s
Nov. 26 – London, ON – London Music Hall
Nov. 27 – Toronto, ON – History
Nov. 28 – Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom
Nov. 30 – Montreal, QC – Théâtre Beanfield
Dec. 1 – Québec City, QC – Imperial Bell
Dec. 3 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
Dec. 4 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw
Dec. 5 – Washington, DC – Howard Theatre
Dec. 6 – Pittsburgh, PA – Thunderbird Music Hall
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