News
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."
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."
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. "The Other End" follows "Outside," "Memory Lane," and "Life Support" (which garnered attention from the likes of Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, Uproxx, and more), and packs one of the catchiest choruses on an album full of catchy choruses.
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 Taking Meds. 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.