In our now seven years covering the Nashville music scene, we’ve seen plenty of talented bands come and go, and it’s always a shame to see any promising local act throw in the towel. This one stings extra hard though: after a near decade-long run, dorm room shredders turned international party punk icons Diarrhea Planet are calling it a day, ending, appropriately, with a sold out three-night hometown residency at Exit/In, running tonight, Sept. 6 through Sept. 8.
Formed in 2009 and originally envisioned as something of a joke noise project, Diarrhea Planet, who met at Belmont, morphed into an epic, guitar-driven blend of garage rock, punk, pop, and indie, coming up through the local DIY scene and finding quick, underground buzz for their early efforts, before catching the ear of tastemaking local label Infinity Cat.
With their 2013 sophomore LP, I’m Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams, DP managed to break through to a wider audience, garnering attention from national publications and ramping up their tour schedule to include hundreds of dates each year. Developing into anthemic, arena-primed band with chops more serious than their name might suggest, their four-guitar fronted arsenal and wild, unpredictable live show took them to major festivals, late night television, and tours with acts like The Darkness.
Diarrhea Planet’s final full-length Turn to Gold, helmed by Grammy winning engineer Vance Powell, arrived in 2016, maturing their sound, if not quite capturing the same level of buzz as I’m Rich. Still, Diarrhea Planet always existed in a sphere between the youthful energy and lightheartedness of, well, a party punk band called Diarrhea Planet, and what seemed to be more serious, honed, and attainable broader musical aspirations, with their trajectory over the last few years suggesting that they could become a legitimately big rock act- in fact, we would’ve bet on it.
Consistently one of our favorite Nashville bands to see live, bar none, Diarrhea Planet have blown our minds time and time again, from scrappy house shows to festival outings, New Year’s Eve and Halloween affairs to Freakin’ Weekends we’ll never forget. Exit/In has always been a particularly special (and appropriately rowdy) place to see them in action, and feels like as fitting a place as any- save for a crazy house show- to send them off. Tickets are long gone, but whether you have yours in hand or are considering going to great lengths to track one down, this is your final chance to witness a band who’ll undoubtedly go down in Nashville musical history, and certainly the most important show(s) of the weekend.
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