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Sep 22, 2021 Web Exclusive By Andy Von Pip

Visceral, unapologetic, raw, powerful, and right in your face. That’s perhaps a somewhat simplistic overview of the oeuvre of Toronto-based four-piece Bad Waitress. Indeed there’s a lot more going on when you scratch the surface, you could add in passion, commitment, acerbic wit, and some surprising moments of calm on the band’s debut album, No Taste. It goes without saying that Bad Waitress embrace the feral spirit of punk, riot grrrl, and grunge but they really do give it their own unique twist. It’s certainly an album that is unflinching and at times relentless but it’s also tempered with the band’s dark humor and infectious charm.

Bad Waitress—who began life as Nude Dogs—consist of Katelyn Molgard (lead guitar), Nicole Cain (bass), Kali-Ann Butala (vocals/guitar), and Eva Moon (drums) play as if their life depended on it, with searing guitar riffs, thundering percussion, and sometimes slightly deranged vocals. Despite the album being full of raging and righteous anger the band also sound like they are having the time of their lives. They give the impression they are doing things exactly the way they want without, to paraphrase them, being at the behest of “old dudes in suits.”

Album opener and previous single, the menacing “Rabbit Hole,” has an almost prog/psych rock feel to it, whilst the driving “Yeah Yeah Yeah,” with its staccato chorus, swerves off in multiple directions threatening to implode at any time. Another former single, “Strawberry Milkshake,” encapsulates what Bad Waitress do best. It begins with a menacing seductive sway but soon rips off any veneer of glamour to reveal what the band describe as “a poisonous sludge bubbling just beneath.” The wonderfully unhinged “Manners” is another highlight and demonstrates how effective repetition combined with Butala’s impassioned nettle sting roar can be.

There’s a danger when crafting an album driven by manic raging energy that the overall effect could become a little wearing and eventually feel akin to scouring your ears with a Brillo pad but Bad Waitress can mix it up. “Delusions of Grandeur” proves they can be just as effective when they turn things down a notch, “Life In Reverse” is one of the most wistful tracks on the album whilst “Restless Body” is grunge rock perfection
No Taste is a ferociously uncompromising debut album that certainly doesn’t pull any punches and is all the better for it. (www.badwaitress.com)

Author rating: 7/10