The Melbourne band’s four-track EP captures a Brunswick studio session without overdubs, revisiting ‘Raw Nerve’ alongside songs from their next chapter.
Dental Plan have released Live At The Hit Hole, a four-song studio session bringing together recent material, a Hüsker Dü cover and a return to their own back catalogue.
The Melbourne/Naarm band recorded the EP in Brunswick with regular collaborator Nick Manuell, who also filmed the performance. According to Everblack’s release report, the band recorded without overdubs, capturing the four players working together in the room.
For vocalist and guitarist Niam Hegarty, that is part of the point. In comments published by Everblack, he describes the session as a reflection of how Dental Plan have been playing together over the past few years.
“We jam together often and this is kind of like having someone in the room with us,” he says.
Hegarty also points to his Dunedin upbringing and the influence of Flying Nun’s noisy alternative rock. The session marks the band’s first recording with Tyler Jenke on guitar, with bassist and vocalist Jo Gardiner and drummer Paul Dwyer completing the credited lineup.
It captures that combination of players at a moment of change. Dental Plan’s 3 October Cactus Room show was advertised as founding member Gardiner’s farewell. The EP preserves her contribution to the four-piece, although the band have not identified it as her final recording.
Across the set, ‘No Solution’, already available separately, joins ‘Born Wrong’ and a cover of Hüsker Dü’s ‘Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely’. A fresh performance of ‘Raw Nerve’, the title track of Dental Plan’s 2024 debut album, closes the session.
The whole thing runs just over 12 minutes. Live At The Hit Hole is out now through Bandcamp and the band’s official release destination.
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