You might not know it yet, but you want to know Diarrhea Planet. Maybe you’ve heard something about them already. Perhaps it was their antics at SXSW— excessive guitar solo battles that rained down from 30 feet above. Or maybe you caught wind of their stellar 2013 album I’m Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams, with its stadium-size riffs and soaring odes to youth, boredom, and Heavy Metal. Or maybe you were lucky enough to witness the band’s four-guitar lineup and vulgar theatrics in person, at one of the ungodly number of shows they’ve played across the U.S. since the album’s release. But whether or not you’ve previously been exposed to this band doesn’t actually matter. Because now, right now, is the time to know Diarrhea Planet — the Nashville six-piece with a name so repellent the music has no choice but to be undeniable. With their third album, Turn to Gold, announced today and due out this summer on Infinity Cat Recordings, the band deliver on that proposition and then some, asserting their claim as one of the best — and most fun — young rock outfits in America.
The album art for Turn To Gold. Credit: Infinity Cat Recordings
Last September, BuzzFeed spent a week with Diarrhea Planet in their hometown to document the recording process of Turn to Gold. We followed them to the place they met (Belmont University), visited their local haunts, and met some of the key figures in Nashville’s burgeoning DIY scene who helped the band graduate from raucous basement shows to massive festivals. In the direct shadow of Music Row’s country cabal, what drives a bunch of snot-nosed twentysomethings to make honest-to-goodness, melt-your-face rock music in the year of our lord 2016? And how long can they hope to keep it going?
The first single from Turn to Gold, “Life Pass,” premieres here today on BuzzFeed. The band is on tour now, with the album set to be released on June 10. Listen to the single and take a photo tour of Diarrhea Planet's world below.
From left: Jordan Smith, Brent Toler, Ian Bush, and Evan Bird, aka the Planeteers, on the Belmont University campus. Credit: Chona Kasinger for BuzzFeed News
Belmont University, set smack in the middle of Nashville, is built around the summer home of a wealthy widow who inherited the fortune of a planter and slave trader. These days, it’s a high-powered academic hub for Nashville’s mainstream music industry, namely Big Country Music. Some recent graduates include Brian Kelley (a member of Florida Georgia Line) and Rayvon Owen, who went on to American Idol. But the school’s stuffiness was an ill fit for Jordan Smith, 27, founding member and lead vocalist/guitarist of Diarrhea Planet. When Smith decided to start the band in the school cafeteria with guitarist Evan P. Donohue on a whim, it was intended to be offensive.
“Their whole thing was they were going to be a noise band that played at parties and got wasted,” says Emmett Miller, 25, the band’s fret-tapping guitarist, who plays with his long fingernails in lieu of picks. “They would stand on chairs covered in robes. It looked like they were these looming figures.”
Mike Boyle hoists Emmet Miller in the air on the campus of Belmont University. Credit: Chona Kasinger for BuzzFeed News
Despite any initial abrasiveness, Diarrhea Planet began to accumulate mass, its gravitational pull drawing friends into the fold. Smith and Donohue brought in their friend Cas