The Dirty Nil Capture the Sweat and Spirit on "Live At The Dine Alone Store"

Hamilton, Ontario’s The Dirty Nil continue the story of their fifth album, The Lash, with the release of a new live record titled Live At The Dine Alone Store. Spanning 13 tracks pulled from across the band’s discography, the LP presents The Dirty Nil in their most natural environment, onstage, in close quarters, locked into the energy that has defined their rise. This performance is not simply a live companion to the studio album but a snapshot of a band in motion, documenting a singular night fuelled by community, connection, and the momentum of a year spent relentlessly on the road.

Live At The Dine Alone Store will first be available for RSD Black Friday as an unofficial release through the Dine Alone Store in Toronto. Fans attending on November 28th can choose between two variants, a DA Exclusive limited to 100 copies and a Standard pressing limited to 200. Remaining vinyl will be released online the following day through the store’s website, with digital formats arriving on December 5th. The staggered rollout reflects the intimacy of the event itself, giving priority to those who were physically present in the space that night while still opening the experience to a wider audience soon after.

The first track spotlighted from the session is “Fail In Time,” a cut taken from The Lash. It exemplifies the album’s black-and-white minimalism, where distortion, volume, and repetition replace ornamentation. In this live setting, the song’s bleakness feels almost confrontational, embracing discomfort and urgency with clarity. It underscores the band’s decision to strip things back, to let rawness take precedence over polish, and to return to the core of what made them feel vital in the first place.

“We played more shows this year than any other, by far,” The Dirty Nil elaborate. “2025 was a blur, but this show stands out as the day we got to celebrate The Lash with our friends, family and fans. We had some of our favourite local bands play and it nearly brought us to tears seeing all the work that Dine Alone had put into NIL-ifying their headquarters in our honour. The Lash themed cookies were delicious.”

That sense of celebration defines the live album’s emotional weight. It is not just a setlist performed in sequence but the audible memory of a communal moment, equal parts gratitude and catharsis. The band has always balanced irreverence with sincerity, and that duality is present here, from the ferocity of the performances to the warmth of the atmosphere surrounding them.

The Dirty Nil have long been known for bringing colour and spectacle to modern rock. Bejeweled stars, lightning bolts, and vibrant visual imagery have been part of their aesthetic identity, along with psychedelic album artwork that embraced excess as a statement. With The Lash, however, they made a conscious decision to reject that visual indulgence. The slate was wiped. The result was an album defined by discipline, austerity, and focus, where restraint became its own form of defiance.

This philosophy shaped not just the songwriting but the recording process itself. Rather than returning to longtime collaborator John Goodmanson, whose work had previously helped earn the band a JUNO Award, they chose to work with a new voice, local engineer Vince Solivari. That shift was emblematic of the band’s desire to challenge their own habits and rediscover a version of themselves that felt unfiltered and immediate. “He’s my kind of guy,” Bentham says. “Vince plays in a power violence band, KISS is one of his favourite bands, and he’s fluent in Simpsons references. Above all, he’s just competent as hell.”

The sessions at Boxcar Sound were swift and decisive. Within two weeks, the band had carved out what they felt was a more honest reflection of their identity. It was a return to the essence of their earliest years, echoing the spirit that drove their 2016 debut Higher Power, while also acknowledging the years of growth and hard touring that followed.

Live At The Dine Alone Store extends that ethos into a shared space, allowing listeners to hear the tension, release, and conviction that define The Dirty Nil at this moment in their career. It is not about perfection or precision. It is about presence. Every chord rings with intent, every lyric feels sharpened by experience, and every cheer from the crowd affirms the bond that has carried the band through relentless cycles of creation and performance.

This record stands as both a celebration of The Lash and a reminder of what makes The Dirty Nil resonate. Stripped of excess, anchored in honesty, and amplified by the people who have supported them from the beginning, it captures a fleeting moment with lasting impact.