It’s been a big 2015 for Direct Hit! This year, the Milwaukee pop-punk quartet toured Europe, headlined a stage at Summerfest, created a widely successful all-ages festival of their own, released a re-recorded collection of old demos and songs from past splits, went to work on tracking a full-length follow-up to the downright awesome Brainless God, and played both the Denver and Chicago legs of Riot Fest. How can Direct Hit! expect to top any of those accomplishments of the last nine months? With its own specialty topping, of course.
In January, Kyle Janis started Soothsayer Hot Sauce in Chicago. When seeking a name for the fifth sauce in his young company’s arsenal, the sauce entrepreneur looked no further than a band he loved.
“When I first started Soothsayer, I knew I wanted to involve some of my favorite punk bands, and Direct Hit! was at the top of that list,” Janis says. “It didn’t hurt that their album, Domesplitter, is also an incredible hot sauce name.”
The band sampled a few of Soothsayer’s creations during a Chicago show and settled on a recipe that featured moruga scorpion peppers—one of the hottest peppers on earth—along with Fresno peppers and citrus, calling it Domesplitter. Direct Hit! is the first band Soothsayer has featured, though the young business has an active Kickstarter campaign to help release more sauces.
“It really came down to what tasted best on the free pizza we got that night,” Direct Hit! singer-guitarist Nick Woods says. “It’s awesome on pizza, but I haven’t had a chance to dump it on much else. It’s probably excellent with corned beef hash, too. That’s probably what I’m gonna try next.”
Bottles of Domesplitter will be available at Direct Hit!’s local release show for More Of The Same at Borg Ward on October 2. It can also be purchased at this year’s Fest in Gainesville, Florida, and eventually at Soothsayer’s website.
“Soothsayer was started with the DIY, ‘fuck it, why not,’ punk mindset and we are very happy to have started out with something as cool as this,” Janis says.
The significance of having a hot sauced named in honor of his band is not lost on the band’s frontman.
“Tripping on your own ego is great,” Wood says.