Wine Lips – TV Dinner
Toronto psych-punk juggernauts Wine Lips returnwith TV Dinner, their fifth full-length album, arriving on Stomp Records.
Pulling from the blown-out energy of The Hives, Osees, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, Bad Nerves, and the melodic punch of Nirvana at their most immediate, TV Dinner is the band’s most observant, strangely relatable, and complete statement to date. Still rooted in Wine Lips’ signature collision of garage punk, blown-out psychedelia, and fuzzed-to-the-breaking-point rock and roll, the album trades escapism for everyday absurdity. It’s loud music for loud times, packed with hooks, humour, and just enough chaos to make modern life feel manageable for thirty-five glorious minutes.
Over the last decade, Wine Lips have quietly grown into one of Canada’s most successful independent rock exports, racking up more than 50 million Spotify streams, earning praise from Iggy Pop on BBC Radio, placing music in film, television, and video games, and relentlessly touring North America, Europe, the UK, Hong Kong, and China. They’ve shared stages with everyone from Frankie and the Witch Fingers to Death From Above 1979, and built their reputation the old-fashioned way: one sweat-soaked show at a time. Somewhere in the long, strange lineage of Canadian rock, Wine Lips have carved out their own lane, one where fuzz pedals, frantic energy, and razor-sharp songwriting somehow coexist in perfect balance.
On the surface, TV Dinner is thirteen adrenaline-fuelled rock songs. Underneath, it’s a snapshot of what it feels like to exist in 2026. Everybody’s selling a shortcut. Everybody’s an expert. Your phone won’t stop buzzing. Rent keeps climbing. The grocery bill gets bigger while the apartment gets smaller. Dopamine arrives in tiny bursts through nicotine, sugar, shopping carts, social media feeds, and whatever else gets you through another Tuesday. Somewhere between the doomscroll, another trip to the doctor, another dead-end job, and another microwaved meal, Cam Hilborn found thirteen songs hiding in plain sight.
Across the record, Wine Lips turn those everyday frustrations into something unexpectedly cathartic. “Cut It” tears into addiction in all its forms, bouncing between nicotine cravings, shopping sprees, and the endless chase for the next dopamine hit. “Trip to the Doctor” skewers wellness culture, conspiracy theories, miracle cures, and the impossible task of figuring out what you’re actually supposed to believe anymore. “Thirst Trap” captures the brain rot of algorithm culture, where bots call the shots, satire and reality blur together, and suddenly it’s noon because you’ve been staring at your phone since breakfast. Meanwhile, “Semi Detached Furnished Home” might be the most Canadian song Wine Lips have ever written, transforming impossible rent, endless condos, and the fantasy of simply owning a modest place to live into a snarling garage rock anthem. Even the album’s quieter moments carry their own weight. “If You Don’t Know” wrestles with growing older, drifting away from sixteen, and realizing the world doesn’t slow down just because you wish it would, while “Strip Club DJ” delivers one of the album’s funniest moments, finding unexpected poetry somewhere between $11 beers, lunch buffets, TV dinners in the microwave, and the strange optimism of convincing yourself you’re living the dream
Recorded once again with longtime collaborator Simon Larochette at The Sugar Shack in London, Ontario, TV Dinner captures Wine Lips trusting instinct over perfection. Mistakes stayed. Happy accidents stayed. Strange noises stayed. The edges remain rough because that’s where the life lives. Aurora Evans steps further into the spotlight with lead vocals on “Projector,” while the entire band sounds tighter from years spent crisscrossing continents in vans, clubs, and festival fields. The songs hit harder not because they’re cleaner, but because they’re comfortable leaving a few dents in the paint.
For all its satire, TV Dinner never loses its heart. These aren’t songs laughing at modern life from a distance. They’re songs written from inside it, by people trying to make sense of the same endless notifications, shrinking attention spans, rising costs, and low-grade anxiety as everyone else. Wine Lips don’t offer easy answers. They just turn the volume up until the noise starts sounding like release. Some records ask you to escape reality. TV Dinner dares you to laugh at it.
Wine Lips On Tour
With The Boojums
Aug. 28 – Haarlem, NL – Slachthuis
Aug. 29 – Bochum, DE – Die Trompete
Aug. 30 – Berlin, DE – Lido
Aug. 31 – Warsaw, PL – Hydrozagadka
Sept. 2 – Hamburg, DE – Molotow
Sept. 4 – Siegen, DE – Vortex Surfer
Sept. 5 – Eeklo, BE – N9
Sept. 6 – London, UK – The Dome
Sept. 8 – Margate, UK – Where Else?
Sept. 10 – Brussels, BE – Botanique
Sept. 11 – Enschede, NL – Metropool
Sept. 12 – Merksplas, BE – Backyard Festival
Sept. 13 – Asten, NL – Misty Fields Festival
Supporting Death From Above 1979
Oct. 13 – Detroit, MI – Lager House
Oct. 15 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl
Oct. 16 – Baton Rouge, LA – Chelsea’s Live
Oct. 17 – Houston, TX – Dan Electro’s
Oct. 19 – Austin, TX – 29th Street Ballroom
Oct. 20 – Marfa, TX – Larry’s
Oct. 22 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
Oct. 23 – San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
Oct. 24 – Las Vegas, NV – Swan Dive
Oct. 26 – San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop
Oct. 27 – Santa Cruz, CA – Moe’s Alley
Oct. 29 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
Oct. 30 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
Oct. 31 – Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre
Nov. 2 – Calgary, AB – Palace Theatre
Nov. 3 – Edmonton, AB – Midway Music Hall
Nov. 5 – Winnipeg, MB – Park Theatre
Nov. 6 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line
Nov. 7 – St. Louis, MO – Old Rock House
Nov. 8 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
Nov. 25 – Waterloo, ON – Maxwell’s
Nov. 26 – London, ON – London Music Hall
Nov. 27 – Toronto, ON – History
Nov. 28 – Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom
Nov. 30 – Montreal, QC – Théâtre Beanfield
Dec. 1 – Québec City, QC – Imperial Bell
Dec. 3 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
Dec. 4 – Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw
Dec. 5 – Washington, DC – Howard Theatre
Dec. 6 – Pittsburgh, PA – Thunderbird Music Hall
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