After more than a decade of defying genres and expectations, Baltimore punks Angel Du$t are back with their heaviest track yet, ‘The Beat‘. Frontman Justice Tripp and guitarist Jim Carroll talk to Amped about risky street shows, tripping in the desert, and why chasing the most ridiculous idea in the room always pays off…
Words and photos by Felix Bartlett (@bartlettfelix4) | August 13, 2025
On the afternoon of their most aggressive musical era yet, we meet up with Justice Tripp and Jim Carroll of Angel Du$t in Camden for a wild, wide-ranging chat about survival, creative freedom, and why playing hardcore music on the street might just be good for your soul.
The air outside All Ages Records is buzzing. It’s a hot Sunday afternoon in Camden, and Angel Du$t are about to do something gloriously dumb. Not prank-on-the-tour-bus dumb. Not forgot-the-lyrics dumb. The kind of “why not?” dumb that makes perfect sense for them. In half an hour, they’ll be picking up their gear, which has been set up on the curb and play a full set for whoever happens to be walking by, no stage, no barriers, just raw chaos and a shit load of fans. Only time would tell how long it would be until local enforcement turned up…
At the back of All Ages Records, Justice is in the middle of telling me a story about a Pomeranian named Toby who survived being shot with a 9mm. “It missed his wiener by this much,” he says, holding his thumb and forefinger close together. “Little dude’s a soldier. Like us.”
Jim smirks and nods. Somehow, the dog’s story fits the band perfectly. Angel Du$t have spent more than a decade dodging expectations, mixing genres, and refusing to stay in one lane. Their cracking new single, ‘The Beat’, is their heaviest yet, a bruising, riff-loaded anthem with Taylor Young (Twitching Tongues, God’s Hate) that hits like a knockout.
“It’s funny,” Justice says, “I spent years avoiding writing stuff this aggressive for Angel Du$t because I didn’t want to step on Trapped Under Ice’s toes. But that’s my musical language. Why the fuck was I censoring myself?”
The decision to play outside wasn’t some big marketing stunt, it came from the same instinct that’s guided the band since the beginning: what’s the most fun thing we could do right now?
“Someone mentioned playing outside, and I was like, ‘That’s preposterous,’” Justice laughs. “Then I realised, that’s exactly why we should do it. The most special moments in this band happen when we lean into the ridiculous. You can’t plan this shit. You just gotta go.”
Jim agrees: “The best shows are always the ones that feel like they might collapse at any second. No barriers, no setlist, just pure energy. That’s punk rock.
That no-frills attitude carries into the recording process. For ‘The Beat’, they teamed back up with producer Brian McTernan, who produced their 2014 debut A.D. The reunion wasn’t nostalgia, it was about capturing that raw, live feeling.
“Brian doesn’t let you hide behind studio tricks,” Justice says. “He’s like, ‘Nah, play it again until it’s right.’ That’s how you get performances that actually mean something. You can hear the sweat.”
Jim adds: “He’ll loop a take on the fly, chop it up, and suddenly the song has this new groove you didn’t expect. He’s a mad scientist.”
For Angel Du$t, the focus isn’t on sales or streaming numbers; it’s on creating something worth remembering.
“I’ve seen so many bands get lost chasing numbers,” Justice says. “You start playing the venues that pay the most, not the ones that feel the best. Then one day you wake up and realise you’ve traded every special thing about your band for a slightly bigger bank account.”
He leans forward, clearly passionate. “We’re not in the business of making albums. Albums are just tools. What we’re really doing is creating moments, something people remember. That’s why we’ll play a record store instead of some corporate venue. That’s why we’ll write a song like ‘The Beat’, even if it scares people. Because when you’re chasing the coolest possible moment, everyone wins.”
Jim nods. “The music industry folds in on itself when bands stop taking risks. We’d rather die than play it safe.
If the single is Angel Du$t at their most intense, the video is them at their weirdest and most fun. Filmed in the California desert, it’s got dirt bikes, shirtless oiled-up weightlifters, and a sudden rainstorm that almost wrecked the whole day.
“Well, so Blaise Cepis, who directed the music video? He’s been an old friend of mine, and we were injured us was on tour, and we were kind of just talking about, like, new concepts for videos coming up. And just this was like, I want to do a video with, like, greased up weightlifters and dirt bikes,” Justice says.
Jim Carroll remembers the conversation vividly. “And I was like, I actually know a guy that stunt because he does like more corporate stuff.”
“And yeah, yeah,” Justice chimes in.
“It and but he always has a cool artistic vision behind it,” Jim continues. “And I was like, check this out. And I showed just us his Instagram and he’s like, oh, that’s cool. And just kind of messaged him and got the conversation started. Yeah. And he was just down. He had never done a music video before, so he, he just had the this vision of like, let’s make something crazy. We got to do some crazy things with it. He was great. And yeah, it came together in a week. We packed a lot into a day of, you know, being in the California desert.”
That must have been bloody hot!?
“Very hot,” says Jim. “Yeah. And then we like. And then it rained. At the end of the day and we had to run around and people on mushrooms.”.
“And it was a crazy day,” Justice says. “Yeah, I it was interesting because you look at there’s not a whole lot of resources happening. Yeah. It’s not like there’s like anything extreme. It’s like basically us in the desert and a couple other little components might not seem that extreme, but it’s cool. He had a vision. Yeah. So there was an element of just trust me on this, this.
After years of going it alone (and running their own label, Pop Wig), Angel Du$t signed with Run For Cover, a move that felt natural.
“I’ve been working with RFC in different ways forever,” Justice says. “They helped distribute our early stuff, gave us advice, and honestly, they’ve just been our people. I never thought Angel Du$t was their ‘thing,’ but then I realised, who cares? They get us. That’s all that matters.”
Jim adds: “It’s not about fitting into some scene. It’s about working with people who actually believe in what you’re doing. And RFC does.”
Their UK tour included a stop at Outbreak Fest, a celebration of the country’s hardcore scene, which Justice and Jim clearly love.
“UK hardcore is insane right now,” Justice says. “The energy, the bands, it’s next-level. We played Outbreak last year, and it felt like a movement. People here care.”
Jim agrees: “There’s a real sense of community. No egos, just passion. That’s what punk should be.”
With a new album coming and a stacked tour schedule, Angel Du$t aren’t slowing down anytime soon.
“We’re just getting started,” Justice says. “This band has always been about pushing further, whether that’s heavier music, weirder shows, or just doing shit that scares us. The second we stop taking risks, we’re done.”
Jim smirks. “So yeah, expect more chaos.”
As the interview wraps, the band heads outside to a growing crowd. No stage, no barricades, just amps on the pavement and a sea of people. Someone shouts a request. Justice grins.
“Nah, we’re playing whatever the fuck we want.”
The first chord hits. Camden erupts.
Another moment, nailed.
Angel Du$t’s new single The Beat is out now via Run For Cover Records. Catch them on tour this fall, if you can keep up.
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