| CD REVIEW Dead To Me |
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Band : Dead To Me Formed by members of such varied acts as One Man Army, Western Addiction, and Heavens (and now with ties to Enemy You and Swingin’ Utters as well, apparently), who combined their collective talents and experience to make their new band thrive, Dead To Me made their debut as a recording band with the July 2006 Fat Wreck Chord released full-length Cuban Ballerina. The album got the San Francisco based band rather positive reviews (they were even voted Band Of The Month during August of 2006 by godsgirls.com) and thanks to a rather clever promo trick for an upcoming tour with Riverboat Gamblers in late October ’06…where people could win tickets to gigs on the tour had to put either or both of the bands in their Top 8 on MySpace, then send the guys an e-mail as proof, letting the band also know for which show they would want the tickets. For each gig, one lucky winner would be picked. Not surprisingly this hightened the band’s MySpace profile, and the tour was rather successful indeed! That first tour was then followed by the Cracktoberfest Tour, allying the band to Leftover Crack and St. Catherine (among others) for dates throughout most of November. The four members then returned their attention to their main bands for about the next year [singer Chicken getting back to business with Western Addiction, guitarist/ singer Jack Dalrymple concentrating again on One Man Army, and the rhythm section of Ian and Nathan (due to lack of info with the promo or the band’s MySpace, I’m unable to tell you for what they are seperatedly responsible) went back to theirs (nor the band they usually play in)], and returned to the live front in October 2007 with a month’s tour allied to The Draft and Gaslight Anthem for a tour of the Northern US states and the West Coast. Apparently they also did a European tour right after, but I have no data as to when exactly that happened, nor of whom the band travelled with. Anyways, turns out the guys are vegans, and believe in doing their bit for the good cause as well, so on December 11 (still 2007) they participated (alongside Bouncing Souls, the night would be kicked off by occasion band Punk Rock Karaoke – with members of NOFX, Bad Religion, Adolescents, and Social Distortion – and closed by headliners Flogging Molly) to the annual Rock And Roll Wheels For Humanity benefit, the proceeds of which are completely donated to UPC Wheels, a non-benefit organisation which helps disabled people (regardless of nationality, religion, political affiliation, or creed) to a refurbished wheelchair. That same month, the band also saw a new track of theirs (in a live version) put on the FWC Hanukkah sampler (alongside new/ unreleased/ live songs from other FWC bands), and in April 2008 the quartet was back in Europe for a tour with Millencolin. Somewhere along the ride the guys recorded five new songs to tie their fans over, and that’s what you’re getting on this EP here (also, by the way, available on super low priced 12-inch vinyl (which will include a digital download possibility of the full EP). At the time of writing this review, all five songs can still be heard at myspace.com/deadtomesf, so why should I bother going in too deeply into the material? If you’ve heard the debut full-length, you already know what to expect. If you haven’t, all you need to know is that the band plays a very nice brand of Melodic Punk Rock with an occasional non-Punk influence and excellent vocals coming from both Chicken and Dalrymple. If that sounds like something you might enjoy, be sure to check out the band’s MySpace page. If it doesn’t, why have you been reading thus far anyway? Personally, I find 5 songs a bit short, especially since they only last a mere 13 minutes in total (the title track being the exception to the rule with its +4-minute length), but I was constantly compelled to push that “play” button over and over again, all through my info search and even during the making of this review! 86/100 Tony. |