photo by Jessica Kourkounis
The Dead Milkmen, iconic American punk band born in 1983 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and fascism don't mix so there is no surprise that they step out into the spotlight once again with an exuberant cover of Heaven 17's equally iconic anti-fascism “(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang,” (from the 1981 "Penthouse and the Pavement" album). The original was released while Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher held hands so The Dead Milkmen releasing now is a perfect statement although me secretly wishes they would of interjected Trump into the song (in place of Reagan). Oddly, enough Reagan, looks tame, maybe even centrist in comparison to Donald Trump's megalomaniacal leanings. The classic anthem is paired with a new original called “A Complicated Faith” via the Philadelphia-based independent label The Giving Groove.
“I’ve always loved the song,” says Dead Milkmen vocalist and keyboardist Rodney Anonymous of the 1981 song by British synth-pop outfit Heaven 17, which was originally released at the oppressive height of the Reagan and Thatcher reigns. More recently, after Donald Trump’s 2016 election, The Dead Milkmen began covering the song in concert. “It's just there. You can’t ignore it,” Rodney says. “I wish we could do happy covers, but we're never given those times to work in.”
During live shows, Rodney regularly tweaked the song’s lyrics to reflect the present (well, pre-coronavirus) nightmare: “Trump's a white supremacist / Putin tells him what to do.” “The crowd loved that,” Rodney says. In 2018, the veteran band entered the studio to record the track with producer Joe Nicolo, who had worked on the band’s dance music send-up “Instant Club Hit (You’ll Dance to Anything)" more than 30 years prior. At Heaven 17’s request, the recorded cover reverts back to the original 1981 lyrics.
Following The Giving Groove’s charitable model for all releases, all label profits will be donated to a 501(c)3 music-related charity; The Dead Milkmen have chosen Girls Rock Philly as the recipient for this release.
After selling out the first limited-edition pressing in 12 hours, The Giving Groove has now announced a second pressing that will hit shelves in timely fashion on October 30th... just ahead of the Presidential Election! Pre-orders are up for the second pressing are up now via The Giving Groove, so act fast!
"A Complicate Faith" churns on a dynamic beat, trancy synths, a punchy bass weaving out it's own melodies and sustains of vast guitars jaggedly wrought with dirty tubular sounds. Rodney's vox cut through nicely swimming in deep waters about faith (with or without religion). The track is jammy feeling more post punk than overtly punk with surf punk and Goth pop affections. It will get stuck in your brain and you will have to push play three or four times to get it all in, at least I had to.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
spotify
deadmilkmen
bandcamp
The Dead Milkmen have made a triumphant return with their new single, a spirited cover of Heaven 17’s classic anti-fascism anthem “(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang,” which will be released on a 7” on August 21st along with a new original B-side called “A Complicated Faith” via the Philadelphia-based independent label The Giving Groove. With righteous indignation and a thumping four-on-the-floor beat, the recording marks the legendary satirical punk band’s first new release since 2017’s Welcome to the End of the World EP—and a characteristically grim pronouncement on the upcoming Republican National Convention. Following The Giving Groove’s charitable model for all releases, all label profits will be donated to a 501(c)3 music-related charity; The Dead Milkmen have chosen Girls Rock Philly as the recipient for this release.
Longtime Milkmen disciples may find the song’s message, with its warning of authoritarianism and “evil men with racist views,” reminiscent of the band’s own ominously potent protest song “Right Wing Pigeons,” released 35 years ago on the Big Lizard in my Backyard album. “It sucks to be prescient,” laughs Rodney Anonymous, who was once a political science major. “I kind of feel for Cassandra in The Iliad. Because you’re like, ‘Man. I wish I’d been wrong about everything!’ It’s like every day we’re living inside a Milkmen song. We tried to warn everybody.”
The new single is accompanied by a b-side, “A Complicated Faith,” a Milkmen original buoyed by Depeche Mode-inspired rhythms and a scalding guitar solo courtesy of Joe Jack Talcum. “It's obviously a very emotional song for Rodney to sing,” drummer Dean Clean says of the tune. “Rodney's really into industrial goth music. He's introduced that to the band and we've been willing to go along for the ride.”
The new Dead Milkmen single arrives right around the 35th anniversary of the sleeper success of “Bitchin’ Camaro,” the sardonic college radio classic that propelled the band to underground fame all those years back. But like most things in Milkmen-land, the timing is a cosmic accident. “It’s funny,” says Dean Clean. “When we played our so-called last show in the mid-’90s, I remember playing that song, thinking to myself: ‘Thank goodness, this is the last time I’ll have to play this song.’ But now it’s fun to play again.”
The band hopes to ready a new album—their 11th overall, and first since 2014’s Pretty Music for Pretty People—sometime in 2021. They planned to record it in 2020, but then came the pandemic. “We had half an album already written and demoed,” Joe says, “and now I think we're probably going to start all over again.” In the meantime, the band has been staying busy under lockdown with a weekly YouTube series called “Big Questions with the Dead Milkmen.” Joe has remained occupied with some livestream concerts of his own (including a set of Woody Guthrie covers), and Rodney is working on “super secret remixes.”
The Dead Milkmen formed in Philadelphia in 1983 and have been delighting and shocking audiences with their melodic brand of humor-driven punk for more than 30 years (give or take a 13-year break). The band’s current lineup consists of Rodney Anonymous (a.k.a. Rodney Linderman), Joe Jack Talcum (a.k.a. Joe Genaro), Dean Clean (a.k.a. Dean Sabatino), and Dan Stevens, who joined the group following the death of original bassist Dave Blood. Asked what he hopes the Dead Milkmen’s legacy will be when the band is no longer around, Rodney says, “I don’t want the Dead Milkmen to not be around. I just think if I go, I should be replaced. They should find the angriest person in the world and just replace me with that person. That would be awesome, if the Milkmen just became this self-perpetuating thing.”
No comments:
Post a Comment