Canada’s Dead Tired have unleashed a brand new single, “Predatory Loans”, from their upcoming record, Satan Will Follow You Home.
The furious new track highlights the epidemic of unethical payday loan establishments. “Predatory Loans” offers an absolute pummelling of anger and aggression, tapping into the heightened social, economic, and political unrest engulfing a growing percentage of the globe.
The track is the band's second offering from the record, following up on the previously released dual singles: “Domestic” and “New World Pigs”. The self-produced album features 10 unrelenting new tracks, and is available July 8 via New Damage Records.
Stream “Predatory Loans” here, and below:
Dead Tired is fronted by Alexisonfire vocalist George Pettit, who also steps into the role of chief lyricist. “For a while there, it seemed like every time a business tanked in Hamilton it was replaced by some shady payday loan joint,” says Pettit. “Downtown was littered with these greedy little establishments looking to leach as much money as they could out of desperate people. One was offering free pizza slices with a payday loan. Something about that repulsed me enough to write the lyrics.”
“We really dove into the production on this one,” Franz Stefanik explains, noting the freedom they had to experiment sonically while recording at their Hamilton HQ – dubbed the ‘Deadquarters’ – with Marco Bressette, a decorated engineer and producer, at the controls. “We spent more time going through different guitar, amp, and pedal set-ups and getting everything mic'd properly than we did actually tracking, and I think it shows.”
Dead Tired’s unrelenting musical onslaught is best defined by way of contrasts and contradictions, existing in the ether between opposing forces and foiling ideas.
“I think we’re really stepping into our own sound with this one,” states Stefanik. “When we first started, we didn’t really have any goals or ambitions other than playing music and having fun, but things are starting to feel more serious and everyone’s really excited about that. Our writing is evolving and we’re starting to wear our influences on our sleeves a bit more.”
Satan Will Follow You Home spans a more expansive sonic spectrum than anything we’ve heard from the quintet, comprised of Stefanik, fellow guitarist Marco Bressette, bassist Nick Ball, Pettit, and new drummer Theo McKibbon.
That’s not to say they’ve strayed from the chaotic and combustible energy of their earlier work; instead, they’ve distilled it, made it exponentially more potent, and used it as an anchor to go off and explore increasingly ambitious styles and sounds. Atop a solid foundation inspired by early Converge and Cave-In, Kyuss, and Dead Kennedys, we get everything from sickly saxophone licks to stacked vocal harmonies.
The band yearns to get back to bludgeoning fans with their blazing, hard-hitting live shows – something that Stefanik says weighed heavily on their minds while recording thanks to the global pandemic that forced them into a temporary holding pattern. “That felt like such a big defeat,” he adds, “so making this album became our distraction, and a great motivator to keep our creativity and lives going.”
Needless to say, they’re keen for their return to any stage that’ll have them, from major international festivals to the crammed clubs that first confirmed they were onto something special back in 2014.
“It feels so good to have new material, a new lineup, and the excitement that comes with being able to play shows again,” Stefanik says in closing. “We’re stoked to have relit that spark to the point that, really, this feels like an entirely new band.”
A group of well-seasoned scene veterans dropping a career-defining record, reinvigorated with the vivacity of a new band? Yet another example of Dead Tired thriving in a place between opposites, adhering to no set agenda or rules outside of their own.
Satan Will Follow You Home tracklisting:
"Predatory Loans"
"Show Me A Sign"
"SWFYH"
"Breakfast of Participants"
"Vast Lethality"
"Tyrants Palace"
"Creeping Dread"
"New World Pigs"
"Aging Out"
"Domestic"
"New World Pigs":
"Domestic" video:
(Photo - Nick Ball)
