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Music

Dead To Me Spring Back to Life with “Fear is the New Bliss”

Chicken and co. are working on a fourth album and have dropped this sneak peak.
Photo by Lindsey Byrnes

Few bands have gone through as many lineup changes and near-break-ups as Dead To Me. Since the release of Cuban Ballerina in 2006, every full-length has featured a different line-up, with vocalist-bassist Tyson “Chicken” Annicharico and drummer Ian Anderson being the sole constants. But in 2014, founding member Jack Dalrymple returned after a six-year absence, and slowly, Dead To Me’s wheels started turning again. In 2016, they released I Wanna Die in Los Angeles, a three-song EP that at least partially explained why the band had been so constantly in flux. The title track addressed Annicharico’s addiction issues, serving as a public declaration that, this time, he’d kicked the substances for good. Dead To Me played shows sporadically in support of the EP before seemingly dropping off again, but today Noisey is premiering the video for “Fear is the New Bliss,” a song that sees the band raging back to life.

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Where the I Wanna Die in Los Angeles EP felt like an open wound, “Fear is the New Bliss” is more measured, though no less charged. The song sees the band leaning on their poppier, dancier side, recalling the more buoyant moments of Cuban Ballerina and the Little Brother EP. Annicharico and Dalrymple trade off verses and choruses, singing about the declining state of the world and the perverse rush we all feel from endlessly tweeting about it.

Currently, Dead To Me is in the studio recording their fourth full-length with Chris Dugan, who has engineered records for the likes of Green Day and Iggy Pop. Once the recording is wrapped, they’ll be heading out on a short tour throughout California and the southwest. And if “Fear is the New Bliss” is an indication of what the band has in store for us, it shows that no amount of time off could ever dull their vigor.

February 15 – Scottsdale, AZ
February 16 – San Diego, CA – Awesome Fest
February 17 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
February 18 – Fullerton, CA – The Slidebar (FREE SHOW)
February 23 – San Francisco, CA – Brick and Mortar
February 24 – Reno, NV – Skate Jam