Video Premiere: Dead Quiet, “Of Sound and Fury”
While the hard data tells us that Vancouver is located in British Columbia, tucked neatly on the northern side of the US/Canada border along the Pacific Coast, you might be forgiven for watching/listening to Dead Quiet‘s “Of Sound and Fury” and assuming the band is Swedish. The five-piece issued their third long-player, Truth and Ruin (discussed here), on the tail end of last year’s lost summer, and if they’re looking to remind listeners of the record’s sundry strengths — the Scandi-esque fluidity with which they bring together classic heavy rock sounds and modern production and tonality among them, as heard here — “Of Sound and Fury” is a righteous place to start.
Maybe it’s the organ, or the subtle underpinning of precision in delivery that tips hand to the players’ roots in more aggressive fare, but these two are elements working decidedly in favor of “Of Sound and Fury” and Dead Quiet more generally across Truth and Ruin‘s seven component tracks, weaving in and out of classic metal and various other microgenres en route to the sweeping nine-minute capper “Cold Grey Death,” dropping earworm hooks all the while that bring substance as much as style behind them. Hey kid, you like rock and roll? Here’s some. And they got t-shirts.
I say this as someone who’s had “Of Sound and Fury” on repeat in my stuck-in-my-head mental jukebox for the last couple days: no regrets. The song is honestly enough of a sell in itself, but you’ll see too in the video the five-piece seem to arm up with various weaponry, and I think they might be enacting socialist revolution? One of the dudes they take down looks like Grover Cleveland and the other looks like not-Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, and the back-room dealings of capitalism would seem to be what’s being conveyed as they play games with people’s lives. Legit. Their Jeff Bezos lookalike must have been in space that day, lest we forget our modern-day robber barons.
In any case, the best part is when they’re all standing around at the end and it’s just a second or so, but they’re like, “Okay, now what?” Indeed, gentlemen. With sincerity in my heart, I wish the members of Dead Quiet good luck in forming a new provisional representative government. My understanding is that shit gets tricky.
Enjoy the clip:
Dead Quiet, “Of Sound and Fury” video premiere
Forming in 2014, Dead Quiet established themselves quickly with the release of their debut self titled record in 2015. By the time writing commenced for their follow up record, Grand Rites in 2017, Dead Quiet had found their perfect line up in Kevin Keegan (Barn Burner), Brock MacInnes (Anciients), Mike Grossnickle (Hashteroid) and Jason Dana. The release of Grand Rites on Toronto’s Artoffact Records was followed by two European tours, one of which being direct support for John Garcia (Kyuss), as well as numerous festival appearances including Desertfest Belgium and Into the Void (NL), further cementing the band as one to watch out for.
After a rigorous year of touring, the band had no intention of slowing down and swiftly entered the studio to record their third record: Truth and Ruin. Again teaming up with Artoffact, Truth and Ruin saw the addition of Mike Rosen to the band and further broadened the already keyboard laden sound they’d established on previous efforts. Truth and Ruin proves that work ethic and chemistry can truly refine a band’s sound to what they had always been striving for: heavy instrumentation combined with rich melody and uniquely personal lyricism, making Dead Quiet one of the hottest, must-see bands on the Canadian landscape.
Lineup:
Kevin Keegan – vocals, guitar
Brock MacInnes – guitar
Mike Grossnickle – bass
Mike Rosen – keyboards, backing vocals
Jason Dana – drums
Dead Quiet, Truth and Ruin (2020)
Artoffact Records on Instagram
Tags: Artoffact Records, British Columbia, Canada, Dead Quiet, Dead Quiet Truth and Ruin, Truth and Ruin, Vancouver
