STRUNG OUT
NEW ALBUM "DEAD REBELLION“ ON APRIL 5 VIA FAT WRECK!
FIRST SINGLE, "CAGES“ IS AVAILABLE HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuvKZsUHwrA
The Californian rock band Strung Out will release their 10th album "Dead Rebellion“ on April 5 via Fat Wreck Chords.
"Dead Rebellion", created amidst the challenges of the global pandemic, represents a crucial turning point for the band, which has been showcasing its musical prowess for 35 years. The album features a distinctive mid-tempo and heavy vibe, where melody takes precedence over speed. The thematic core of the album addresses the complexity of societal issues, personal struggles, and the divisive effects of our technology-driven world.
Lead singer Jason Cruz explains:
"Dead Rebellion" is a love letter to our fans and the product of a 34-year negotiation with ourselves and the world. It was written, played, and produced with the deep conviction that none of this is in vain, and when you love something enough, it will always take care of you in the end. The song "Cages", for example, deals with the self-imposed limitations that hold us back, such as blame and self-victimization. Only when we eliminate these from the equation can real growth occur."
About Strung Out & the upcoming album "Dead Rebellion":
It was always meant to be different. Regardless of what happened between the last Strung Out album (the 2019 "Songs of Armor and Devotion") and this new collection of songs, it was always the band's intention to step away from themselves a bit with this album. Although Dead Rebellion - the band's tenth album in their remarkable 35-year career - was written at the height of the pandemic and, like all Strung Out albums, is a response to the world in general and their own personal experiences within it, the band had already decided before Covid to close this chapter. A new beginning had long been in the works.
"We reached a point where I felt we would be repeating ourselves if we continued," explains singer Jason Cruz. "And you know, we are a metal band - a punk-metal band - and there’s only so much you can do before people start writing you off because you’ve lost your roots or something. We all have side projects that we use to explore other realms, but I think this is the best we can do to keep our fanbase and lead them in a slightly different direction. It’s more mid-tempo and harder, less focused on speed. We tried to be more melodic.”
That’s not to say these 12 songs lack impact, but at the same time, the way the five-member band, which today consists of guitarists (and founding members) Jake Kiley and Rob Ramos, bassist Chris Aiken, and drummer Daniel Blume, focuses on melody rather than riffs is definitely noticeable. For example, the opener "Future Ghosts" begins in a rush of riffs and drumbeats before it transitions into a kind of hypnotic aggression, or the frenetic undertone of "White Owls", whose power condenses into a soft whisper before it rises again in a passionate outburst of emotions. The same goes for "Life You Bleed", one of many requiems for modern life, which initially comes across as calm but then builds into a full-fledged rock anthem.
Elsewhere, "Cages" is a scathing indictment of the torn, polarized, and technology-driven nature of society, while "Empire Down" is a self-reflective ode to the pressure and expectations one has as a member of this band. "We are the orphans of a revolutionary song," sings Cruz; elsewhere in the song, he quotes the refrain of Nina Simone's 1964 song "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". When the album concludes a few tracks later with the breakneck (yet melodic) intensity of "Plastic Skeletons", Cruz returns to the meaning of that very revolutionary song. "Everybody dancing for applause," he sings, "when the song is how we rise above."
"People always talk shit about religious people and spirituality," says Cruz, "like, 'Oh, you believe in a man in the sky'. But then the same people come to me and look at me as if I or my songs have the answers to their questions. Because everyone is searching for something, everyone needs something. Sometimes I wish, as a father and husband, I could call my dad or anyone and just ask, 'What the hell am I supposed to do here?' Everyone needs a North Star. While these two lines contradict each other in a way, they also show that we are all searching for something and we all believe in something, no matter how ridiculous or superstitious it is. And those things can disappoint you, but they can also lift you up."
Regardless of the pressure that may be on the band, and despite Cruz's uncertainty that he might disappoint people as a North Star, Strung Out's songs have had an uplifting effect on many people for three and a half decades. "Dead Rebellion" is no different. In a world that Cruz sees as incredibly divided, in a world where - as he describes in the aforementioned "Cages" - people are constantly building "ideological walls" around each other, he hopes this record can help tear them down.
"The key to this record," says Cruz, "is technology and division - divisive language, divisive attitudes, divisive ideologies. I feel like I’ve been let down by many things in a way. What happened to the approach of bringing people together? I thought that was the reason we started out back then. That’s still a big part of me, and it seeps into the lyrics - I’m just trying to find common ground with people again and remind them that we are all the same. At the end of the day, when the lights go out, we all want the same thing. Hence the title "Dead Rebellion" - we’ve come so far, and here we are again, just splintered and constantly at each other’s throats."
So this is the essence of "Dead Rebellion". Produced, mixed, and recorded by Shawn McGee at Artistry Recording Studio in Las Vegas, it represents a new chapter for Strung Out, yet follows the same principles that have always driven them. And although Cruz says he has never seen Strung Out as a political band, this record - like all Strung Out records - perfectly captures the zeitgeist and the self-destructive political climate, especially in the USA.
"I struggle with the political thing," says Cruz. "I don’t think we are political. I think we are just human. We are a bunch of guys who are like everyone else. We’re not that smart. We’re just five guys who actually have nothing in common and yet have proven to the world that you can come together and create something beautiful when you just leave your personal shit aside. It’s that simple.”
Whether overtly political or not, "Dead Rebellion" is nonetheless an album shaped by the world we live in and all the experiences and wisdom Cruz has gained over the years, and it reacts to this. It is also an album that builds on the unwavering principles that the band has had in their hearts from the very beginning. While Cruz hopes it can help unite people, he is more than aware that this is likely asking too much. But that doesn’t mean he won’t try anyway.
"I know that won’t happen," he admits. "We’ve probably strayed too far off the path. There’s a saying, 'You can never go back home', and I feel like the horses are out of the barn and just running wild. So this is in a way my declaration of war - a war about staying true to the person I know I am, staying true to myself and my brothers - and doing what I believe is right, looking people in the eye and giving them a chance to listen and doing my best to bring people together. And that’s probably the mountain I will die on.”
STRUNG OUT - DEAD REBELLION
Tracklisting:
1. Future Ghosts
2. Signal Fires
3. New Gods
4. White Owls
5. Life You Bleed
6. Cages
7. Empire Down
8. Resistance
9. Ceremony
10. Veronica’s Song
11. Dystopian Party Bus
12. Plastic Skeletons
