Detroit garage rockers Deadbeat Beat released their single “Bar Talk” this week, and it is a chillingly accurate portrayal of bar-scene anxiety. The band – made up of Zak Frieling, Alex Glendening, and Maria Nuccilli – stays true to its trademark lo-fi sound on the single, with thrashing drums and warbled guitar. Glendening’s blasé delivery recalls proto-punk pioneers like The Modern Lovers and early New York Dolls, mirroring the mundane nothing-talk that inevitably results from seeing the same people at the same bars night after night.
Glendening says he wrote “Bar Talk” at a time when he was frequenting the same bar and felt disillusioned by the social scene. “I was experiencing paranoia from being at the bar too much, and having many ‘acquaintances’ that I didn’t actually know,” says Glendening. “Some nights, no one would talk to me. Other nights, people would want to know all about me and pretend like we had been longtime friends. I’ve since learned that this is just what happens at bars, but at the time it was pretty stressful for me… Also, at that time I was trying out becoming comfortable with being gay while hanging around a bunch of straight people at punk shows.”
The singer’s aforementioned paranoia is made apparent throughout the song, lyrically and musically. “You talk slick, but you’re full of dirty tricks,” Glendening sings to nobody in particular, before the song slows to a distorted crawl. The cloudy stupor is lifted as the song ends, only to transform into the sonic version of the spins, as Glendening decides to close the night with one last drink.
While the song undoubtedly captures the unpleasant cocktail of social anxiety mixed with overconsumption, it also serves as a dizzying metaphor for those meandering through the clusterfuck known as “your twenties” and a comforting reminder that punk rock is not dead.
Deadbeat Beat will head out on a mini-tour starting April 5th with stops in Columbus, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Detroit. The Detroit show will be part of a John Waters Birthday Bash where DBB will open for one of their favorite bands, Hunx & His Punx. See the tour dates and listen to “Bar Talk” below.
4/05/18 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
4/06/18 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Pharmacy w/ don’t
4/07/18 – Brooklyn, NY @ Alphaville w/ Bodega
4/08/18 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Glove w/ don’t
4/20/18 – Detroit, MI @ El Club w/ Hunx & His Punx[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
Back in 1996, five women with idiosyncratically branded personalities took the world by storm as the Spice Girls, and their demands were simple: “I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really really really wanna zig-a-zig ah.” Those iconic words by (perhaps) the greatest girl group of all time must’ve stuck with Deadbeat Beat frontman Alex Glendening as a blueprint for candid honesty, even if no one knows what a zig-a-zig is to this day. Maybe that’s why so many Baby Spices populate the video for his band’s latest video, “See You All The Time.”
Written back in 2011 but included on the Detroit DIY Sixties pop revivalists’ upcoming debut record When I Talk To You, “See You All The Time” snaps with nostalgic undertones but is lyrically relevant for today’s ghosters (and ghostees). Our AbFab shirt-wearing protagonist describes bumping into the same person a little too frequently – or perhaps being casually stalked – but sings “I’m too polite to ever say/I just can’t deal with you today/I’ll just never call you back/and you should probably face the fact/you’re a creepy creeper creeping to the first degree.” In the video, that creepy creeper playfully takes the form of dozens of Baby Spice wannabes, but the sentiment is an all-too-familiar descriptor of complicated dating norms in a small social pool like Detroit’s.
Directed by Noah Elliott Morrison, Emma Buntons abound throughout the hazy, hallucinatory summer street adventure – in gas station slushie lines, hanging out of moving pick-up trucks, dangling from trees with swinging legs, licking lollipops in bar bathrooms. It could be a dream or a nightmare, depending on how you feel about pigtails.
Count the Baby Spices and check out Deadbeat Beat in a town near you:
Deadbeat Beat hits the road: July 28 – Detroit, MI @ UFO Factory
Aug 4 – Chicago, IL @ Cole’s
Aug 5 – Indianapolis, IN @ State Street Pub
Aug 6 – Cincinnati, OH @ at Wood Dungeon
Aug 7 – Augusta, GA @ Soul Bar
Aug 9 – New Orleans, LA @ Poor Boys
Aug 10 – Austin, TX @ Beerland
Aug 11 – Hot Springs, AR @ Maxine’s
Aug 12 – Nashville, TN @ DRKMTTR
Aug 18 – Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe
Aug 19 – Cleveland, OH @ Maple Lanes (Maple Fest)
There is an undeniable shift in self when the clocks return to their forward position and warmer days begin to outnumber the cold ones. Spring, though different depending on your geographic specifics, happens under the same sky at just about the same time. Perhaps you’re like me and mending a broken heart after the end of what can only be described as a cruel internal winter, looking forward to dusting off, stretching out and starting over. But whatever version of spring suits you best, let these emotionally selected tracks from Detroit’s vast pool of feelings-feelers guide you through the waves of change.
The Bowie-esque closing track on Zoos of Berlin’s groundbreaking return from hiatus, last year’s Instant Evening, swirls like winter’s final snow against new growth on your favorite neighborhood tree. “North Star on the Hill” encapsulates hesitance and imbalance but with a fragility suited for this polarized change in season.
Yeah, okay. It’s no secret that I can’t get enough of Michigan native and songstress/sorceress Anna Ash’s 2016 release Floodlights. Her Lucinda Williams-esque warble and her completely unique vocal warmth could melt the most stubborn frost from the windshield of your equally stubborn ’89 Cutlass. “Player” is timeless and sun-soaked (why do I feel like it could be on the Erin Brockovich soundtrack or, like, Ally McBeal?) but what makes it a great addition to this seasonal transition is her ability to meld vulnerability with hair-flipping “I-told-you-so” vibes.
I’m not the biggest Minihorse fan. Or maybe it was a timing thing when they dropped their fuzzy, lo-fi EP Big Lack last year. But hey. I sort of get it now. “Drink You Dry” is laced with memories of riding around in your girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend’s best friend’s backseat while you may or may not be day-drunk, trying not to get dizzy watching the blur of houses and trees from the lap of someone you met once. It’s an afternoon. It’s boredom. It’s quietly and politely reckless. And in a lot of ways, it’s Spring.
There’s something so nervous and sweet about this 2005 release from one of our most beloved indie pop acts Saturday Looks Good to Me. Led by the incomparable Fred Thomas, “No Good With Secrets” embodies an innocence and aimlessness that tugs on our teenage heartstrings but 12 years later makes space for our adult selves as we still carry those bashfully brazen tendencies to drive by someone’s house (even if they can’t come out to play.)
Maybe I’m getting a little too literal, but there is something perfectly riotous and manic about Deadbeat Beat’s “When the Sun Soaks In.” It elicits that moment you realize you don’t need a jacket to leave the house and how the sight of your own bare arms turns you on. A fusion of a 1960’s beach party and a 90’s make-out session, this track is equal to smelling salts or pheromones for our shared and stagnant winter coma.
The truth is, I’ve spent more time over the past two years trying to convince myself that I like JrJr than I have actually spent liking JrJr. The verdict? I don’t get the hype or the Warner Brothers continuous record deal. This song, however, is insufferably Spring and is so infectious that you may as well make an appointment with a licensed physician or psychiatrist because even when the song ends the whistling will go on and on and on…and on. I’m sure you’re wondering why a respected music journalist with what some would say exquisite taste would include something that makes her so despairingly nauseous on a playlist about Spring. The answer is simple. “Gone” is carefully crafted to make you feel invincible. It’s a look back, a look forward and ultimately it’s about leaving what is truly gone in the dust to never be found again. This will be the last time I ever listen to this song willingly. But maybe for you, the right person in the right moment, you’ll see “the light through the trees.”[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
Lo-fi DIY nostalgia-pop babes Deadbeat Beat delivered some much needed fuzz and feels by means of two new live tracks released on cassette earlier this month. Both were recorded live at Lo! & Behold Records and Books for The Milo Show (Detroit’s premiere music web-series, hosted by local beat enthusiast and Detroit Free Press contributor Jeff Milo). “And Then it Hit Me” and “The Box” do not reinvent the 1960’s hazy genre of Velvet Underground jam-rcok but, they do give the entire encompassing sound a dusting off with equal parts angst and whimsy. Where “The Box” feels a little Peter, Bjorn and John in its nasally French pop aesthetic, “And Then it Hit Me” has a more focused, searing Brian Jonestown Massacre power with a hint of when Wilco was still good. With this well thought-out marriage of two tracks that still feel spontaneous and vibrant in their full-picture spectrum, Deadbeat Beat comes very much alive.
Tis’ the season for the summer festival! Hosted by Detroit’s own Seraphine Collective, BFF Fest is an inclusive safe space and special slice of summer love created to celebrate the diverse talents of Detroit’s creative community. With an inspired curation of artists and a consciousness aimed to build a more supportive music scene, BFF Fest is a progressive and inviting celebration that strives to make connections between the underrepresented individuals, music and identities. And just as important as the mad posi vibes, the lineup is bursting with the perfect sounds for an eternal Detroit summer! Not in Detroit? No problem! Rally your besties, spark up the barbecue and soak into summer with our BFF Fest playlist!
1. Best Exes: “Blessing”
The concept of having a best ex is pleasantly perplexing and the threesome Best Exes is a shimmery reflection of a love that lingers past the expiration date.
2.Junk Food Junkies: “Takeout Chinese”
Kitschy, cute and nihilistic lo-fi babes, Junk Food Junkies, write songs about the sweet, the savory and the bullshit of daily life. For a band with songs about pizza bagels, Chinese takeout and Faygo soda there is a depth that speaks volumes of the plight of the millennial, just with more pizza. Lots of pizza.
3. The Freebleeders: “Problematic Faves”
Remember the things you loved as a kid/teenager/adult? Well, they’re probably rooted in misogyny , racism, sexism and other examples of unethical evil and The Freebleeders are here to remind you and struggle with you by sharing their “Problematic Faves.” Dark, yes. But this brutally thoughtful track is still summer ready with a biting tongue.
4. Bonny Doon: “Summertime Friends”
Moody and sedated, “Summertime Friends” echoes and climbs with a melancholic malaise that is treated with medications of the party variety. Take a midday beach nap on a lovers lap to this track and let the sun burn the space around your stolen sunglasses.
5. Deadbeat Beat: “When the Sun Soaks in”
This retro, surf-punk track is reminiscent of The Kinks with its jutting pop bounciness and droning vocal timbre. Suited for beach ball tossing or post-breakup flirtation, Deadbeat Beat has their pulse on your summer feels.
6. Jes Kramer: “Something”
Grand Rapids (near the pinky of our lovely Michigan Mitten) based singer-songwriter babe Jes Kramer creates deeply personal, emotive tracks that will make summer folks ask you if you’re sweating or crying. Intricately layered with raw lyrical power, Kramer lovingly takes us back to the day where we listened to The Postal Service and day dreamt through closed windows.
Ticket Giveaways
Each week Audiofemme gives away a set of tickets to our featured shows in NYC! Scroll down to enter for the following shindigs.
