DEAD (Australian Sludge Dou)

 

DEAD is Jace Rogers on bass and vocals and Jem Maloney on drums. This dou is from Melbourne, Australia playing sludge kind of metal and they went to Manila for a couple of gigs. I was able to catch them perform together with Caitlyn Bailey, Monochrome, Onion, Legarda and Wilederness at YADU Store at The Collective in the city Makati. 

Band profile from their website:

Jem and Jace are DEAD. They are awesome. Most bands are awful but not DEAD, they’re awesome. It’s spelled in capitals ‘cos there are only four letters and you have to make them count.

There are 8,000,000 bands in the world and if you managed to discover this one in that great big pile of mediocrity you have done very well for yourself. Read on to discover just how well.

Most people don’t “get” DEAD, but then most people are idiots. Actually, most people would not even have a clue who DEAD are. But even if they did, they would not “get it.” What a bunch of losers man! They are missing out.

Jem and Jace both also play together in Fangs of… who are even less popular than DEAD. Jem is also in Fire Witch and Inappropriate Tough Guy Behaviour who have cred in some circles. But it’s too early to tell if any of that cred will carry over. It’s a funny old business.

In September 2010 DEAD was born. There is a dad joke somewhere in that statement, feel free to make it. Even though they have a lot of other bands and things to do Jem and Jace wanted to play more music. So they wrote some songs, booked a tour for Nov/Dec, played a heap of shows, recorded an album and started booking tours of SE Asia and USA.

It’s 2011 and you don’t need to be told what the band sound like. The internet can tell you that. You don’t even have to buy the record when it comes out. You can just download it and say that you own it. The important thing is that they look incredible.

DEAD make their own merch and run their own label (WeEmptyRooms). You can get specially made DEAD T-shirts, hoodies, patches, tea towels, undies, pillow cases and even more. Because you’re not a real punk band unless you got stuff to sell with your name on it.

And DEAD are TOTALLY a punk band!

DEAD will never be popular. No one is losing sleep over this and if they are, they are idiots. DEAD won’t stop ‘cos being in DEAD is too much fun. Go and see them live or buy a record if you yearn for a life changing experience.

www.DeadSounds.com www.WeEmptyRooms.com

Booking/Contact Policy:

DEAD are very committed to touring as much as possible to as many places as we can. If you want us to play in your town, please ask us. No gig is too small, no town is too far away, no venue too obscure.

The same applies to zines, radio presenters etc. If you want to review or interview us please just ask.

Or if you just wanna say g’day please do. It’s awesome when people tell us they like what we do. If you hate us, don’t bother letting us know. We actually don’t care!

The Saddest Day

And we won't be breathing in that same sun again.

The Saddest Day 

from the album Petitioning The Empty Sky

by Converge

And we won't be breathing in that same sun again. None of this will ever surface again. How we get older, how we forget about each other. And the angel falls to the sky. Raised and colled she blessed this day she did. And it rings our ears. She rarely flies anymore, burden broke her wings. And I know this ghost, i have seen it before. Young it is the dying to fast, too soon, i'll be okay. The air thins in the quick and our lips move but we hear no sound. Every time you justify, another good in you dies. Faith and fear sears me, and love and you pull all the right strings. "How we get older, how we forget about each other" she said. Entwined within the sadder of days.

The Drought

The Drought

Just sharing another travel photo. Used HDR post processing here. A hot day on a deserted Island. 

Contact me at lorenzoreyesphotography@gmail.com 

- Listening to some music from The Antlers debut album "Burst Apart" 

The Radio Dept. Manila Tour

When I look at you, heaven's on fire. I wish I didn't know you better, but its pointless. One look at you, and heaven's on fire. - Heavens On Fire, The Radio Dept.

After several months of waiting The Radio Dept dropped by to Manila as part of their Asian tour. I was so excited about this specially when I heard that Moscow Olympics will be opening for them. 

I discovered the The Radio Dept. music somewhere in 2005; this is the time when I was really hooked to indiepop, shoegaze and other genres associated with this type of music. Lesser Matters became a usual tracks on my morning playlist, there are so many good songs on this album like, Where damage isn't already done, Why won't you talked about it, 1995, Against the tide and Strange thing will happen became my instant favorites. So when I heard that they are coming to Manila I didn't even think twice to see them live, I instantly filed a vacation leave for since it was a rare chance to see them play live.

The opening act Moscow Olympics was superb during their set, they have several mistakes though. And I was even warned by my friend that they're not that good during live performances. It is understandable since they don't play much live shows nor should I say they don't really play live. I've been told some stories and I guess theres no need to share it. Nevertheless, as soon as they walk up to the stage the crowd started screaming with enthusiasm and excitement since this is the first time for most of the crowd to see this band play live. I was able to make a move and go upfront to have a better sight. From their opening up to their last song seeing and hearing them live was a total bliss to my ears. I wasn't able to list down what songs they played since I was really enjoying the music and quite busy taking some decent photos. Good thing camera is allowed at the venue.

        

After the Moscow's set I moved a little closer to the stage, with some people from the local indie scene. The Radio Dept walked to the stage and opened their set with the song Domestic Scene from their latest critically acclaimed album Clinging To A Scheme. After this, I was expecting that they will play Heaven's On Fire since they're playing this usually in second order, but they played This Time Around instead.  They also played some crowd favorites like Keen On Boys, Ewan, 1995, The Worst Taste In Music. While The Radio Dept. is playing Heaven's On Fire I noticed that I was standing beside this really cool girl who have an Unknown Pleasure tats on her right arm. I was able to say hi and compliment her for that piece of her art given that I'm a big JD fan. I checked their setlist and I think they also played some songs that are not included on their list like Token of Gratitude and Why Won't You Talked About It.   

 

It was great night of good quality music, thanks to Mr. Joff Cruz and his crew for bringing this kind of foreign acts to our shores. Thinking this is exceptional for the local indie scene and hopefully more bands tour here in the Philippines. I saw the Manila Indie Survey page in Facebook the other day and they're cooking a St. Etienne tour here, so lets increase the demand for this kind of shows. And let us not forget that we have so many good indie bands that need our support as well. So please support our local indie scene.

Took some photos that night using a Nikon D90 and a 50mm 1.8 Nikkor lens. Contact me at lorenzoreyesphotography@gmail.com