I try not to editorialize too much here at TGEFM, but I’m going to admit that I’ve been a big fan of Dead Fucking Serious‘ brand of machine gun-style political hardcore since I got my hands on a promo copy of their 2017 LP SQUALOR back when I was over at Punknews. 2019’s PERIL was just as good, and now the band are on the cusp of releasing a new LP, KLANDEMIC (which I was able to get a pre-release copy of to check out before this interview), guitarist-vocalist Sam (aka- Sammy Warm Hands) was gracious enough to submit to a Roll of the Dice. We rolled an EIGHT.
But, here, for the first time, TGEFM is allowed to reveal the cover to the upcoming album KLANDEMIC:
1) We rolled an 8 here, which is pretty good. I’d rather faff around with too many questions than not enough. So, hey! Thanks for getting me that copy of Klandemic to check out before this interview. Seriously, is “Panicdote” the longest DFS song ever? (laughter)
Absolutely! Our shortest songs are about 10 seconds, so five minutes is just insane.
2) Honestly, I was a bit surprised when I saw the length of that song. Readers, this is true: “Panicdote” takes up more than ¼ the entire length of the LP, which is 13 tracks long. Consider that DFS usually hits with sudden blasts of anger and energy that are usually done in well under two minutes (often less than one), what led you to write a song that is considerably longer than normal? I want to add that the length doesn’t detract from the song itself, it is 100% pure DFS hardcore.
Well when we made PERIL, we recorded 18 songs in a day. We performed them in “blocks,” without stopping, like we do onstage. I thought that the next logical step would be writing an extended piece of music with that approach, ie – The Decline. There’s a lot of …And Justice For All in even our short arrangements, so I knew it was possible. I just didn’t know where to start.
A few months later, the world shut down and I was deemed an “essential worker.” It was the worst anxiety of my life and this massive song just poured out of me. (The first demo was even longer.) The final draft in my phone is dated March 29, 2020 but everyone was quarantined so we couldn’t record it.
3) Dead Fucking Serious’ ouvre tends towards commentary on society’s ills, and a lot of downsides of the human condition, . Whereas DFS “modern era” releases SQUALOR and PERIL had more general, all-encompassing titles, this one takes its name from a specific track. Is there a reasoning behind that?
KLANDEMIC was written on lockdown, by myself, so I don’t consider it really a sequel to those albums. It’s very much about the collapse of society, whether that’s the pandemic, or climate change, or misinformation. The title and the album cover were conceived at the same time: I pictured a modern spin on the Dead Kennedys classic, In God We Trust, Inc. Luckily for us, the artist—Winston Smith—is a friend of the band. If he hadn’t agreed to make it, we wouldn’t have done it.
But the song “Klandemic” was actually the last thing written. I liked the idea of a contagious virus as a metaphor for the spread of white supremacy. You’re expecting it to be about the pandemic, but it’s even more insidious.
4) No offense, but without a lyric sheet on-hand, it can be sometimes hard to follow what’s being sung (once again, not a bad thing, just the nature of hardcore). However, I have the impression that SQUALOR and PERIL were more albums with songs, while KLANDEMIC definitely seems to me to have a more cohesive feeling behind it, both in how the songs fit together, and the general “vibe” of the album. Is it intentional that these songs fit together in a way that seems more than just the order of the tracks?
I’m glad that you say that, because I’ll spend a great deal of time sequencing an album. That’s really the only way I know it’s done; if I can arrange the demos in a way that feels complete.
SQUALOR was largely about depression (grief, suicide, etc.), PERIL was about violence (mass shootings, police killings, etc.); and while every album has other types of songs mixed in, KLANDEMIC was written in this bottle of world events that just took over the narrative.
We got called a political band pretty early on and I guess we’re growing into it! Haha
5) With KLANDEMIC out soon and, hopefully, the worst of the pandemic behind us, what else is in the cards for Dead Fucking Serious?
That’s a tough one. The PERIL tour was shortened significantly when our drummer (Kellen Holte) had a baby, so we’re technically still on hiatus. Mike Cambra (Adolescents, Death By Stereo) filled in on the record, but we’re still working out how and when Kellen can return.
That said, we’ll play a couple shows for KLANDEMIC this summer, and I’ve already finished writing our next album. We won’t go three years between records this time.
6) Under the monikers of Sammy Warm Hands and Take 92 Music, you share a lot of your interests one wouldn’t normally think of when they just hear DFS: a love and hip-hop, both performing it, and the history of the genre; to podcasts on things ranging from music to The Bat Fan Addict. Do you ever get time to, you know… eat or sleep? (laughter) What else do you have your hands in that would be of interest to our readers?
It’s funny that you say that, because it feels like I’ve been slacking!
I’m recording new episodes for The Take 92 Podcast (interviews with Berzerk, Sum 41, and Run DMC), and my Batman show, The Bat Fan Addict Podcast, just finished our second season. My latest book How To Ruin Your Life: The Daily Grind of a DIY Tour just celebrated its first anniversary, and I really hope that my rap album with Web The Free Range Human (titled Demented Inventive Energy) will finally be finished this year.
That, and DFS just reissued our 2012 EP, The Reclamation. It’s been so long since PERIL, that I just wanted to give people something for their patience, and Paul Miner cranked out a great new mix for us.
7) You’ve been involved in the music scene for a pretty long time. Name some bands that TGEFM’s readers may not have heard of, but should definitely check out.
Most of the NW bands that we came up with aren’t around anymore, but you might be able to find them online: Compact 56, 800 Octane, 5 Good Reasons (members of The Brass), A Mind Like Yours, Berzerk, Countdown To Life (members of Broadway Calls), Grounds For Assault, and our tour mates Streetlight Cardiacs, who recently demoed their next album at my studio. I actually just submitted a bunch of flyers to The Punk Rock Museum last night, so these bands were still fresh in my mind.
8) Dead Fucking Serious usually has a pretty grim tone about the prospects for humanity, but I’d like to think that you wouldn’t be pointing out our faults if you didn’t think we could correct our downward trajectory. Do you have any hope for the human race and, if so, what do you think we need to do as a whole to turn this ship around?
I don’t, really. George Carlin once said “scratch a cynic, and you’ll find a disappointed idealist.” And I think that’s true, but the complete disregard for others’ health and safety during the pandemic has left a horrible taste in my mouth. My heart was already hurt from the Trump years and I believe they’re coming back with a vengeance in 2024. (Hence the album cover.)
And on the side of climate change, I think we should move inland (and north) before the wildfires, hurricanes, and tsunamis make our coastal cities unlivable. Because when that happens, the savvy landlords will be there, waiting.
To boil it down, I’ll quote a few lines from our closing track, “New Normal”:
A smoke-filled sky with a blood-red sun / An air of regret over what we’ve become / We act like the countdown has hardly begun / But there is no future, we’re already done
Dead Fucking Serious just released a remastered version of their portion of a 2012 split with The ILLusionists, titled The Reclamation EP. Their new album KLANDEMIC is due out soon, and we’ll get information on that release date to you as soon as possible. In the meantime, check out the Take 92 Music Bandcamp page to hear more from the band, as well as Sam’s other work.
Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A Pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed.
the white drew carey (aka – Jeff Sorley) is the founder and head editor of TGEFM. He’s lived (outside of) Chicago, Madison WI, (ugh) Penn State, Lyon FR, Oxford UK, central New Jersey, and now within earshot of SFO in the Bay Area. When not scouring the web for more great bands and labels to post about, he also spends time drawing (mostly) silly sci-fi and anime stuff under the name Asplenia Studios.
