Dead or American's debut album, 'Ends' was released in November 2006 and received various positive reviews. Due to various technical problems and lack of resources this album took around two years
to be completed, from recording to mastering. Peter McCulloch was the DoA bassist from January 2004 through to October 2006 and thus he obviously played
bass on this record. The record was produced by Pete Flett and Chris Cusack. Paintings in sleeve by Sandra Gamarra Heshiki. Photographs in sleeve
by Dave Newitt. The album was mastered by Alan Douches at WWSM in NY. The album is available UK wide through Cargo Distribution on Pet Piranha Records. You can also order online from Pet Piranha's website, HMV, Amazon e.t.c.
A video was made for "Flame Out" by Black Lamp. This video has already featured on Scuzz TV. For more info on the band check out their myspace page or official website. In the meantime check out
some of the reviews Ends received (below).
VARIOUS POSITIVE REVIEWS:
POWERPLAY
...if they can keep this standard up then they could well be your new favourite band
A list of the bands you can hear running through Dead or American's fingers reads like a history lesson in underground alt rock over the last 20 years: Fugazi, The Pixies, Slint, The Melvins, Helmet, Cave-In, Hot Water Music. That they wear these influences on their sleeve gives them a weird musical freedom, drifting from alternative rock, to a more drawn out, sprawling sound, and then over to all-out hardcore. Despite these shifts, the music is still highly focussed and there is an overall feel to all of the songs that unites them under the Dead or American umbrella.
Technical problems with the recording of "Ends" meant that the whole album had to be re-recorded from scratch, and you can hear the sense of frustration and the desire to do it better second time around in every riff, every drum beat, and every vocal line. Some bands might have cracked under this pressure but these guys have really turned it to their advantage.
They've already started recording album number two and if they can keep this standard up then they could well be your new favourite band. You'd be well advised to check them out right now.
Review by Andy Malt
Website
8/10
ROCKSOUND
...this band are capable of greatness.
It sometimes seems as though the rock world can be split into two
distinct groups: those who love Fugazi and those who haven't heard them.
It's admittedly a broad generalisation but so much of what we take for granted
nowadays was first introduced by Ian MacKaye's band of moody men. DOA have clearly
heard Fugazi and most probably adore them as even their song titles would suit
the DC icons ('Flame Out', 'Ex-Liar', etc). But while they ring many familiar
post-hardcore bells, their sound is nothing short of compelling. Their songs
are intelligently arranged and layered with thick textures and angular instrumentation
that make for a thoroughly absorbing listen. Should they step out of the shadows of their forebears,
this band are capable of greatness.
Review by Tarik Algin
Website
7/10
DROWNED IN SOUND
...fairly breathtaking at times and consistently satisfying throughout.
Every so often it’s easy to forget that Dead Or American aren’t the latter (it’s pretty obvious from all the noise that the four-piece aren’t dead). From Scotland though their makers are, the songs of Ends owe no little debt to the groaning Stateside grunge of the early ‘90s, the dizzying post-hardcore of the last decade’s middle, and the energetic punk of Drive Like Jehu and their similarly itchy ilk. But do such obvious touchstones make for a dissatisfying debut? Oh heck no.
Ends is, to summarise succinctly early on, fairly breathtaking at times and consistently satisfying throughout. These songs bounce and bomb like the best Biffy Clyro efforts so-far laid to tape, albeit mercifully without the over-egging, and resonate with the proper post-hardcore emotional force of Small Brown Bike, Burning Airlines, At The Drive-In, et cetera. Never overly complex, they’re immediate affairs that suck you in swiftly and choose not to let you loose ‘til the always-worth-it climax.
Does it sound a little dated? Yes, sometimes, but the band are already at work on album number two with Converge’s Kurt Ballou, which should tell you more about their musical mindset than any of the words above. Ends arrives far later than ever expected – it had to be entirely re-recorded, and computer problems delayed the mixing process – but is far from a token release, put out simply to close one chapter of the band’s recording career, even if said chapter was a lot longer than it should have been. It’s a strong punk-rock record, full of attitude and spirit, killer hooks and biting riffs.
Live, Dead Or American must be excellent if these songs are anything to go by. For now, record-wise, absolute judgment will be saved until the next long-player. But should any of the aforementioned outfits – or all of them – tickle your fancy in any way, Ends will be right up your piss-stained back alley. That’s not a euphemism, either, you filthy bastard.
Review by Mike Diver
Website
7/10
SKINNY MAG
An intimidating debut to rock our tartan socks
Regardless of any intensifying interest there may have been in the last few years, there still seems something terribly arcane about the contemporary Scottish music scene. It may be comparable to the New York and Seattle explosions in its often one-dimensional portrayal in the national media, but it’s still safe to say that the fuller picture lurks eagerly beneath a mass of unevenly placed hype.
Take Falkirk’s Dead or American, who must exist in some alternate universe to have remained such relative unknowns for so long. Their first LP, Ends, sees the rolling thunder of opener 'Flame Out' stomping with an understated fury, and so the album blazes its way for a few numbers before belatedly stating: 'Don’t Hold Your Breath' on song four. Searing and soothing at a well balanced pace, DoA are seemingly possessed by the threat of imminent and absolute collapse that The Jesus Lizard subscribed to, as well as the unusual soaring harmonies of Murmur era REM. All of this equates to an intimidating debut to rock some tartan socks.
Review by Dave Kerr
Website
4/5
NEW-NOISE.net
At last a British hardcore band who actually sound like they could mix it up with the big boys stateside
"Seriously – there’s been far too much screaming not enough ‘emoting’ in the UK hardcore scene recently"
At last a British hardcore band who actually sound like they could mix it up with the big boys stateside. Seriously, there’s been far too much screaming and not enough ‘emoting’ in the UK hardcore scene recently; in a non-emo way obviously.
This being the debut album for DOA means it’s packed full of continuous energy with the only "slow bit" coming in the form of rocker ‘Thousand Hills’. But you don’t hear slow screamo done better elsewhere, so hats off to them for that. ‘Sleep Well Diego Garcia’ takes TV On The Radio and fuses it with the good bits of Faith No More, whilst ‘Liquidation’ is Dead Kennedys covering Sweet - this is a good thing.
The sheer variety of influences is sometimes mind-boggling. They mayb be a hardcore band, but it is clear that Dead Or American (try googling it – there’s a lot of dead Americans funnily enough) have the ability to transcend that label by a mile.
On their wesbite, they include a delightfully British tour diary, for that added insight into the evolution of what could be a very exciting band. Apparently they are already working on their second album in Boston with Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou producing, so it’s very much a case of beginnings rather than endings.
Review by Lisa Holmes
Website
CMU MUSIC NETWORK
Like all great bands, they defy categorisation...
Although beginning like a pastiche of so many post-grunge chaotic rock bands, Dead Or American quickly up their game and start getting really interesting, oh, about two minutes into the album, and from there on in there's nary a moment of boo. Like all great bands, they defy categorisation, even if vocalist Chris Cusack channels the spirits of Kurt Cobain, Gibby Haynes and Mike Patton through his naturally drunk disposed Scottish nature. Likewise, the band is obviously schooled in these influences, but this is no mindless riff-riff rah-rah - every song has an interesting and unique arrangement, from atonal guitar scrape solos to interweaving vocal call-and-responses. There is such an abundance of ideas on display here that it's not until they swing back to good ol' ass kicking rock or a catchy vocal melody you notice that they've been messing with your head so fiercely. There are countless bands that Dead Or American share influences with, but most fail to see that what made the Butthole Surfers, Faith No More, Nirvana or Helmet great was not what they did, but how they did it. Mimicking their sound will not make you great, but mimicking their spirit is certainly a step in the right direction.
Review by 'AM'
Website
