“Supergroup” is an overused phrase that often isn’t very true, but Dead End America can make a solid case at being one of the metal underground’s bigger examples of such. Formed by the late Steve “Thee Slayer Hippy” Hanford (Poison Idea), Dead End America also features contributing vocalists Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod) and Blaine Cook (The Accüsed A.D., guitarists Ian Watts (Ape Machine, Minmae) and Tony Avila (World Of Lies, Why Won’t You Die) and bassist Nick Oliveri (Mondo Generator, The Dwarves, ex-Kyuss, ex-Queens Of The Stone Age). Their debut EP is called Crush the Machine and it’s a not-so-subtle verbal attack on the United States’ 45th president Donald Trump.
Look no further than new single “Bullet for 45 (Straight from a .45),” which will surely have me and every other contributor to this fine publication placed on a government watchlist, to get the gist of Dead End America. Straightforward punk with rocking leads, the band accuse Trump of “making America stupid again” and killing the American Dream.
“Songwriting-wise, we were aiming for a mixture of Poison Idea and The Accused,” Avila notes.
Williams has a lot more to say about the track, specifically about the lyrics and message behind it.
“‘Bullet for 45 (Straight from a .45)’ is a rallying cry to fight back against a garbage-infected, corrupted liar’s bullshit system and also a tribute to our late friend Steve Hanford aka ‘Thee Slayer Hippy,’” he explains. “My only regret about this record is Steve didn’t live to see the final release, but I know he’d be proud of us. These songs are a timeless and much needed hardcore punk metal blast into the face of an untrusted authority.”
Check out “Bullet for 45” below and pre-order via Southern Lord. Crush the Machine hits the web on October 30, with vinyl following in November.