Total Blog

DEAD. SO TOTAL.
Total Fest has an international past. Canadian international.... just last year Fist City ensured that we broke out of the u.S. a little bit. Even if southern Alberta's closer than eastern Montana, hey, international's fuckin' international around here.

So, that we've got a group hopping on a plane to come to the states for the first time, from somewhere that's like yesterday and tomorrow at the same time time-zone-wise, and who are not only from a different continent, but a different hemisphere, well, few things tickle us quite this much. So who is it? The band is Melbourne, Australia's Dead. Jem from Fire Witch and the We Empty Rooms newest band. Jem's been a Wantage bro for something like five+ years here, we've traded LPs, we've swapped mailorder woes, and Wantage even put out an insane Fire Witch Japan 10" just a couple years back. So what's Dead all about?

Same vibe in many ways as Fire Witch, but with a single bass courtesy of Jace. Heavy, but heavy on its own terms, not by shear riffin' mayhem, more a creeping ominousness, some good space and slow creep, and then the epic riff. Jem's a furious drummer, akin to a Bonzo/Crover vibe. Always winning in our book around here. He's been on this wild channeling of noise rock and doom for his career, and we think this shit is top notch, or "ripper" as they they say, south of the equator. So, that's that, man. They're touring in Malaysia right now. Look for them in the U.S. this summer with Unstoppable Death Machines! This is a pretty momentous thing for us around here, our first band, and they're from Oceania. Home to the Celibate Rifles, Eddy Current, AC/DC, Lubricated Goad, the Saints and Grey Daturas! OUCH.