Lifeless Pioneers sustain the momentum with the third launch from their killer new album which goes to explode this April. Mark my phrases. Legendary Cowboys is a punk as fuck swipe at John Wayne and Kevin Costner, scathing lyrics to a scathing sound you’ll all be speaking about this 12 months. Learn on…
Denver’s Lifeless Pioneers will launch their new album, PO$T AMERICAN, on eleventh April through Problem Data. Fronted by famend visible and efficiency artist Gregg Deal, a North American Indigenous vocalist, the band unapologetically confronts social, political, and cultural points – a spotlight central to their id. Right this moment the band provides one other style of PO$T AMERICAN with their new single “Legendary Cowboys.”
Streaming/pre-order hyperlink HERE.
Gregg Deal shares:
“In 1990, once I was a sophomore in highschool, ‘Dances with Wolves’ got here out. Like many, within the preliminary viewing of what would later win an Oscar for greatest movie, I used to be enamoured and confused.
Seeing one thing Indigenously acquainted if you’re younger can typically be complicated and overwhelming, to make certain, however one thing was amiss. With out the language to articulate what it I might later come to a spot of understanding the Hollywood trope of white saviorism.
My mom’s adopted father, a white man, would categorical his love for John Wayne, a typical hero for his era. As somebody who has all the time been handled as a Native individual, good, dangerous or detached, his glare has all the time left me uncomfortable.
The narrative of the cowboy and Indian is a fantasy. A storyline used to promote books, movies, photographs, and work, however a storyline with the nefarious goal of supplanting the existence of Native folks because the enemy of Colonial Settlerism, a construction backed by spiritual perception of divinity and righteous goal. Please observe: in case your righteous goal consists of the dying of others, it’s not righteous. The existence of this narrative undermines Indigenous rights, existence and assertion to the authority of our personal homelands.
Costner embodies the white obsession with westward enlargement, casting apart the reality for romanticism. If we have been trustworthy, westerns would look extra like a horror film than the romantic dribble that arrives on the silver display screen. This must romanticize western exceptionalism by means of a story of romantic nationalism is the obsession of the so-called righteous spiritual nationalism perpetuated by means of folks like Kevin Costner and John Wayne. These narratives play into the spiritual proper and much proper, inform the fantasy of exceptionalism by means of violence, and the perpetuation of those concepts backed by thousands and thousands of {dollars}. This continues the cycle of violence in the actual world, being dismissive of human life beneath the flag of benevolent colonialism and civilization, which requires the demonization of black and brown folks. This isn’t civilization, that is brutalization. Probably the most brutal constructions imposed on planet earth, and Kevin can’t wait to promote you the film tickets for it.”
The parable of the American cowboy has lengthy been a cinematic fantasy—one constructed on systemic distortions and racist tropes that obscure the actual histories of Indigenous folks. The video for as we speak’s single confronts this legacy head-on, dismantling the Western style’s romanticized portrayals of conquest and erasure. TJ Blake, an Atlanta-based Thai/American multimedia artist and musician, brings this imaginative and prescient to life by animating and increasing upon frontman Gregg Deal’s highly effective visible sequence, The Others. Initially created in 2019 as work, The Others reimagines mid-century comedian e-book imagery by means of an Indigenous lens, changing dialogue with lyrics from punk anthems that mirror the wrestle of Native resistance. It embodies the message of Gregg’s work, and by extension the voice of Lifeless Pioneers. Blake’s animation weaves the “Legendary Cowboy” lyrics into The Others narrative, additional intensifying its influence—instantly referencing MDC’s “John Wayne Was a Nazi” and the 1998 Native-directed movie Smoke Indicators.
PO$T AMERICAN balances minute-long punk explosions, impassioned explorations of modern-day America and spoken-word interludes elegantly, the shifts in kind and tone not distracting from the central themes. The aural palate is broadly the identical as Lifeless Pioneer’s self-titled debut, however feels expanded, stronger by some means: drawing on the confrontational writing of Rage In opposition to The Machine, the unapologetic voice of Chuck D and Public Enemy, the storytelling of Johnny Money, the evolution of IDLES, and punk stalwarts together with Black Flag, Rollins Band and Lifeless Kennedys.
Written in February 2024 and recorded in July, the brand new album, PO$T AMERICAN, forecasts the turmoil of the 2024 American election whereas reflecting on the fears and disillusionments of contemporary life. “The title displays a collective disillusionment with the so-called American Dream,” explains Deal. “It critiques capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy whereas imagining a path towards unity past these oppressive methods.”
The band beforehand shared PO$T AMERICAN’s title observe alongside a video directed by the band in addition to the LP’s first single “My Spirit Animal Ate Your Spirit Animal.” Lifeless Pioneers will rejoice the discharge of the album with a present in Denver on the Bluebird Theater on April 20 adopted by reveals supporting Pearl Jam. Following that Lifeless Pioneers head to the UK for a run of headline reveals earlier than the European “Reconstruction Tour” with Pennywise, Propagandhi, and Comeback Child.
Lifeless Pioneers are guitarists Josh Rivera and Abe Brennan, drummer Shane Zweygardt and bassist Lee Tesche (who can also be lead guitarist for Algiers), with Gregg Deal on vocals.
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Forewords by Wayne Carey, Opinions Editor for Louder Than Warfare. His creator profile is right here
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