Dead To Me

About

I Wanna Die In Los Angeles by Dead To Me Fans of Bay Area punk quartet Dead To Me got some exciting news in October 2014: After having been away from the band for six years and two full-lengths, beloved vocalist/guitarist and founding member Jack Dalrymple was rejoining the band; together, the rejuvenated lineup had begun work on a new full-length. Dead To Me had been laying low since completing the touring cycle in support of 2011’s Moscow Penny Ante , so on its face, this was exciting news—the band was, indeed, back together. Less than two weeks later, it almost came to an ignominious end, thanks to Dead To Me vocalist/bassist Tyson “Chicken” Annicharico’s nonstop drug and alcohol abuse leading him to, in his words, “a psychotic break” which resulted in his admission into a psych ward in San Diego in early November. “I had a three-day fugue state where I don’t really know what happened,” Annicharico says. “I came to in the psych ward and was just like, ‘Well fuck, man, I guess the jig is up.’ It was a cry for help on a subconscious level. The decision was made for me. I wasn’t like, ‘I gotta get help.’ In the past, I’ve had bottoming-out periods before and I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll get better eventually,’ but this time, when I bottomed out, I’m like, ‘I’m just like this now. I’ll never get better.’ I didn’t care. I didn’t care. I went to treatment,” he continues, “and after months and months and months, the fog started to lift. I said, ‘Fuck that. I do want to live. I do want a life worth living.’” Thus began Annicharico’s new life as a sober artist, something which he never thought he would experience. “People in punk rock romanticize artists who were junkies and drunks, like Bukowski and Lou Reed,” he admits. “There’s something to be said for the insane bravery it takes to face the world sober. I wish 14-year-old me would’ve gotten more into Minor Threat! He laughs, but it’s clear he is relishing his time free of substances. For one, it allowed him to write Dead To