Get Dead

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Photo by: Scott Remmers Follow @getdeadmusic Dancing with the Curse by GET DEAD Ask the members of Get Dead how long it’s taken to release their new album, and they’ll probably say, “Forever.” Even though the San Francisco band started recording it more than two years ago, Dancing with the Curse (Fat Wreck Chords, Oct 9th) feels perfectly timed for now . Look no further than the song “Pepperspray,” written long before the protests of summer 2020. The band had begun collaborating with activist-artist collective Indecline on a video before the George Floyd protests erupted. If there was any time to share the message of “Pepperspray,” this was it. “We wanted to just be able to cut through the noise and have some kind of impact,” says vocalist Sam King, “and to try to let people know that what they're doing is okay, and people are behind them.” Get Dead rolls only five deep—King, guitarists Mike McGuire and Jeremy Korkki, bassist Tim Mehew, and drummer Scott Powell—but Dancing with the Curse sounds like an army. Produced by D-Composers (Fat Mike, Johnny Carey, Baz Bastien, Yotam Ben Horin) and Chris Dugan (Green Day), its 12 songs build on 2016’s Honesty Lives Elsewhere without rehashing it. While Dancing with the Curse features Get Dead ’s signature NorCal punk sound, balancing bombast with up-picked bounce and dirt-smudged acoustic songs, listeners will notice some curious moments. Subtle electronic flourishes lurk in songs like “Disruption,” “Glitch,” “Confrontation,” and “Take It.” The album opens with an atmospheric intro built on King’s gravelly voice and hip-hop-inflected cadence—a happy accident. “I was supposed to be sending Fat Mike a new demo for one of the songs,” King says. “I ended up sending him some of my stuff that I just screw around with at home because I used to do hip-hop stuff. I sent that to him, and he really liked it. He’s like, ‘We're putting this as the intro.’” These sonic detours suit a band that isn’t known to stay in one place for too long