Already Dead and BOS The Rapper transport us elsewhere with ‘Don’t Wake Me’
Already Dead and BOS The Rapper transport us elsewhere with ‘Don’t Wake Me’
Punk trio adds a hip-hop dimension through fiery collaboration on March 24
Listen to ‘Don’t Wake Me’ on Spotify
Watch the ‘Don’t Wake Me’ video on YouTube
The ‘Don’t Wake Me’ music video premieres on YouTube on April 6
BOSTON, MA [April 6, 2023] – The most punk thing a band can do is embrace the new and throw down something completely unexpected. Some bands do it by reluctant choice; others because it’s the only way to move forward. For Already Dead, the Massachusetts trio who unleashed debut album My Collar Is Blue last fall en route to a nomination for Punk Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards, their gate-crashing entry into 2023 comes via an aural assault titled “Don’t Wake Me,” a spirited collaboration with fellow Masshole BOS The Rapper that thrusts the band’s sonic template into another galactic stratosphere.
“Don’t Wake Me,” a genre-bending powderkeg that blends hip-hop smarts, punk snarl, and dynamic synths and riffs into a stirring anthem for wanderers and dreamers around the world, hits the streams on Friday, March 24. Its official video, directed and produced by Roberto Terrones of Berto Media, premieres on Thursday, April 6. That movement heard while the track explodes out of the speakers is the ground shaking underneath.
“It’s about traveling, the desire to move and see new places and being restless when you’re stuck in one spot,” says BOS (pronounced “boss”). “I love an open highway at night, driving and seeing the bright lights of a big city I’ve never been to creep towards me. Something inside always wants to be some place I haven’t seen, having a beer with someone I haven’t met. It’s about dreaming of music being the vehicle that makes it happen, touring and performing in buildings we might ever see again.”
The collaboration is an inspired one, as while BOS dreams of seeing buildings here in Boston and beyond, it’s the members of Already Dead who help build them. Their working-class ethos isn’t just a musical attachment, it’s how they live their lives: vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Dan Cummings is a Boston union pipefitter; bassist Brandon Bartlett is a Boston union ironworker; and drummer Nick Cali is a CDL operator in his hometown. Last year, when Already Dead presented their first batch of songs as a sort of “sampler platter of punk,” the idea was to always experiment and expand the sound beyond the street punk style and piss n’ vinegar aggression that fueled their debut record.
“It is an evolution from the album for sure,” Cummings says. “Blending genres the best we can. I mean, shit, this isn’t really intentional, it's more messing around exploring sounds and discovering something we enjoy. I’m not sure we would have released it this way if we weren’t so happy with the end result. No matter what, it falls under Already Dead because it has been a part of this since the beginning.”
Cummings says some various forms of “Don’t Wake Me” have existed with him for the past decade, but he was waiting for the right complementary pieces for it to reach its full potential. It even dates back to a prior project involving Cummings and BOS, two longtime collaborators that first met at a Methuen house party in 2015, when the rapper started freestyling while Cummings was keeping a beat on a cajon (they made fast friends by learning they both hailed from the same small town).
When things finally clicked for “Don’t Wake Me” – through co-production work from Cummings and Jimmy Corbett of The Bridge Sound & Stage in Cambridge, where it was recorded; ethereal backing vocals from BOS’ sister Hannah Joy; and an amalgamation of songwriting styles and structure that aligned Already Dead’s battlecry punk with BOS’ whipsmart bars – they knew they had something special. They captured the agitation and emotion of wanderlust and restlessness, at the core of the composition, that had eluded them for so long.
“I think what took awhile is finding the music that did justice to the words,” says Cummings. “BOS and I have completed songs in one night before, but not this one. It took some time to find all the right components.”
There were hints in multiple places across My Collar Is Blue that suggested this type of chemistry was bubbling under the surface, as BOS The Rapper added his style and flair to a pair of tracks, third single “City’s Burnin’” and LP closer “Something of Freedom.” But while those appearances can be categorized as features, the latest in a long line of collaborations (Cummings has produced a few of BOS’ solo efforts) has both sides on equal footing. It’s a showcase for all involved, a cocktail where each ingredient is essential to not only its taste – but its potency.
“From a fan and collaborator perspective, I feel like this showed real diversity in what Already Dead is able to present in music,” BOS adds. “The use of the synth, the bridge of styles/genre and ability to go from the punk of My Collar Is Blue and then turn around and create a soundscape like this shows a ton of versatility from the outside looking in.”
Adds Cummings, who is quick to praise BOS and each contribution he’s made to the band: “I’m just appreciative we can be creative like this and show a different side or dimension; that everyone is on board with ideas like this. Again, this was made in the moment, just discovering something that works and trying to capture it.”
And that’s something no one can ever truly expect.
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Already Dead are:
Daniel Cummings – Guitar and vocals
Brandon Bartlett – Bass
Nick Cali – Drums
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‘Don’t Wake Me’ single artwork:
‘Don’t Wake Me’ production credits:
Recorded at the Bridge Sound and Stage in Cambridge MA
Engineered and mixed by Jimmy Corbett
Produced by Dan Cummings and Jimmy Corbett
Mastered by Alex Allinson
Music and lyrics by Dan Cummings and BOS the Rapper
Backing vocals by Hannah Joy
Visual Art by Mark Saffie @saffiedesign
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Already Dead short bio:
Punk rock… kinda. Already Dead are a three-piece band from north of Boston Massachusetts, composed of blue collar musicians that unequivocally support the middle class and the true builders and visionaries of every city and town. Before forming this band, the members of Already Dead were raised on punk, ska, and hardcore bands, and mix in other influences across a spectrum of genres to create a sound that’s entirely their own. Debut album My Collar is Blue was recorded at The Bridge Sound and Stage in Cambridge, Mass., and the seven-song sampler platter of punk – led by three singles in “Stability,” the title track, and “City’s Burnin’” – was released in October 2022, helping earn Already Dead a nomination for Punk Artist of the Year at the 2022 Boston Music Awards. A video for “My Collar Is Blue” dropped in November 2022, and the band kickstarted 2023 with a collaboration with BOS The Rapper titled “Don’t Wake Me” in April, with more new music on the way.
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Media praise for Already Dead:
“Three- or four-chord progressions and chainsaw stompboxes rule the day on the bouncy, uptempo punk thriller. The trio romps n’ rolls their truth like a well-oiled machine. No fussy solos or curlicues to the sound – all killer, no filler.” _Hump Day News
“Boston’s Already Dead is the best kind of aural enigma. They’re along the lines of Against Me! or Dropkick Murphys with their anthem crafting ability and then you throw in a little bit of the more melodic NYHC of the ’90s à la Life Of Agony’s classic ‘River Runs Red’ plus some Bad Religion, some hip-hop, some ska, and some country twang and you have a local outfit that absolutely sounds like NO ONE in the scene today. _Rock And Roll Fables
“‘Stability’ is a fast and bouncily furious song with some killer shout-along choruses and that blue collar edge that only New England pop punk bands can truly pull off. It has all the anger a song needs to be punk, but it doesn't forget that you're supposed to have fun, too.” _If It’s Too Loud
“Holy smoke! This is a red-hot-boiling racecar exploding from the very first chord. A non-stop speedball stirred up by a merciless rhythm section, riff-insane guitars, and in-your-face vocals. At times, it feels as if this punked-up bolide is about to crash. I swear you will be out of breath after these 3 1/2 minutes of never-looking-back vociferousness. Already dead? Absolutely not! They’re a turbulent turbo.” _Turn Up The Volume
"If you are feeling nostalgic for VFW Hall shows and punk rock of the late 1990's then you are going to love this. It's totally in the vein of Big Wig, Rise Against, Bouncing Souls, although a little more polished even though the recording maintains all of the aesthetics of the analog age. Another BMN editor thought maybe a heavier Frank Turner or a good mix of Off With Their Heads and Hot Water Music. Big fun group vocals make this something you'd want to check out live!” _Blood Makes Noise
“Boston has a great history of blue collar punk, and the latest is Already Dead. The Stoughton based band has a new single out called "My Collar is Blue." This new song might go a little more pop punk than what you may typically consider working class Boston punk, but there is still a lot more edge here than you would typically find in a pop punk song. I suppose this would be the definition of melodic punk. Already Dead inject just the tiniest bit of a Celtic sound on this new one, and maybe just the slightest hint of a country twang. There is still some killer gang vocals and choruses on "My Collar is Blue," so even punk purists won't be able to avoid singing along.” _If It’s Too Loud
Already Dead can be heard and found on Angel’s Indie Lounge on Belter Radio UK, Banks Radio Australia, Bay State Rock, Blood Makes Noise, Boston Groupie News, BumbleBee Radio, Christian's Cosmic Corner Radio show on Mark Skin Radio, Code Zero Radio, Digital Revolution Connecticut, Enigma Online, Everything You Know Is Wrong on WMWM Salem State, Good Music Radio, Hump Day News, If It’s Too Loud, Original Music Showcase and Marc’s Alt-Rock Playground on Mark Skin Radio, Odyssey Radio Maryland, Punk Rock Demo, Punktastic’s The Pickup, Rhode Island Free Radio, Rising With Skybar on WMFO, Rock And Roll Fables, Steve Garnett’s New Music Radio on Revival Radio UK, Struggling Artist Podcast, Sunshine Music iRadio, That’s Good Enough For Me, The Bad Copy, Top Radio Network, Turn Up The Volume, Valley FM Australia, YFM Indie Radio, Your First Listen on KNNZ/Eardrum Buzz, and other fine shows, stations, and outlets.
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