“Now that I look back on the record, there is a lot of nature imagery,” George Pettit says. He clocked it after the fact. “Nature seems equally impossibly beautiful but also ominous and indifferent to life around it.” That’s the weather on Hornets of Fall, the fourth LP from Hamilton five-piece Dead Tired, out August 14 via New Damage.
Dead Tired started as an informal side project for musicians who already had louder day jobs. Arena-touring rock bands. Recording studios. Tattoo shops. And, in the band’s own telling, “other successful top-secret magic-card related events.” Pettit is one of them, moonlighting from his other gig as Alexisonfire’s vocalist. Years in, they’ve kept Dead Tired loose on purpose.
The method, if you can call it that, is simple. The five of them share fancy dinners, top-shelf scotch, and premium cigars at least five times more often than they actually get in a room together to play. Nothing gets rushed. Songs sit and ferment before they get sent out. Every release has to be one the whole band signs off on.
The first single from the new record is “Dust Storm,” and it brings Comeback Kid frontman Andrew Neufeld in for the breakdown. “Big break down and Andrew from Comeback Kid…what a racket,” George says.
The dust reclaims the earth
All vision has been obscured
In the mouth of the traveler
The wind of rust and dust
Sun and moon are hidden now
Cloud of torment pulls and grow
Cross the land of scurried shroud
It casts the mind to sinking cloud
Dust storm, dust storm
How many more
Dust storm, dust storm
Fill the empty hearts
No one left to guide
No milestone, no landmark
To lead us back to light
Sun and moon are hidden now
Cloud of torment pulls and grow
Cross the land of scurried shroud
It casts the mind to sinking cloud
Dust storm, dust storm
How many more
Dust storm, dust storm
The silent fallow
Rising like a phoenix
Hope like a chimera
In defiance of life’s dust storm
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Hornets of Fall is a punishing twelve-track set, and, by the band’s own admission, their favourite so far. Their pitch runs like a menu. If you want it fast, of course. If you need it slow, why not. If you demand a riff, wait a sec. If you want blood, you got it. It kicks off hot, they say, and absolutely rips. Pre-orders are open now.
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The record lands August 14 on New Damage. Guest features across the tracklist include Liam Cormier and Dave O’Connor alongside Neufeld, with Chris Cresswell closing the record on “The Pull.”
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