Today, Vermont post-hardcore vets DROWNINGMAN begin pre-order for their two-song Later Day Saints single featuring a new song “It Will End In Cops,” which premiered at Brooklyn Vegan earlier this week. It just hit streaming services, along with an expanded edition of Drowningman’s 1999 album Busy Signal at the Suicide Hotline and it’s coming out on 7″ vinyl via The Ghost Is Clear Records and cassette via Friend Club Records.
Here’s background info from vocalist Simon Brody: “The first song on Later Day Saints was recorded shortly before the holidays this year. “Navigating Grief and Loss in a Pre-apocalyptic Landscape” was released on New Years Day, but the second song wasn’t finished until February.
“In part this was due to COVID, in part it was due to the difficult nature of the lyrical content of ‘It Will End in Cops.'”
“I made revisions, emphasizing the sarcastic elements of the song, not wanting to be seen as glorifying toxic masculinity or “romanticizing violence.”
“The truth is “violence” has become very casual. Wilder death threats are made every minute on the internet than you will find in any Drowningman song. Violence is now done at arms length, typed into someone’s comments, via press release, or by certified mail. Whatever happened to settling things on the front yard?
“At the end of the day, I’m proud of what we did here. Matt Roy and Javin provided the riffs that begged for a recitation of every death threat I’ve uttered after being cut off in traffic over the last decade. Working with Vinnie at the Underground Studio was great, he encouraged me to explore melodic possibilities instead of non-stop venom.
“These two songs felt like a complete work. We may re-record them with Steve Evetts for the LP later this summer, because our new drummer Jon Cole (ex-Psyopus, Powerwolves) has been making the songs his own. Later Day Saints is the first chapter in a new book of Drowningman.
“One last thing, previously, I left it up to the listener to figure out. Now I am spelling it out. Take the commotion back inside, or square up on the lawn. This isn’t the romance of violence, this is the reality. It Will End in Cops.”
Latter Day Saints was recorded December 2021 to January 2022. It was produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Vincent Freeman at The Underground Studios in Randolph, Vermont with Jackson Jacques acting as vocal executive producer.
Drowningman is: Simon Brody, vocals, Javin Leonard, guitars, TJ Maynard, bass, Matt Roy, guitar, Kevin Savage, drums
Drowningman plays an NYC show opening for With Honor at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn on June 24. Stand Still and Become One are on the bill.
