Dead Pioneers – Wagon Burner

When a band comes into your life that is as good as Dead Pioneers and they are set to release their third album, well you just have to be at the front of the queue to listen and reflect on it, don’t you?, well we at The Punk Site are on it.

Wagon Burner comes at a time when the the whole world is literally burning, if it’s not from wars started by leaders who aren’t leading in the right direction, it’s from a planet suffering the ravages of mankind and it’s need to burn through its resources at breakneck speed. But this isn’t just an album that wants to rail against the bullshit of right wing oligarchs and their wannabe hangers-on, this is an album that also wears the genocide of a people and their culture on its sleeve. At the forefront of this album, and all Dead Pioneers albums, will always be the Indigenous of America, the true people of a land.

Is the message more important than the music is question that must have crossed the mind of lead singer Gregg Deal, but listening you’re fully aware that both have their place, and compliment each other perfectly, after all indigenous people and their culture are built on communication and music right? What makes this album different or bolder than the last two? Well for one its collaborations bring something special to the table. This feels like an awakening, a call to arms among the musical community, ‘Nazi Teeth’ has Stephanie Byrne of Cheap Perfume adding her angst to this already pure punk rock anti fascist song, and on ‘Never Alone’ The Interrupters throw in some much welcomed ska rock to this solidarity and finding your family song, and then there is ‘The Worst Among Us’ on which they are joined by Sleaford Mods‘ Jason Williamson to fire bullets at exactly that the worst of humanity. This coming together feels so perfectly timed on this album in particular, it’s a moment in the bands life span that feels right. It’s like you’ve had to fight your way out into the open, now you can share the freedom of expression you’ve championed with those who have always backed you. It also feels like this is an album of community, which has, if you have listened to all of Dead Pioneers work, always been at their core.

What’s very apparent with this album compared to the previous releases, is a kind of, OK we’ve hit you with the uppercuts, now we can set you up for the knockouts. Firing shots across the bow is not an option here, this is aiming right fro the heart of government and fascist establishment, ‘Dead Presidents’ opens the book, it challenges everything America is built on and how it got here with the challenge “nationalistic narrative of our country, deifying dead presidents”. After the aforementioned ‘Nazi Teeth’ you’re then given one of the most poignant songs on this album of many moments. ‘Animals That Roam The Earth’ heads right back to the roots of this band, its rhythmic and soulful, and looks with a heavy heart at the genocide of a people on which a nation was built.

It doesn’t matter where you go on this album, you’re confronted and informed at every turn, but what never leaves you is the injustice that needs shouting about more than it is, this is no better heard than on ‘Seeing Red’. The line “Am I Angry? Am I Angry? Am I ANGRY? AM I ANGRY? My only sin here is being indigenous in the 21st century.” And then it ends with “Yes I Am”, but probably should read “OF COURSE I FUCKING AM!!”. This is only a review to give you an idea of what to expect from an album that can never be conveyed any better than in the words contained within it. Musically it just soars when needed, thrashes at all the right moments, but most of all it’s so damn complex for a punk album. Go listen to and go see this band to fully understand what they are all about, this album fucking rocks! But most of all it creates thought and conversation.

Wagon Burner is out now via Hassle Records, Following the release of Wagon Burner, Dead Pioneers will return in July for Irish, EU and UK dates, including an appearance at the 2000 Trees festival and some co-headline gigs with Petrol Girls.