As a part of KEXP's Punk Month and leading up to Sonic Reducer's 15th Anniversary Live Show and Broadcast with Mudhoney, Control Test, and Dark Smith on May 4, KEXP's Dr. West is spotlighting punk bands for Song of the Day throughout the entire week.
Today, May 3, Seattle punk rockers Dead Bars have dropped their sophomore record Regulars, the follow-up to 2017’s Dream Gig and debut on Anti-Flag's A-F Records. The quartet, led and founded by two East Coast drummers, John Maiello, and C.J. Frederick, make ripping pop-leaning punk meant to be belted out side-by-side with your closest friends.
Our Song of the Day, “Lucky,” is an anthemic ode to Lucky Liquor in Tukwila, a small, quirky, watering-hole type bar that regularly hosts punk rock shows alongside a wide range of unique local regulars that are sometimes not exactly fond of the show happening around them. "I like this idea of being a regular,” Maiello has said previously about the record. “There are moments of highs and lows; loneliness and community, sadness and celebration. That's what it's like to be in a band. That's what it's like to be in Dead Bars.”
Regulars was produced by the legendary Jack Endino (Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden), who has described the band as having “a good pop hook with a bunch of bashing and screaming over it; what's not to like?" Dead Bars’ record release show will be held at the Kraken next Friday, May 10.
Below, watch their 2017 KEXP in-studio performance for Sonic Reducer.
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