Already Dead connect the past and present with ‘My Collar Is Blue’ music video
Massachusetts punk trio unleash new visual on Wednesday, November 16
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“Boston has a great history of blue collar punk, and the latest is Already Dead.” – If It’s Too Loud
OUT NOW: Listen to ‘My Collar Is Blue’ via Spotify
Already Dead are nominated for Punk Artist of the Year in the 2022 Boston Music Awards
Photo Credit: Roberto A. Terrones
BOSTON, MA [November 16, 2022] – The best thing about protest songs is they have three distinct parts: The past, the present, and the future. At any given moment, the fight of the people relayed through music is rooted in not only what’s happening at that particular moment, but also the passion and tenacity of those who came before and those who will come after. There’s a lineage that’s passed from generation to generation – and right now, Already Dead are not only carrying the torch, but raising it for those around them.
Fresh off the October release of debut album My Collar Is Blue, around the same time the trio were nominated for Punk Artist of the Year in the 2022 Boston Music Awards, Already Dead unleash the official music video for the record’s title track on Wednesday, November 16. The visual was filmed and directed by Roberto A. Terrones, with the band posted up and playing live in the garage at the Weaver family homestead North Reading while a century’s worth of working class footage highlights the track’s underlying message.
The anthemic composition, a punk rock fight song fueled by folk mindfulness, a slight outlaw country twang, and proper nods to their Celtic heritage (complete with bodhrán and mandolin), roars out of the speakers with a furious abandon. It’s a heavy battlecry, and one that instantly put the Massachusetts band on the map in the New England music scene.
“‘My Collar is Blue’ is about working class men and women who dedicate their lives to being just that,” says Already Dead guitarist and vocalist Daniel Cummings. “Also, the notion that while it may seem like other more ‘elite’ classes control whichever city they are in, it’s the working class who directly affect the growth, advancement, and even the daily function of that city. It is an ode to the past, present, and future of the working class.”
The track’s title – and that of the album – isn’t some fly-by-night declaration. It’s firmly planted in who Already Dead are as people, and in turn encapsulates the band: 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. “Blue collar is the life we know outside of being musicians,” Cummings adds. “The songs on the album relate to similar views whether it’s internal or social commentary.”
And that extends itself to the video. Already Dead linked up with Terrones to give the song a visual component, and incorporate everything the song itself is about: Blue collar working class past, present, and future. And it shows both sides to Already Dead, in both their visceral live performance exploding out of the Weaver family garage, made possible through the band’s long standing friendship with Katelynn Weaver, and the work they put in each and every day. Cummings always wanted to work in his and the band’s day jobs to the “My Collar Is Blue” video, though he jokes that if he brought a video camera to a job site, a general contractor might think he was preparing some sort of OSHA complaint.
“But when director Roberto Terrones found the stock footage of workers – showing men, women, and children – that really set a tone of how we wanted the video to be,” Cummings says. “I have worked at four historic landmarks in Boston, and seen the skyline from so many different points of view. It’s almost hard not to romanticize this lifestyle. For others it may be different. But when you are in the top of Faneuil Hall where the bell is, looking at signatures from other workers from 1913, or atop the Gold Dome on the Massachusetts State House, looking through a light at the senate chamber floor, or literally standing inside the ‘salt and pepper shakers’ on the Longfellow Bridge… those experiences inspired this song.”
Cummings adds: “With the vintage footage of the generations before us, I think it helps to remember and attempt to honor what those generations sacrificed so we have a safer and better life today. Shoutout to every worker captured in the vintage footage that shows just a glimpse of the hardships generations before us had to go through.”
“My Collar Is Blue” and the rest of Already Dead’s seven-track album was recorded at The Bridge Sound And Stage in Cambridge with co-producer and collaborator Jimmy Corbett, who also engineered and mixed the album. The final result capped a wild stretch for Cummings, who penned most of the early Already Dead tracks while waiting out the Covid-19 pandemic. He started writing what would end up on My Collar Is Blue as a creative release while live music was on pause and his other bands were unable to play shows, and while he wanted to record the stuff he was writing, wasn’t sure if he was ever going to release them. “My Collar Is Blue,” the song, for example, was built off an acoustic guitar riff that randomly caught the attention of his fiancée while he was strumming at home, and the lyrics instantly came together over a 45-minute drive home from his pipefitter apprenticeship.
With songs like that bubbling up and yearning for collaboration, Cummings linked up with Cali, who he previously played with in other projects, and the two took the demos from his house to Cali’s basement where they tracked drums. Cummings reached out to his friend Corbett and brought the songs to The Bridge Sound and Stage for recording last Halloween, and wrapped things up this past March. Realizing they were suddenly a legit band, they brought on Bartlett to play bass and round out the trio.
“This first batch of songs were all written by me, and not necessarily for any band in particular,” Cummings admits. “It’s more a tribute to all styles of my favorite genre of music. My cousin called it a ‘sampler platter of punk’ which I think sums it up perfectly.”
With the album finally released, more layers to the Already Dead sound have been revealed, including a ska and hip-hop-infused single called “City’s Burnin’.” But here with “My Collar Is Blue,” the band is flexing its working class, shout-it-out street punk muscle in what is perhaps the signature Already Dead track.
“The song itself both compares and differs from the full album, I think,” Cummings adds. “It’s a hard-driving punk rock song, which is how the band performs live and reflects most of the album. But it was built with the bones of an acoustic folk protest song vibe. It was originally written as an acoustic song, with a slower swing to it. We could possibly release a version like that eventually.”
That, of course, is in the future. But right now, Already Dead are living in the present, and are fully aware of the past that got them to this very point. It’s right there on the screen alongside them.
Media Contact: Please direct all press inquiries to Already Dead at alreadydeadmusicc@gmail.com or Michael Marotta at michael@publisist.co.
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Already Dead are:
Daniel Cummings – Guitar and vocals
Brandon Bartlett – Bass
Nick Cali – Drums
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‘My Collar Is Blue’ production credits:
SONG:
Music and lyrics by Already Dead
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
Guitar, bass, vocals, and mandolin by Dan Cummings
Drums, bodhrán, tambourine by Nick Cali
Group vocals by Brandon Bartlett, Nick Cali, Felipe Collazo, Brian Ferrazzani, Matt Macaulay, and Dan Wilson
Visual artwork by Mark Saffie @saffiedesigns
VIDEO:
Filmed and directed by Roberto A. Terrones
Filmed at the Weaver Family Homestead North Reading, MA
Cast: Brandon Bartlett, Nick Cali, Dan Cummings, Katelynn Weaver, Angel the Pup.
Shoutout to every worker captured in the vintage footage that shows just a glimpse of the hardships generations before us had to go through.
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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, with more music on the way in the New Year.
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Early 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 an 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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Press Contact: michael@publisist.co or alreadydeadmusicc@gmail.com
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