Dead! | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Southampton, England |
| Genres | Alternative rock, punk rock |
| Years active | 2012–2018 |
| Past members |
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Dead!, sometimes stylised as DEAD!, were an English rock band. Comprising Alex Mountford, Sam Chappell, and brothers Louis Matlock and Sam Matlock, the band formed in Southampton in 2012 but moved to London by March 2016. They released the 2018 album The Golden Age of Not Even Trying , which charted at No. 11 on the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart and received generally positive reception, before splitting up shortly afterwards.
Dead! comprised Alex Mountford, Sam Chappell, Sam Matlock, and Louis Matlock. [1] The Matlocks are the sons of Glen Matlock, the bassist for the Sex Pistols. [2] Matlock told CM Kavanagh of The Edge that the band took its name from a folder he had compiled of songs he had made in case he was hit by a bus and the ! was added as the band were fans of Dangerous!. [3] The band's members are from the Isle of Wight but formed a band in 2012 while at Southampton Solent University, [4] and played their first gig that year. They were Zane Lowe's "Next Big Hype" the year after. [5] In 2014, the band released the EP "Tu Me Manques", [6] which they crowdfunded. [3]
The band were signed to Infectious Music in May 2016; [4] by the following month, they had moved to London and released "You're so Cheap", a track about teenage angst. [7] By September, they were performing in unusual places and manufacturing their own zines and clothes as part of a movement they called The Damned Restless Future after a lyric from an early demo of theirs. [8] That month, they released "Something More Original", a track about the apathy of their childhood, alongside a video. [9] In March 2017, they released "Enough, Enough, Enough", a track about Mountford's personality defects, [10] followed by a video the month after; [11] by August, they had released a further single, "Up for Ran$om". [12]
A further single release, October's "The Golden Age of Not Even Trying", was accompanied by a video and an announcement of an album of the same name; both took their title from the fact that the band felt society was living in it. [13] The band released that album in January 2018; consisting entirely of songs recorded live, [14] the album charted at No. 11 on the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart [15] and was described as a combination of rock music, punk music, and indie by Melissa Moody of River Online. Not Even Trying was reviewed positively by her [14] and reviewers from The Music, [16] All Things Loud, [17] Narc, [18] The Student Playlist, [19] and Clash, [20] although a very negative review came from The Soundboard Reviews. [21]
The band announced in June that they would split up after playing one final gig in October; [22] Matlock later formed Wargasm with the band's photographer Milkie Way, [23] while Frank Carter, whom Dead! had supported in 2016, later became the lead vocalist of the Sex Pistols at Louis's suggestion. [2] Rob Wacey of AllMusic described the band as a "hard rock outfit that flirt with elements of pop-punk and grunge"; [24] writing in October 2020, Jo Lisney of The Edge concurred with this and wrote that their lyrics typically involved partying. [25]