Strike Anywhere- Dead FM

Strike Anywhere loves punk rock. Their songs give back to the subculture in which they grew up and to the music they love. After a three-year break, the fast, aggressive, sing-along punk band recently released their third full length album, Dead FM.

“We play music that is closest sounding to pretty fast, Washington D.C. melodic hardcore,” said singer/songwriter Thomas Barnett. The band is made up of folks from the punk and hardcore wings of the counterculture.

Dead FM starts off with “Sedation,” a song that tells the story of Barnett’s grandfather’s unknowing role in the Manhattan Project as a union steamfitter. From the beginning, it is clear that the band’s style has not changed much over the years, but their sound is more polished.

“[Dead FM is] back to the speed of our earliest songwriting and there’s also a lot more vocals,” said Barnett. “It’s a good mix of something I think is progressive and new for us along with holding down our roots.”

The record consists of liberating lyrics that mainly deal with the mess of politics and cultures that pass for America right now. The lyrics are “more personal explorations of narrative and storytelling,” said Barnett.

“This is America/Yeah it’s true/But everything else is false/That was taught to me and you/We’ll take back everything they steal,” echoes the “The Promise.” The choruses are used to expand the force of the lyrics with strong group vocals.

Barnett feels adamantly about the songs’ interaction with the fans. He likes to see the band’s music “activated into the lives of people that listen to it, and take it to heart and having people sing it back to you in different places all over the world.”

Songs begin as a spark, an idea that later becomes a moment that is “inspiring and humbling when the song goes out of our hands and into the lives of the people who embrace the record and sing along with us at our show,” said Barnett.

Standouts on the record include chant-along songs like “Prisoner Echoes,” “Two Thousand Voice,” “Allies” and “Iron Trees.” Strike Anywhere is a great suggestion for fans of bands like Rise Against, A Wilhelm Scream and Strung Out. They combine punk with hardcore with a strong message about the state of the world and politics today.

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