A Local Music Segment airing every Monday through Friday at 11pm w/ Mo!
Tonight’s Feature Band:
Delving into the world of moody, guitar-driven dance rock, Soft Deadlines have emerged from the Phoenix garage punk scene as force to be reckoned with. A mix between Gang of Four, Television and Bloc Party, Soft Deadlines balances the fine line between catchy, dancey hooks and pensive post-punk.
Filled with slick, infectious riffs, Go Dark, the full-length follow-up to 2014’s Critic and their 2013 EP Nice Try, details how every fix only creates new problems. “Everyone is looking for a way out of something,” explains Frontman Oliver Lemke. “Maybe it’s a state of anxiety and paranoia, or a relationship, or the loneliness and guilt that follow ending a relationship. But it’s always something.”
The title Go Dark refers to a Cold War espionage term about disappearing from the radar. “You can read the title a number of different ways, but all of them are sinister,” Lemke says. “Critic is a guitar pop record with a few jagged edges. This time around we wanted to do something darker and more propulsive, drawing a bit on the Factory Records philosophy that punk music and club music could be one and the same.”
Recorded at Stem Recording in Paradise Valley and The Red Room in Phoenix, Go Dark also explores themes such as partying to dull the pain, as well as the wealth of disinformation plaguing mainstream media and the internet. Oh, and also kittens.
Go Dark will be self-released December 17th, 2016. Soft Deadlines plan to tour in support of the record in LA, San Diego, El Paso, and Denver. Soft Deadlines gigs often in The Valley, and completed a West Coast regional tour last year. Soft Deadlines is Oliver Lemke (vocals/guitar/bass), Chad Cussen (guitar/bass), and Parker Douglas (drums).
