Based on your current station in our technological age, Death Valley Girls’ fusion of feral proto-punk, ’70s scuzz dirges, and third eye mysticism is either at completely at odds with your worldview or utterly revelatory. Words like “retro” or “old school” convey a starry eyed nostalgia that do a disservice to the band’s harnessing of primal instrumentation and communal reverberations—if something in Death Valley Girls’ sound harkens to the past, it’s only in an attempt to dislodge us from the static of the present. That dedication to lifting the veil of modern illusions continues with their current single “Dream Cleaver”—a rousing anthem in praise of psychonaut and ethnobotonist Terrence McKenna, his research on “the spirit molecule” DMT, and the possibility of trans-dimensional travel. Lest one thinks that this is some blissed out cosmic ride on new age synth pads, be aware that “Dream Cleaver” is an unapologetic stone-cold rocker—an unabashed orgy of Farfisa organ hooks, Larry Schemels’ hypnotic and propulsive guitar chords, hallucinatory sax lines, and Bonnie Bloomgarden’s call-to-arms vocals. If you need to get elevated, take a three-minute dose of “Dream Cleaver”. Suicide Squeeze is proud to release the single to the world on digital platforms on August 9th.
Photo credit to Deb Frazin.
Tour dates:
11.03.19 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room @
11.05.19 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge @
11.06.19 – Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole @
11.08.19 – Austin, TX @ Levitation
11.09.19 – Norman, OK @ Opolis @
11.11.19 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar @
11.13.19 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux @
11.14.19 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios @
11.15.19 – Bellingham, WA @ The Shakedown @
11.16.19 – Seattle, WA @ Freakout Festival
11.18.19 – Arcata, CA @ The Miniplex @
11.19.19 – Sacramento, CA @ Momo Sacramento @
11.22.19 – Las Vegas, NV @ Bunkhouse Saloon @
11.23.19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room @
11.23.19 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah@
@ = co-headline with Crocodiles / opener = Kate Clover
