Dealing With The Damage – Head back

Dealing With The Damage – Head back

DEALING WITH DAMAGE RETURN WITH NEW SINGLE ‘HEAD FULL OF FEEDBACK’

UK TOUR WITH MIDWAY STILL STARTS JULY 9th

Following the release of their second album ‘Use The Daylight’ in early 2023 and a raft of gigs with the likes of Girls Against Boys, Soulside, Moving Targets, Messthetics, Diaz Brothers, Danger!Man, Ruts DC amongst many others, London post-punk band Dealing With Damage are set to return afresh in 2024 with new music. Having spent the last few months working up new songs, and a new bass player in Owen Cox, Dealing With Damage are ready to release the first finished track from these sessions in new single ‘Head Full Of Feedback.

Recorded once again at Perry Vale Studios with the legend that is Pat Collier, then mixed at The Mix Dungeon by long-term collaborator Roop Coulson and mastered by Paul Yeadon, ‘Head Full of Feedback’ is dripping in melody, noise and propulsive drums and bass, clattering and swirling as it oozes out of your speakers directly into your head.

“It’s a somewhat elaborate thank you note to my daughter for chipping away over the past 5 years at my previous refusal to listen to Sonic Youth,” explains vocalist and guitarist Ed Wenn. “I had seen them a couple of times in the 80s and didn’t like what I saw or heard, so consigned them to the ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ pile. A couple of years ago I investigated the music that I heard coming out of her room and discovered that these off-kilter, twisted, intelligent, sometimes downright beautiful pop nuggets were from none other than Sonic Youth.

“As for the song itself, it was nice to write a story song about something light-hearted for a change. A lot of DWD lyrics walk along the serious side of the street, so it was great fun to write about art, music and memories of the 1980s when life was full possibilities and we had more than 3 weeks left to save the planet. We made full use of our new bass player, Owen’s playing style to come up with a solid bass/drums platform and built everything up from there. It’s an evolution of the DWD sound and I think reflects a growing confidence in our ability to spread our wings after the positive feedback (pun intended!) that the experimentation of the second album, “Use The Daylight” received in the press and from audiences.”

Following the new single release, Dealing With Damage will head out on a UK tour with friends Midway Still that starts July 9th in Sheffield. The band are working on new material for further releases throughout the year. Watch this space.

Catch Dealing With Damage on tour with Midway Still in July at the following dates:

July 9     Sheffield, Record Junkee

July 10   Birmingham, Sunflower Lounge

July 11   Portsmouth, The Edge Of The Wedge

July 12   London, The Hope & Anchor

July 13   Brighton, Prince Albert

July 14   Southampton, The Hobbit (*headline gig)

Tickets onsale at skiddle.com

Find Dealing With Damage at: WEBSITE FACEBOOK BANDCAMP TWITTER INSTAGRAM YOUTUBE

Dealing with Damage – ‘Ask the Questions’ (Little Rocket Records)

Dealing with Damage – ‘Ask the Questions’ (Little Rocket Records)

Dropping this baby onto the virtual deck and what leaps out in opener “Stop everything” is a sound grounded in the underground, hinting at punk, fuzzed-up rock “ala” the MC5. Does it move towards the new genre that I seem to hearing about everywhere “Action Rock”, I don’t think so, even though this will appeal to anyone with more than an affiliation to the underground. No, it draws on a much richer musical tapestry, but ultimately pinning your ears back and screaming “LISTEN TO ME!!!!!”

 

Next up “No Money, No Peace”, moves up the intensity, there’s a hint of the much-missed Stiv Bator’s sneer, but blink and you’ll miss it, this ain’t prog in any way shape or form.  Moving into “How much will this affect us” and things get a darker heavier feel, that bass run holds you, before the guitar demands your attention, I really like this track it’s a real burner. “Worlds within a world” hits the raw fuzzed up psychedelia of the fuzztones, while at the same time kicking it up the arse, with that incessant punk underpinning.  “Language Lesson” comes tearing out of the speakers, that iggy and the stooges madness taking centre stage, this is a blinder, but for once I’d have liked it a bit longer!!, “Slow Shadow”, moves to a very different beat, more commercial? Dare I say? Yup, it would make a cracking single, this just drips fuzzed-out psychedelia, dropping into 13th-floor elevators territory, complete with the space rock exit!

“The Process” kicks in with a tasty Tribal drummed intro, before it takes off and moves you on a very different path, this is rapidly becoming a fave for yours truly. “Strange Melody” again revisits the psychedelic sounds of the sixties, but with an added pop sensibility reminiscent of The Only Ones.

 

It’s at this point you begin to realize how good an LP this is, crammed full of ideas, honing a musical heritage, taking hints of the past, reimaging them for a current listening audience. I’m starting to drift here but I’m as always thinking about how this will play out live and smiling to myself. Maybe these years Camden Rocks?

 

“Shark Bait” again grabs you from the start, holding that crossover vibe, hinting at a more commercial line, there’s an almost gothic Guitar underpinning and extra to this track.  “Some Colours”, “No Barriers” and “The People I see” maintain the power and intensity, “No Barriers” in particular mixing up the vocal style and again rapidly becoming a favourite, while “The People I see” moving into territories held up by The Ruts.

 

Finishing up with “For Barbara Dane” an acoustic gem with an underlying message, think The Kinks meet the Subways!!! Before the lp plays out with “The American Empire”, I love this Hardcore blast and what a way to finish up a powerful LP from a band that I’ll look forward to picking up on the live scene, and definitely an LP I’ll be investing in.

 

Find Dealing With Damage at WEBSITE / FACEBOOK / BANDCAMP / TWITTER / INSTAGRAM / YOUTUBE

Author: Nev Brooks