Dealing With Damage are a post-punk band from London who have spent more of their collective lives than is advisable playing in bands such as Sink, Done Lying Down, K-Line and Jerry Built to name a few. Since their formation in 2015, they have played live as frequently as possible, sharing stages with the likes of Girls Against Boys, Soulside, Moving Targets, Messthetics, Diaz Brothers, Danger!Man, Ruts DC amongst many others. They released their debut album ‘Ask The Questions’ on Little Rocket Records in early 2020, just as the pandemic hit. With live music temporarily suspended due to the end of the world, they used the downtime to write, rehearse and record a follow up album, ‘Use The Daylight’, in the gaps between lockdowns.
Recorded over a year in various sessions from late 2020 onwards, first at No Recording Studios with John Hannon and then with Pat Collier at Perry Vale Studios, ‘Use The Daylight’ expands the band’s sound and breadth of vision as Dealing With Damage show how they took the time on offer during the pandemic to develop musically and lyrically. We see a band keen to push the boundaries whilst retaining as articles of faith, the punk rock energy and zero bullshit attitude of their previous releases.
Keen collaborators, DWD are thrilled to have enlisted the help of Steve Cox (Transmaniaicon’s North London keyboard legend), Carol Hodge (solo artist and Steve Ignorant co-conspirator), Savak (the Brooklyn-based post punk hit factory), Yootha Today (the UK’s angriest female punk street theatre collective), Dinosaur Skull (electro beatbox punks from deepest South London), Kent Nielsen (Germany-based Danish protest singer) and John Hannon (the much-missed, avant garde, sound sculptor from Southend) for the recording of this album.
There are reminders all around us of the transient nature of human life and DWD use this new album to comment on how to use the time we’re given on earth – but which we so often take for granted – through a collection of songs that starts in the morning with the defiant statement of intent that is “Sunrise” and closes with the hauntingly beautiful, “Sunset”. Layered between these two bookend tracks, the band do their best to use this particular slice of daylight in a passionate, creative, intelligent and inspirational way.
The second single from the album is released today and is titled ‘Rinse Repeat Rinse’. Musically, it’s a jaggedly beautiful, Dinosaur-Jnr-meets-The-Who, indie-rocker with a huge chorus and more hooks than is normally good for you. Lyrically, it looks under the covers of how the ruling classes can go from one cosy accommodation to another for years and years until disruptive characters like Trump, Bolsanaro and Johnson come along and expose some of the more unpleasant ‘business-as-usual’ practices that governments prefer to keep hidden.
Watch the ‘Rinse Repeat Rinse’ video HERE:
‘Use The Daylight’ is out now on Little Rocket Records from Dealing With Damage (bandcamp.com)
Dealing With Damage are:
James Sherry – drums
Paul Grier – bass
Andy Myers – guitar and vocals
Ed Wenn – vocals and guitar
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