Meet Died

Why yes, you have died and gone to heaven.

At least, that’s what we thought when we first caught wind of this band’s debut EP.

So do yourself a favor and check out Died if you’re into anything post-punk. These puppies are kinda the new kids on the block, but deliver so much palpable energy, deep-rooted emotion, and erratic noise, that they are absolutely ones’ to watch.

Below, we talk magic lassos, school detentions, and their interesting drink of choice. Give ‘em a listen and a follow, and see if you can find Barney…

A Self-Portrait by Died.

Would You Rather

…have a magic lasso that would make people tell the truth or everyone believes every lie you ever tell?

I'd rather own a lasso which makes everyone believe whatever lie I tell. First, i'd lasso myself, and say some paradoxical shit like "this is not a lie" just to see what would happen. If I survive that, then I’ll do some lassoing to convince my landlord I don’t have to pay rent anymore and stuff like that. Finally I’d lasso Ian and tell him he’s a better guitarist than Caio to help boost his confidence.

Some Questions with Died

Did you get detention in school?

Yes. I was actually suspended once for getting into a fight. I punched this kid in the face for pushing my girlfriend (I won the fight for the record). Also, I received 3 detentions because my high school band (Thot Police) performed “Hell of a Life” by Kanye West at school and we didn’t censor the lyrics.

How would you define post-hardcore, post-punk, and crust music?

All three are sub-genres of punk rock. I’ll do my best to explain them.

Post-hardcore: Take hardcore punk, and make it more sophisticated. The beauty of hardcore punk often lies in its simplicity, but post-hardcore tries to mangle and destroy this simplicity in the most creative ways possible. Nerdiness disguised behind aggression.

Post-punk: Take punk-rock, and make it more sophisticated. If that sound similar to post-hardcore to you, that’s because it is. Except post-punk came first. And your parents probably would like post-punk more.

Crust: Take hardcore punk, and make it less sophisticated. In other words, infuse your punk with extreme metal.

If you could design any kind of merch, what would it be?

Died Power Balance coming soon hopefully.

What was the creative process like in making, Anonymized Internal Criminals?

AIC was written by playing a lot together - someone would bring an idea or riff in and we would all build on it, adding parts and building it as a unit. All of the songs on it are the result of a super collaborative process - we definitely changed everything about each song a million times and back, and had to tweak them constantly to get them to a place where they were sufficient for us

Do you have a drink of choice? What is it?

close tie between Rich piana 5% nutrition “Kill it” pre-workout (RIP) and Bang energy cotton candy flavor

According to bandcamp, you are "banned in NYC" -- care to elaborate?

We’re not allowed to give any details.

How do you see yourself maturing further as a band after your most recent release?

AIC was a really hard EP to make - there was a lot of confusion as to what the direction of the band should be prior to recording it. I think at that time in our lives we were all in similarly angry, frustrated headspaces and we wanted the music to reflect that. “Less Life” which will be our next release dials back that anger a bit and harkens musically back to our first EP — i don’t know if any of us are in really that much better headspaces now to be honest but the emotions that we channel in the music are more brooding rather than confrontational - challenging maybe, but not as aggro maybe. We are making the transition from destructive 3 year olds to angsty 13 year olds. Slowly but surely.

When writing a song, do you privilege harmony, melody, or lyrics first?

I feel like we don’t usually have to make too many tradeoffs when it comes to those types of considerations luckily, but i think we probably care most about harmony of the three.

If you could give one animal species (besides people) the ability to fly which would it be. Why?

Pigs, for no other reason than to activate all the oddities that are supposed to happen when pigs fly.

What are your favorite venues to see a live show in NYC?

Saint Vitus and the now-defunct Brooklyn Bazaar are standouts. Trans-Pecos in Ridgewood is also great. But for the most part, venues in NYC are bad.

Do other forms of art inform your work? If so, who/what and how?

Definitely. Poetry, film, and visual art all had a pretty marked influence on the lyrics of AIC. The lyrics on new album, though, seemed to spring from within us a lot more naturally. Maybe we’ve internalized our influences too much to identify them discretely, but this new record felt like a more earnest personal expression than a piece of art created in response to other works.

What is your go-to post-show snack?

We tend to snack more before shows, but if we have time and energy after a show, hitting a diner or some other 24 hour establishment is usually a good move. Everyone can get their own thing and pay separately. Low stress!

What instrument do you want to learn, if any?

The Galax Zither. It’s an Appalachian folk instrument that relies heavily on drone strings and is usually played with a popsicle stick on the fretboard. They seem easy enough to play, the hard part is getting your hands on one.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Thanks for taking the time to interview us; look out for more info about our upcoming album Less Life in the next few months!

Died