Fresh off vigorous performances at SXSW, rabble-rousing punk rock group Off With Their Heads have announced plans to release their Epitaph Records’ debut album, In Desolation, on June 7. The band has released the first song “Drive” on MySpace today. Check it out now at link
Produced by Off With Their Heads and Jacques Wait at the Terrarium in Minneapolis, In Desolation is 34 minutes of non-stop gut wrenching honesty. Singer Ryan Young’s candid lyrics about life’s misadventures, stress, drugs, love, death and everything between add a raw surly edge to the band’s full-throttle music. “This record is kind of a collective mix of all the styles we've done in the past,” Young explains. “Everything from aggression to sappy bullshit, because that’s who I am! This is going to be the record for people who like the whole spectrum of what we do.”
From its first track, “Drive,” a petal-to-the-metal opener about Young’s incessant habit of over thinking things and becoming his own worst critic, to the harsh reality of OD’ing on the sobering yet rowdy song “Trying to Breath” and the explosive middle-finger-in-the-air sing along “Their Own Medicine,” In Desolation is authentic punk rock to its core from a working band who lives and breathes it every day. When it comes to touring virtually year round it isn’t a choice as much as it’s a lifestyle for Off With Their Heads, and after years on the road the band has finally taken a brief break.
“Until the record comes out in June, we won’t be doing any shows,” says Young. “That’s the longest stretch in almost two years that we haven’t been on the road. People ask us how it feels to finally get to relax. I'm fucking bored. The other guys are bored. We want to get back out. Not to further our band, but just because we love doing it and are used to it. The title In Desolation comes from a lyric in the song “ZZYZX” on the record. I chose that because after years constantly on the road, being 100 percent by myself sounded pretty rad.”
In Desolation Tracklisting:
1. Drive – 2:42
2. Their Own Medicine – 2:31
3. Trying To Breathe – 2:49
4. ZZYZX – 2:45
5. The Eyes of Death – 2:45
6. Old Man – 3:05
7. All I Can Do – 2:33
8. I Need You – 1:44
9. Spare Time – 1:58
10. I Just Want You To Know – 2:54
11. My Episodes – 4:06
12. Clear The Air – 3:47