American Virus

As Trump was downplaying Covid-19, telling people to inject bleach, and continually referring to it as the "China Virus" last year, Dead Ending did what any self-respecting punk band would have done...they wrote a middle-finger song to the shithead in charge. They banged out two quick songs, and a cover from The Clash, and preorders went up at the end of August. Because all of 2020 was a complete clusterfuck, it took over six months for the record to ship.

Calling out Trump as the American Virus is an excellent way to close out his term as president, and a great follow up to thier Ivanka Wants Her Orange Back single from when he was inagurated back in 2017. Seriously, fuck that guy forever.

While the Complete Control cover from The Clash didn't make it to the 7 inch, the two original songs here are great. Fast and short songs with those Vic Bondi snarling vocals are what Dead Ending do best, and these two deliver what you expect. I was hoping that we'd get a nice limited colored vinyl pressing with this one, but it looks like it may have only seen black vinyl.

(It's Not A) Dead Ending

I've been doing this blog for over 13 years now, and it has always been a fun way for me to kill some time. This past month, however, it has been tough to carve out the time to keep the post count up. I guess that I could make the time if I really wanted to, but in reality, my motivation for this has been pretty low, and I've just been choosing to spend my time with other things. I don't plan to abandon this blog, as I still find it to be a great point of reference...and I get a kick out of looking back to see where my head was at during a specific point of time, or what my initial impression was of that second Backtrack album. This is a journal of my musical journey, and I don't see it going away any time soon. Still, it was nice to take a break from it for a while.

I was on Spotify recently, and noticed they had a new two song EP from Dead Ending available for streaming. Whoa. I hadn't heard anything about this. I wasn't exactly blown away by their 2017 album, Shoot The Messenger, but I was still interested to check out what the band was releasing, so I quickly clicked that play button.

Vic Bondi and crew keep that fast Hardcore attack coming with this two song EP. Clocking in just over six minutes, this is a nice quick blast from Dead Ending.

500 pressed on clear vinyl.

Make America Hate Again

Donald Trump was inaugurated as the President Of The United States. It is still unbelievable, and I can't wrap my head around how this happened. I've spent most of the day listening to early 80's Hardcore and trying to restrain myself from just flooding social media with a barrage of middle fingers. When the mailman delivered a new record to my door, it was the small bright spot in a dark and dismal day. When I opened the package, it couldn't have been anymore fitting.

A few days ago, I was bouncing around on Discogs, and I can't remember how I got there, but I stumbled upon the new 7 inch for Dead Ending, and quickly checked out the video for Ivanka Wants Her Orange Back. Being a huge fan of Articles Of Faith, I loved it as soon as I heard Vic Bondi snarling behind the microphone. Great, biting Hardcore Punk. Fuck Trump forever.

I swung by the Alternative Tentacles site, and it looked like there was a limited amount that were pressed on blue vinyl...and they were sold out. This problem was quickly resolved as a Discogs seller had a copy for sale. 100 pressed on blue vinyl, so I was happy to get my hands on this one.

Dead And Gold

I'm a huge fan of Articles Of Faith, so when Vic Bondi came along in 2012 with a new band, Dead Ending, I was excited to check it out. I quickly downloaded the songs for their first EP, and while I enjoyed them, I never got around to actually buying the record.

Four years down the road, and I'm finally getting it done.

When I finally got around to buying a copy, colored vinyl was the way to go. The gold vinyl looks great with the record packaging....oh hell, when doesn't gold vinyl look good?

I can't remember what drew me to the Discogs Marketplace page for this record, but once I saw the $8 price tag, it was love at first sight, and I had to make her mine.

500 pressed on colored vinyl.

Back From The Dead

I'm a big fan of Articles Of Faith...hell, even that EP that the band recorded a few years ago was pretty tight. Two years ago, when I heard that Vic Bondi was fronting a new band, Dead Ending, I was interested to check them out. Thankfully the band sounded more like AOF than Alloy. Alternative Tentacles released two quick EPs, and while I liked what I heard, I just never got around to picking them up.

I was surprised to see that Bridge Nine was releasing the band's third EP. I don't pay much attention to the bands that B9 are releasing these days, but with this Dead Ending record, I didn't think twice about finally buying some DE vinyl.

This record continues in the same tradition as the first two, and man, it just rips. Putting all three EPs back to back, and they still don't break the 28 minute mark. No frills...just straight forward hardcore. Vic sounds just as passionate and powerful as he did with AOF in the early 80's.

300 pressed on red vinyl.