Already Dead: My Collar Is Blue

Released 10/14/22

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Already Dead (credit: Daniel Johnson)

Boston’s Already Dead blitz and blast their way through a punk melange that remembers its roots in political dissidence on their latest LP My Collar Is Blue. One man’s dissidence, though, is another man’s nihilism. The three-piece band seem uninterested in a brand of opposition that rates in merely aesthetic terms. Instead, in seven songs that run the gamut of influences, the band explores class consciousness as the centerpiece of their punk identity. If The Clash were dubbed the “thinking man’s yobs,” maybe we can call Already Dead the “thinking man’s Massholes”?

Title track “My Collar Is Blue” announces its intentions loud and clear. Guitar distortion fills the air, snares fire off like bottle rockets, and a bass keeps pace, as the lead vocals engage in a call and response with a punk chorus. The mood is ebullient. In the face of uncertainty, we can find solace and solidarity in class struggle. In a political landscape denominated more by our purchase histories (“check this box for personalized ads!”) than our common interests, declaring class filiation is downright revolutionary.

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Already Dead (credit: Daniel Johnson)

Songs like “Stability” explore the double-bind of stability in an unstable world. “Stability, ain’t all it’s cracked up to be…” Sometimes a nice, steady, predictable existence can feel more like a cage than anything else. And the life that belongs in the cage, what Henry David Thoreau called “lives of quiet desperation.”

But don’t we pine for even the illusion of security when it’s gone? When you’re lost at sea, what you want most is the Coast Guard helicopter extraction before the next icy wave hits. Where do we reach for comfort? Friends, family – a nip from the bottle? Life can be hard – you take solace where you find it.

The paradox of class solidarity is that it’s a group identity achieved through personal actions. In other words, it’s up to you whether or not you’re going to give a shit about the men and women who are struggling with the same problems as you. Who are having the same trouble as you paying rent, caring for their kids, covering medical bills, looking after their aging parents. The vast majority of Americans can’t opt out of these problems, but we can all recognize our collective interests and decide to do something about it. And if you make that decision, it’s a personal one that’d better be meaningful to you, otherwise it’s not going to stick. On “Bruises and Bottles” Already Dead sings: “I’ve got something to prove / To myself, and not you.” The declaration of independence is immediately followed by the caveat: “But I know nobody does it alone / Got friends and family to call my own.” Independence and solidarity stand in reciprocal relation, and wouldn’t count for much without each other.

Shout out to the cameos by BOS the Rapper on “City’s Burnin” and Something of Freedom.” The former flirts with ska punk, trotting out the brass and laying down the upstroke. The latter weaves in some organ for the most spaced-out textures that you’ve heard all album. The band isn’t dogmatic about its musical style. Sure, you’ll find My Collar Is Blue in the “punk” bin at your local record store, but there’s no narrow-minded allegiance to any particular variant of the genre. And you could even see this band slide off the register altogether and release a ska, hip hop, or polka album (“Stability” has a nice, low-key polka bounce to it). Why the hell not?

Life is struggle. Already Dead puts the question to us: have you found something worth struggling for? Something to believe in? “Something of Freedom”? Far from the spiritual death spiral of consumerism or a modish nihilism, the band asks you to ask for more. More than the job or mindset or religion or addiction that enslaves you. That treats you as less than you’re worth. That tells you to shut up, keep your head down, stay in your lane, and don’t make waves – or else you’re out on your ass.

Fuck that shit. Keep your chin up, be good to friends and family, look after those in need, and remember that the struggle is good, right, and beautiful if you make it good, right, and beautiful. If Already Dead’s My Collar Is Blue helps you further along that road, then we’ll see you in the pit.

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