Dead Pioneers - Po$t American (2025)

In middle school, my best friend introduced me to a show on the local college station called “Top 40 Deprogramming”. Coupled with the Repo man soundtrack, I found the musical expression for my political outrage. Soon I was ordering Social Distortion cassettes from Columbia Records and coming home from field trips to NYC with Dead Kennedy albums. Baptized in The Clash, Black Flag and U2 (yes, War was definitely a punk rock album), I will always get excited when I find a band that makes politically angry music.

Dead Pioneers is the mid life crisis project of native activist Gregg Deal. What began as a quest for music to accompany his visual art, the first Dead Pioneers album gave birth to one of the best re-imaginings of Dead Kennedy’s Plastic Surgery-era punk. Mixing Deal’s furious spoken and sung lyrics with a tight, three-cords and rage band, Dead Pioneers offer up challenging political takes that demand a mosh pit and a raised fist. I love that I can enjoy the music, soak in the rage of the lyrics and chuckle at the stinging retributions of whiteness. Songs like “The Caucasity” are a perfect encapsulation. One of Deal’s experiences starts as a laugh line, grows into a deep message that pushes the listener to think long after the last note and doesn’t forget that good music needs to make you dance. As a white man who is frequently called out by Deal, this is not an easy listen. I recognize places in my own life where I have succumbed to the myopic views enabled by my skin color, but this isn’t just a beat down. The album didn’t leave me feeling beaten up, if left me feeling empowered to make changes and confront power. Good punk calls us to change the world, helps us channel our rage into a constructive project. Add deal to the cannon with Biafra, Strummer, and de la Rocha.