Being Dead has eleven out of ten screws loose. We spoke extensively with the band from Texas.
“We have known each other since the 1950s. We were working as fishermen at the time and met on the coast of Alaska,” Falcon tells Bitch. “We got a lot younger then.” She doesn’t make a face. She noticed bandmate Gumball at the time, “he had a fishhook in his ear.” This is all nonsense, of course. But nonsense is an essential part of the band Being Dead, which Falcon Bitch founded together with her best friend Gumball. Both are in their mid to late twenties, both don’t want to be introduced by their real names in punk style, both sing and take turns playing drums and guitar. Her close friend Ricky Moto plays the bass.
“When we write lyrics, most of the time we try to make ourselves laugh”
On the debut album, the trio presents some older songs and a playful mix of garage, surf and indie rock with often absurd lyrics. They are reminiscent of the humor of young bands like Wet Leg. “When we write lyrics, most of the time we’re trying to make ourselves laugh,” says Gumball. “Muriel’s Big Day Off,” a song with a jazzy interlude, is a good example of this. It’s about a loyal friend who never compares herself to others, doesn’t believe in conventions and spontaneously steals from a shoe store. In the following song, the two Beatles fans again sing piously about God and their Bible reading. Their childish band manifesto “We Are Being Dead” is also wonderfully grotesque. “The band name sounds like metal and hardcore, which we are not at all. We wanted to imagine ourselves as cute as possible on stage. “Originally the song wasn’t supposed to be on the album,” says Falcon Bitch. “I’m curious how the title translates into German.” The finale is “Oklahoma Nova Scotia,” a demo with echoing 60s vibes. “It’s escapism, a fun adventure that best friends go on in a nonsense place in a nonsense world.”
WHEN HORSES WOULD RUN often turns out to be silly. But there are exceptions: “Last Living Buffalo” tells the story of a lonely buffalo, the last of its kind. Again the theme of death. It’s a surreal song about fear of loneliness and the diffuse fear of being skinned alive. Is it about species extinction or about the fact that people can be barbaric and evil? In any case, some songs evoke an eerie atmosphere. The shoegaze song “Livin’ Easy” even seems irony-free and surprisingly melancholic. “It’s about being a queen but not being recognized. And about choosing your own god or deciding to be your own god.”
Keyword self-empowerment, Being Dead make “outsider music”. Of course, outsiders don’t just exist in Republican Texas. The album begins with Western riffs and horses also appear, but the songs could be set in any American suburb. “I like Austin in many ways. But Texas is not my thing politically.” Falcon Bitch now sounds surprisingly serious. “I personally don’t feel very connected here. I don’t see myself here for a long time.” She doesn’t get any more specific than that. But if you look at the radical sides of Texas, the trans-hostility or lax gun laws, one thing becomes clear: the real freaks are the others. BEING DEAD, on the other hand, are completely normal people. Really.
Being Dead’s album WHEN HORSES WOULD RUN was released on July 14, 2023 – listen here: