Dead Pioneers’ Wagon Burner arrives just in time for the United States’ 250th birthday, and it is the gift the country deserves and needs right now: An indigenous voice of reason taking the actual history of the country to task and rallying those of us who aren’t licking boots to unite and fight back. The band’s spiritual peers include timeless groups like Minutemen, Suicidal Tendencies, Public Enemy, and Dead Kennedys, bands that functioned as the alternative CNN of their time.
As a punk rock record, it’s a blast, an anthemic, catchy collection of tracks that shows Dead Pioneers gelling. Throughout, Deal and guests weave spoken word pieces into their incendiary tour of the many shades of punk, and its 12 songs are barbed with humor and an invitation to anyone who is infuriated by the Grifter in Chief and his gaggle of goons.
“Dead Presidents” kicks things off on an ominous, reserved note before “Nazi Teeth” explodes through the speakers. With an assist from Cheap Perfume, this is an incendiary track that is impossible to listen to without wanting to get up and do your best living room two step or floor punch. Deal’s taunts explode into gang vocals about Nazi teeth hitting the ground and taking apart the pathetic rhetoric they spew, setting the tone.
“A Message from Mr. Bell” features W. Kamau Bell on a spoken word track decrying those who support Trump and his racist, fascist actions. It tees up “No Kings”, an anthemic track whose target is apparent from the title. It serves as a succinct summary of this second Trump presidency, with images of bullets whizzing over kids’ heads, class war, and the system that traps working people of all colors. “Animals that Roam the Earth” is a powerful track with a chorus in Pyute. It begins with a call to Natives to keep their culture, as Deal’s son leads off the track with the question, “Have you spoken your language today?”
“Never Alone” is a rousing, catchy track featuring the Interrupters and about finding community in the punk scene. It is an impassioned, upbeat call for everyone to stick together. Jason Williamson from Sleaford Mods jumps on “The Worst Among Us”, a track where Deal recalls showing his work at the Smithsonian while examining the wholesale theft of indigenous culture. It’s a powerful slow-burn track that leans closer to Williamson’s band than to raucous punk.
“Seeing Red” confronts white dismissal of the grievances of Native Americans, which builds and builds as a lost Suicidal Tendencies track. The track boils over eventually, with Deal shouting, “My emotion is a house you built. My anger is a lot safer than your mass shootings, your genocide, your lynchings, your secret police, your cop killers”. It’s goosebump-inducing. “Circle Jerk the Wagons” is a straight-up hardcore ripper. “Zealots” takes aim at holier-than-thou types, in the scene or on the message board.
“Nobody” knocks Native American stereotypes and the heroic cowboys mythos we have been sold via pop culture. “LFG” ends the record on an energizing, unifying note, with gang vocals and a huge chorus. It’s easy to imagine Deal being swarmed with fans clamoring for the mic to shout along to “fuck the bourgeoisie”.
The last Dead Pioneers record, PO$T AMERICAN, established their unique sound and songwriting chops. It’s filled with the elements that made their previous work powerful–biting humor, provocative ideas, and raging sounds to match. Wagon Burner opens the pit to everyone who’s had it, beckoning all of us who are fed up to take up together and fight back. It couldn’t be more timely, and it’s also one of the most engaging, fun punk records of the year, a gift to all of us who aren’t celebrating with UFC fights and Vanilla Ice.