ALBUM REVIEW: Dead Pioneers – Wagon Burner (Hassle Records)
Wagon Burner is the third album from Denver, Colorado, punk band Dead Pioneers, who are the chosen vehicle of indigenous Native American Gregg Deal.
The five-piece evolved from Deal’s performance art, blending music with cultural commentary. They’re fiercely political, calling out the rise of fascism and the far right and the oppression of his people.
Deal is joined by guitarists Josh Rivera and Abe Brennan, bassist Lee Tesche and drummer Shane Zweygardt, producing a sound influenced by original US hardcore, as well as contemporary post-punk and alternative rock.
Mixing original songs with spoken word statements powered by punk riffs, Wagon Burner is a powerful album, with plenty to say over the course of its 12 tracks.
An obvious standout is lead single Nazi Teeth, featuring guest vocals from Stefanie Byrne of Colorado feminist punks Cheap Perfume. It sets out Dead Pioneers’ stall in stark terms as Deal snarls: “I would gladly punch you in your white power face/Make you feel my red power race/Nazis, fascists and incel boys/Go back to where you came from.”
It’s Deal’s lyrics which lift this band above the standard punk fare, whether he’s calling out the far right or the American government and the billionaires who set out the country’s narrative.
No Kings raises a middle finger to the oligarchs and grifters who thrive while the land’s original inhabitants suffer, while Animals That Roam The Earth shows they can do reflective alt-rock too.
Never Alone (featuring Aimee Allen from LA ska-punks The Interrupters) is the poppiest song here, but it’s a love letter to the punk scene, or, as Deal puts it, “a life-saving scene, a life-saving sound.”
There’s another guest vocalist, Jason Williamson of UK electro-dance-punks Sleaford Mods on The Worst Among Us, and again the themes are familiar: colonialism, imperialism, theft, murder, oppression and death.
Seeing Red starts as spoken word before into a powerful post-punk maelstrom as Deal asks, over and over again “Am I angry?”, before answering “Yes I am.”
But it’s not the angriest song on the record; that honour falls to Circle Jerk The Wagons, whose big riffs and relentless pace channel classic Dead Kennedys. It’s surely no coincidence that Jello Biafra is a fan.
Nobody, a spoken word piece over a post-punk noise-scape, decries lazy stereotypes such as Gary Farmer’s character in Jim Jarmusch’s 1995 acid western Dead Man, and the closing LFG – “let’s fucking go” – urges people to rise up and challenge the corrupt system.
Wagon Burners isn’t a conventional hardcore punk record, but it has a hardcore heart, speaking truth to power, while making the listener think about survival, resilience and standing up for their rights. It’s also an essential listen. 9/10.
