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PREMIERE: Murder, deception and insanity, The Dead Heir go into the deep end with Tusk

It’s been a little while since we last heard from Melbourne garage outfit The Dead Heir. The six-piece released the video for Sherlock back in January (how time flies!), a trippy little number that took a step sideways from their more garage rock inclinations. With a new EP The Dead Heir Go Wild due out in November the band have ready the second taste of therir new material, Tusk.

The Dead Heir go wild

With a strong new focus, Melbourne’s The Dead Heir are back with Tusk. With a video as brooding as the track, it sees the band go to dark new places.

Straight off the bat Tusk is step up for the band in terms of songwriting. Not that the band were putting out rubbish songs to begin with. Far from that in fact, their first EP Cooked, released last year, was a solid effort and it’s on that strong foundation that Tusk is able to stand tall. The band have married their gritty garage influences with the flirtatious nature of modern psych rock to give us a killer tune. The guitars are bold, assertively leading the track from it’s wandering beginnings to the swelling jam that sees everyone cutting loose.

The video sees the band go down the ‘old timey footage’ route. We’ve seen this before, like with Turntable from Julia Why? and Coach Bombay‘s Funtitled. In this case however the band have gone down a far darker path, borrowing footage from the 1936 film Reefer Madness. Greeted with an opening title that is “An eye opening account” and “A wake up call for all good citizens“, Tusk delves into the dangers of drugs in a way that is both a little goofy and morbid. The animated performance of the the characters under the influence is a little funny at first (the film was made to ward off youngsters from weed and was critically panned to boot). However once the track reaches it’s final act an the unbridled jam takes over the grittier themes of the song comes into play in the video.

The escalating violence amidst the sense altered haze is handled well with a series of cross fades. The descent into madness is portrayed well this way, giving the impression of an confused and agitated state. In the end what we’re left with his a sequence of harrowing final scenes. Shit, they should show this to kids in school when they’re learning about drug prevention, it would probably work.

The band’s second EP The Dead Heir Go Wild will be released November 2 through the freshly minted Psychic Ric Records. The Dead Heir will also be embarking on a four date tour, so be sure to get down and catch the boys at a show.

Saturday October 31 – Lawsfest, Laws Family Farm, Tolmie
Sunday November 8 – 107 Projects, Sydney
Friday November 13 – Sunfest, The Tote
Friday November 20 – The Evelyn, Melbourne