Minneapolis punk band The Slow Death recently announced they will be releasing their sixth full-length, Yesterday’s Numbers, on Friday, November 20 via their own label Don’t Sing and friend Ryan Young’s label, Anxious and Angry (pre-order). And it’s not just the album title that is about numbers: for the new album, the band expanded to an eight-piece. The lineup includes Jesse Thorson on lead vocals and guitar (Pretty Boy Thorson & the Falling Angels), with harmonies from his wife Annie Sparrows, Kat Naden, and Saumer Kinsey, all of The God Damn Doo Wop Band. Sam Beere plays lead guitar and Luke Lecheler organ, both of Nato Coles & the Blue Diamond Band, rounded out by Dylan Richie on bass (Teenage Strangler) and Sean Walker on drums (Gay Witch Abortion, Chooglin).
Over the years, the band’s ever-changing lineup has included Mikey Erg (The Ergs) and Paddy Costello (Dillinger Four), among others. “The Slow Death famously has like 90 members,” explains Sparrows. “You play with ’em once, and you’re a member for life, and I can safely say for all of us, it’s never a dull moment being a small part of it all.”
Today, we are psyched to premiere the album’s second single, “You’re Not Coming Back.” Jesse Thorson wrote the song years ago in another band, which got as far as recording basic tracks and some vocals before it quietly stopped. The song stayed with him, especially its bridge.
“This song is kinda the whole reason I put this record together. I don’t remember breaking up or anything like that,” says Thorsen. “We just stopped for a while, and a while turned into forever. But I always loved it, especially the bridge, where it’s just chords ringing out and the girls singing. It’s so cool that I would think about it all the time. I wanted to hear a finished version so badly that eight people put in two years of effort, and I spent thousands of dollars making an album just to hear that bridge. Totally worth it.”
“I have been wanting to make this record for so long that I kinda can’t believe that it’s finally being pressed,” says guitarist/vocalist Jesse Thorson about the new album. “There was always some reason not to. There was always something in the way: ‘Once this tour, this single, this album, this month, this year, this decade is done I will make the rock and roll record.’ It’s done and it’s better than I thought it would be, and as anyone who knows me will tell you, I am a super optimistic fella. Everyone who had anything to do with this record absolutely killed it and, coincidentally, I found the right conditioner to give my hair the appropriate body and bounce for the back cover.”
Yesterday’s Numbers was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Andy Mathison at TreeSpeak Studios and will be issued on black vinyl, limited to 300 copies, and on all digital platforms. Both formats are available for pre-order now through Anxious and Angry.
The Slow Death will celebrate the release with a show alongside Off With Their Heads on November 28 at the Uptown VFW.
