Death From Above 1979 have decided to drop the ‘1979’, and now are simply Death From Above.
In 2004 when they were still working their way up the alternative music ladder, the dance-punk duo of Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler were given a cease and desist order from record label, DFA Records which is partially owned by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy. It basically forced the band to change their name, and in spite they simply added ‘1979’ which was the minimum change they would have to make to continue on as ‘DFA’. That does not mean they were happy about it though, as they put the whole topic on blast. The band responded to the legal order with a pretty vitriolic post on their website at the time. “F–K DFA RECORDS F–K JAMES MURPHY WE DECLARE JIHAD ON THEM HOLY WAR ENDING IN THEIR DEATH AND DISMEMBERMENT… james murphy is a selfish piece of f–k that will burn in the flames of a specially dedicated rock and roll jihad. if i had the resources i would fly a plane into his skull.” They have in recent years mellowed on the issue.
DFA79 reunited in 2011 with a show that turned into a legit riot , went on to play world tours including Lollapalooza, and then released the spectacular ‘Physical World’ album in 2014. That record spawned the head-bobbing gem of a track ‘Trainwreck 1979’. DFA will make hips shake this September at Riot Fest in Douglas Park, enter to win tickets here.
The band just premiered a new song ‘Freeze Me‘ and are prepping a new LP for release soon. And by ‘soon’, that could be tomorrow? The band put up some audio samples on Youtube, which tease the date ‘6.9.17’
