The Dead Freights Set For New Single ‘Stray Dogs’

Following the news of selling out two shows in under 3 days in Southampton’s favourite independent theatre The Stage Door, The Dead Freights announce their highly anticipated new single ‘Stray Dogs’ to be released October 30th. Recorded at Mi7 studios with Daisy Palmer (Feverist, Paloma Faith) and mixed by Josh Ager (Beabadobee, Oscar Lang and The Night Society) with help from Pete Robertson (The Vaccines, Beabadobee), the single also comes with a video announcement.

The riff driven single enjoys rock elements with a disco beat, delivered with sweaty, gothic poetry. Described as “disco-nirvana,” by frontman and captain of The Dead Freight train, Charlie James, this new single shows the band are not a one trick pony by having a punchier, heavier sound than their previous work. The second verse toys with Frank Sinatra’s ‘Strangers in the Night’ as the band crash into cacophony with a “spat-rant” and lyrics alluding to drugs on a phone screen.
“We are using space and simplicity to harness a more aggressive sound,” Charlie James begins. “This is the first of three singles and the perfect song to set the foundations of what’s to come. I like the dichotomy of singing a grubby lyric with a tuneful melody. It’s important to us that our music harbours those values of 60s bands, like The Beach Boys, but it is also important to me as a writer to disturb and perturb. Think ‘Rank Sinatra’; ‘putting the ABBA in Black Sabbath’; ‘disco-Nirvana’.”
With a new video to accompany ‘Stray Dogs’, the quartet took a DIY approach and had drummer, Louis Duarte as director. Created using a back garden, a camera and a ‘video editing’ YouTube tutorial, the slow-motion video features gun imagery, arson and things genuinely falling apart, ending with the whole set being burnt to the ground, emulating the band’s love for rock ‘n’ roll havoc. Speaking of the video, Duarte stated,

“This video is a product of us finding our identity as a band. We felt it was time to express ourselves more artistically that we have in the past with a music video. We needed to consider our limited resources when making this, but when have limited resources ever stifled good creation? Thinking about some simple music videos that are most engaging, No Surprises- Radiohead, Yellow-Coldplay and that great one by Sinead O’Connor, it’s the artist that keeps you there. Their face is enough. Luckily for us, our front-man Charlie has eyes you can’t find your way out of. It made sense to make that the focus”

After recently recording a live video at Abbey Road Studios in the infamous Studio 2 (following in the footsteps of the band’s biggest influence, The Beatles – Watch Video), The Dead Freights have headlined a This Feeling headline tour all over the U.K. which saw most nights sold out- including an unforgettable Nambucca show that sold out in record time. The band are kicking out hard with a string of new singles, show announcements and even managing to bag themselves a festival slot this year (despite that proving near-on impossible).
With social distance measures in places, it is going to prove even harder to keep your hands off The Dead Freights. With good looks, charisma and bags of charm, they are a train that can’t be stopped.
Hop on board.

Check out previous single ‘Jaw Talk’.