“Road Soda” is just slurred and demented enough that it could only come from the likes of DAD. No, not your father, but the Brooklyn based quartet are releasing their second stand-alone single of the year (following “Domesticate Me” in April), another blast of anti-social blistering punk and bludgeoning noise rock. The song is garbled and violent, thrashing itself in a panicked fury, making threats (“I’ll turn this thing around”) and demands (“say sorry to your mother”) that genuinely stick with the band’s whole sardonic “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed” dad theme.
Parental gesturing aside, “Road Soda” is dense and chaotic, bruising in the best of ways as feedback and grinding guitar work collide. James Watson’s vocals sound shouted from the back side of a bender, nearly unintelligible as he screams about playing in traffic, his voice darting between a slow warble and a quick lashing. The band keep a frantic pace, lurching forward in hastened jolts, creating a seasick atmosphere that stutters, shakes, and cranks itself into hardcore blasts without concern. While the song draws from The Jesus Lizard and Pissed Jeans, I’m left thinking about some words of wisdom from Kurt Cobain, “I tried hard to have a father, but instead I had a dad.” In this case though, no one is complaining.
DAD’s “Road Soda” is due out Friday, September 21st.