It’s hard to believe that it has only just under a year since L.S. Dunes introduced themselves to the world. But in that time, they have done an incredible job of entering themselves into the alternative consciousness. A band that every member has admitted is the one they want to be their main focus, and it’s been a joy to see them so happy making music together. And now they have shared a new track, the first to follow their debut album Past Lives.
That song is “Benadryl Subreddit”, an absolutely batshit title. But it suits the garishness and gravitas of the track perfectly. Part post-hardcore epic, part psychedelic freakout, it pushes and pulls at the ear with quirk-filled riffs and decadent refrains. It feels and sounds like nobody else, and that’s an incredibly special place for L.S. Dunes to be.
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Paired with a video that features vocalist Anthony Green as a mischievous ice cream man kidnapping the band and putting his cigarettes out in other people’s treats, it’s a tongue-in-cheek bit of weirdness that everybody can get behind.
Guitarist Frank Iero had this to say about where the song came from:
“‘Benadryl’s’ title comes from a conversation that Mikey Way and I were having one night on tour about sober guys finding out legal ways of getting high without doing actual drugs and messing with their sobriety. The music for this song came about when I knew we were going into the desert to record with Alex Newport at Rancho De La Luna.
“I had just received a new guitar in the mail from Ben Wasser at Guitarworks called ‘The Shaft’ and I got to thinking about the desert and what I thought that guitar should sound like in that setting. That riff came out immediately. ‘Benadryl Subreddit’ represents the heat of the day out in the desert, sweating bullets and going fast.”
And Guitarist Travis Stever adds this:
“In the early stages of the demo, it was clear this song needed to be recorded and released sooner than many of the other songs we’ve been working on. It captures an energy for the moment. It’s hard to keep hold of the energy and aim from demo to final recordings. I feel like with Alex Newport we did it!”
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You will have the opportunity to hear the song played live, alongside many other hits, when L.S. Dunes hit the road this Summer. Here are the dates they will be playing:
- July 9—Nashville, TN @ The Basement East
- July 13—Toronto, ON @ The Opera House^
- July 15—Providence, RI @ The Strand+
- July 17—New York, NY @ Irving Plaza*
- July 20—Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre*
- July 21—Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s*
- July 22—Detroit, MI @ Saint Andrew’s Hall*
- July 24—Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave Bar*
- July 25—Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s*
- July 26—Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room*
- July 28—Fort Collins @ Washington’s*
- July 29—Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory Boise*
- Aug. 1—Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom*
- Aug. 2—Seattle, WA @ The Showbox*
- Aug. 6—Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre*
- Aug. 9—San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore*
- Aug. 11—Garden Grove @ Garden Amphitheatre*
^Pony as support.
+Teen Mortgage as support.
*Pinkshift as support.
