I haven’t laughed this much at a punk show in… well, ever. Being Dead is a special kind of group; a 3-piece out of Austin, Texas, the trio makes trippy, goofy, and tight punk with a distinctly southern feel. It’s like the soundtrack you’d make up in your head as a little kid playing cowboys in the backyard, or even the songs you wish you had queued up while loading your last save in Red Dead Redemption on your shitty original xbox 360. This is zonked out cowboy rock, and at a live show, it can lead to moments of high intensity with just as many rewarding cooldowns.

Kicking around since the late 2010’s, Being Dead have amassed a wide array of sounds into their repertoire, which all lend themselves to their debut album When Horses Would Run, released earlier this year on Bayonet Records. A 13-track opus through the Americas, When Horses Would Run spins yarns about any number of American stories, whether it be the eradication of the buffalo from the Americas, sly hypotheticals about god and his own myth consumption, or “American Honey”-esque adventures across strip malls (and especially into Payless, several times), Being Dead are a somewhat modern twist on the band of performers in Hamlet. Or. more accurately, the same troupe in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead: able to peek behind the curtain enough to poke fun at it, or immerse themselves in it completely.

Falcon Bitch:
Being Dead co-founder and
drummer/multi-instrumentalist

Anyways, When Horses Would Run is a jam, and I could not contain my excitement enough when preparing for their show at Baby’s All Right this past week. There was a palpable energy in the room as the band took the stage, all of us aware that we were stepping into another world of wild horses and expansive rave-ups. Multi-instrumentalists and band founders Falcon Bitch (F. Bitch) and Gumball (no, those aren’t their birth-given names) were joined by bassist and vocalist Ricky Moto, and launched immediately and boldly into their album’s first song “The Great American Picnic,” a psychedelic surf rock mind-melter with counter-melodious vocals and a propulsive drum line which erupts into a full on crashing freak out. An awesome start, and what led to the first impeccable aside of the evening. Gumball, the looming guitarist, took a second to warn the audience about the finicky nature of his guitar. F. Bitch was quick to respond that a good musician never blames the instruments for the faults in a performance. As sardonically as possible, but with a smirk, he replied “wow…that was really fucked up.” 

The crowd roared in laughter, and the band transitioned into “The Last Living Buffalo,” a song about buffalo (duh, ya dingus!). More specifically, the staggering loss of the buffalo population in America due to colonization and for their pelts (“Fur for fashion / Fur for fashion!”).  A dancey groove kept everyone moving, and the soaring chorus was met with shouting and hollering from the audience, until F. Bitch brought the drums in heavily along with her repeated shouts of “YOU KILLED THEM!” A great breakdown at the end of the song, and to my earlier point, a demonstration of Being Dead’s ability to bring high intensity moments despite their outwardly playful demeanor.

Gumball:
Being Dead co-founder and
guitarist/multi-instrumentalist

Gumball introduced the next song as a waltz, jabbing “Do you guys even waltz in New York?” F. Bitch retorted to the audience “Are you gonna let him talk to y’all like that?” This was jokingly followed by a shout from the audience: “HILLBILLIES!” F. Bitch took it in stride, roaring back with pride, “YEAHHHHH, we ARE hillbillies!” It was perfect. “Apostles’ Prom” followed, a sludgy standout track from the group’s 2019 EP Fame Money Death By Drive By. A mellow head-nodder, the song was briskly followed up by an excellent cut from Horses, the go-go surf jam “Muriel’s Big Day Off.” One of the highlights from the show with an impeccable sing-along chorus (“Her! Name! Was! Spelled! / Like this: M-U-R-I-E-L!”), the song served as the perfect representation of Being Dead’s loose tightness as a group; an unwavering drum beat, with zany shouting and perfect in-sync musical cutaways. A fan favorite.

The chugging one-minute barn burner “Come On,” the suburban malaise of “Misery Lane,” and the uncanny valley barbershop quartetery of “Oklahoma Nova Scotia” followed, setting the stage for the final number of the evening. “This is a song about a place you may have been before. It’s called ‘Treeland.’ Get it? It’s the woods!” The guitars, bass and drums all coalesced into one final burst of formidable energy and steady grooving, with the vocals all ascending into a fever pitch of gleeful determination. While the show proved to be an ongoing display of energy, this final number, with the most outward display of tension and release in the whole set, finally gave the crowd the explosive jitteriness they were waiting for. Almost XTC-like in its sheer new wavey weirdness, the final bout of repeated shouts of “Back! Back! Back!” brought the house down with its chaotic goofiness. 

Ricky Moto:
Being Dead bassist and vocalist, pork rinds enthusiast

By show’s end, the house was awash in a sense of release. Being Dead showed this stiff-lipped batch of New Yorkers how to let loose in a way only Austinites can. The weirdness, the humor, the tightness of the group itself, and the incredibly infectious energy of its members demonstrated the true strength of this earnest little group. The tightness of the friendship between Gumball, F. Bitch and Ricky was and is palpable, and for a brisk 45 minutes, it felt like they were granting us permission to join in their cowboy game. Being Dead is having a good time, and they hope you’re having a good time too! I sure did, pardner.

- Aaron