After a very successful afternoon of crate digging at Amoeba Records on February 18, 2018, fellow Punknews contributors, the Barrett’s and I made our way down Sunset Boulevard to The Echo to catch a 6PM show featuring Dead To Me with Western Settings and DFMK opening.


Tijuana, Mexico’s DFMK have made quite the name for themselves in California, but especially Southern California. I saw part of their set at the now-closed VLHS (RIP) when they opened for PEARS and Direct Hit! and I knew they would definitely be worth keeping an eye on. While DFMK is considered a hardcore band, they aren’t afraid to thrown in traditional blues riffs and vocal melodies into their songs. The four band members opened this show with an incredibly lively and aggressive half-hour set with songs like “No Me Gusta Chavela Vargas,” “Mentira” and “Anti-Tú.” In a more unusual, but interesting move during one of the song’s musical interludes, the lead vocalist proceeded to spit up in the air, catch said spit and comb it into his hair wth his hand. Bold move? Yes. One of the highlights of the entire show? Definitely. Towards the end of their performance DFMK mentioned that Chicken (of Dead To Me) will be producing their upcoming full-length, which hopefully will be out later this year. That’s a release I won’t hesitate in pre-ordering.

Up next was San Diego’s Western Settings. This is another band I have had the pleasure of seeing before. The last time I saw them perform was last summer when they were on tour with Heartsounds. Western Settings always put on a really great performance. The band played a good amount of songs from 2016’s Old Pain (also produced by Chicken of Dead To Me) like “Duncan,” “Old Pain” and “The Phenomenon.” They also performed tracks from other releases such as “Get It, Got It” and “Another Year.” As usual, Western Settings put on a fantastic performance overall.

At just about 8PM Dead To Me took the stage blasted right into their set with “Visiting Day.” The magic of Chicken and Jack Dalrymple’s vocals immediately dominated the venue. Now I have seen Dead To Me twice since Jack’s mighty return to the band. Each time they have played songs from Cuban Ballerina, the Little Brother EP and the I Wanna Die In Los Angeles 7-inch (I’m not complaining. If you’ve read my other review of their live show, then you know that it was an amazing set list). Much to my (pleasant) surprise, this time the band broke out “Undertow” from Moscow Penny Ante. Dead To Me also performed their newest single “Fear Is The New Bliss,” which sounds incredible live, but they also played an even newer song called “Would It Kill” (according to the set list). Just based on what I heard at this show, “Would It Kill” has to be one of their more heavier-sounding tunes, but nonetheless ruled. Seeing this song and “Fear Is The New Bliss” performed at this show just made me all the more excited for American Son Of Cholo to be released.

Not many bands can get me to sing along through their entire set, but towards the end of Dead To Me’s performance I could already tell that my voice was thrashed. For their last song they played the brilliant anthem “By The Throat.” During the build up, Chicken jumped off the stage, into the pit with his bass and mic stand. I, along with what must have been ten other audience members huddled around him and the mic. We all struggled for the mic to be able to shout, “THEY!” “GOT!” “ME!” “BY THE THROAT!” At this point Chicken lost control of the mic stand and was crowd surfing with his bass still hanging on him while another audience member and I were screaming the last couple of lines into the microphone. It was such an incredible way to end the night.

What else is there to say? It’s only February and this is probably going to be one of the best shows that I will have gone to all year.

Dead To Me’s Set List:

Visiting Day

Don’t Wanna

Undertow

Cause Of My Anger

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Tune It Out

Splendid Isolation

Would It Kill (brand new song)

I Wanna Die In Los Angeles

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Fear Is The New Bliss

Special Professional

Arrhythmic Palpitations

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Ran That Scam

Something New

Little Brother

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Don’t Lie

By The Throat

You can see pictures from the show on the Punknews Instagram.