We aren't interested on having friends on this thing for the sake of sheer numbers. If you are just adding us to hawk some product to our friends list, we'll just deny you. We also aren't interested in trading shows (with very rare exceptions, e.g. we already know you, your band is about what we're about, etc.) We don't have a problem booking shows other places and we already play our hometown too much. The groups we belong to on this deal are mostly political causes that we support, we aren't interested in joining every random group out there. We're not trying to be dicks, it is just that this whole thing is becoming more trouble than its worth because we try to reply to everyone...
The concept behind The Dream Is Dead began in 2000 when Clark (founder of Happy Couples Never Last Records ) and long-time friend Jason McCash (bass player for seminal Circle City hardcore rockers Burn It Down) kicked around the idea of doing a project band dedicated to putting the threat and politics back into hardcore. A feeling of youthful rebellion and resistance to the status quo initially drew them to hardcore punk in their teenage years, and it was the integrity of the music that sustained their love for the genre.
Never ones to do things half-heartedly, initial attempts to find talented, dedicated band mates stalled the project. The breakup of Burn It Down left McCash without a band and revitalized The Dream Is Dead's prospects. Jared Southwick (from Indiana death metal legends Harakiri) was recruited for guitar duties, eventually parting from his former band to devote his time fully to The Dream is Dead. Alex Bond, fresh from the breakup of his screamo band The Sutek Conspiracy, completed the lineup on drums in September 2001.
By the Spring of 2002, the band had enough material together to record two EPs. "Letter of Resignation" for hoosier-based punk label What Else? Records and "Taking Friendly Fire" for Escape Artist. Additional songs were were recorded for a split 7-inch with California's Find Him and Kill Him.
Having done several midwest tours and countless shows in the midwest up to this point, The Dream is Dead hit the road with label mates Anodyne for a string of dates throughout the Northeast, mid-atlantic and midwestern U.S. in support of their "Letter of Resignation" EP. Shortly after their return the band appeared at the internationally known More Than Music Fest (alongside Shellac, Dillinger Escape Plan, Melt Banana and others).
Alex Bond left the band late in the Spring of 2002 and was replaced by local skinsman Dustin Boltjes. By August Boltjes was acclimated, and the band went to California for a weeks worth of dates with Find Him and Kill Him in support of their split 7-inch.
"Taking Friendly Fire" was released in early 2003 to critical acclaim, representing The Dream Is Dead's unique blend of noise-core and classic death metal riffing on a decidedly punk framework. The band was soon busy with a quick succession of tours including stints with Guyana Punchline, Premonitions of War, and Suicide Note.
The toll of touring and family responsibilities led founding member McCash to bow out in the fall of 2003. Beaten but not broken, the band resurfaced in early 2004 with former Ice Nine/Majhas guitarist Dave Lawson on bass, giving birth to the band's true destiny and the Voltron-like configuration it maintains today. Jumping back into a trial by fire, the band left for a month long east coast tour with San Diego's The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower.
The bulk of 2004 was spent writing the band's first long-player, once again for Escape Artist. A short tour with fellow hoosiers Phoenix Bodies in late 2004 allowed them to polish the new material. In the meantime, in-demand Los Angeles producer and current Theory of Ruin guitarist Alex Newport (formerly of Fudge Tunnel and Nail Bomb) was recruited to handle recording and production duties for the full-length. Having recorded several current indie staples for the likes of the Melvins, the Locust, Mars Volta, and others, this was clearly the man for the job.
A short tour brought The Dream Is Dead to the west coast in March of 2005, where they recorded their full-length debut, "Hail The New Pawn" . Eleven tracks of fierce, pissed, and focused hardcore, with an honest, old-school energy that is rare in the 21st century scene. Unafraid to tackle unpopular social and political topics, TDID hold nothing back as they attack not only their instruments but their subject matter as well. Vocalist Clark's highly-charged, seething rants are brimming with the kind of rage that inspires fists in the air. He's backed by a massive musical bulldozer. The trio of Boltjes, Lawson, and Southwick's pounding rhythms and burly riffs draw on the best aspects of punk, metal, and hardcore, crushing them into a mass of sound that out-weighs, out-wits, and flat out slays the sum of its parts. With "Hail the New Pawn", The Dream Is Dead DOES what it set out to do: put the threat back in hardcore.
Future plans include a split 7" with The Gates of Slumber (Hellride Records) and work on a new full length.