As the pandemic age offers no shortage of reminders of our inevitable death, Duck & Cover are here to also remind us that we also need to rock the fuck out. You know, from time to time.
The Boston band have this week unleashed a ripper of a tune called “Memento Mori” via Bandcamp, a taste and a teaser of a few different leads. First, the riff-tastic rock banger is set to hit all the other streaming platforms next week (February 8), and it also marks the first of three singles that will form their new mini-EP, Attention Economy, released via State Line Records.
“In a previous band I’d written a song — we wrote a song — called ‘Persona Non Grata’ that I liked a lot,” says Duck & Cover vocalist and guitarist Chris Wissmuller. “And when I ran across the term ‘Memento Mori’ and what it meant a couple years back I was like, ‘Oh, that’s also a nifty Latin phrase and smart folks know Latin, so that can’t be a bad starting point.’ My intent was to (I guess?) write a pretty threatening ‘You’ll get yours, pal!’ type of thing, but — go figure — it wound up being more of an unrequited affection/infatuation gone wrong track, as per usual.”
“Memento Mori” is nothing short of a blistering tune of pure unadulterated rock and roll excess, complete with a gnarly solo at the end that wraps around our brain like a spiked drink. And much like when White Reaper dropped “Judy French” back in ’17, we’re left here wishing everything in the dead, picked-over carcass of rock music sounded like this. Luckily we have Duck & Cover here to raise a fist and crave a tryst — even if the track’s moniker takes them down a different path that initially intended.
“Of course, in between writing and recording our song, Lamb of God and Feuerschwanz and my downstairs neighbor and my elderly aunt have all released albums or cuts entitled ‘Memento Mori,’ so… them’s the breaks I suppose,” Wissmuller adds. “Originality: How does it work? Still a fun riff, plus I got to play piano (kinda) at the beginning which is a first for me.”
Blaze it below, and feel its live fury when Duck & Cover play The Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain this Saturday (February 5) leading a matinee bill alongside The McGunks, Scotty Saints & The True Believers, and Presidential Disgrace.
***
