In June 2009, drummer Warren Oakes departed Against Me! after nearly a decade, heading home to Gainesville, FL to open aSouthern-Mexican style restaurant. In the years since, while Against Me! has gone onto greater national prominence, Oakes has been serving up elote and tuna tacos and helping to champion the freegan movement. Recently, though, Oakes found himself once again behind the kit, forming a new band called Sunshine Statewithmembers of national actslike The Enablers, The Scaries, and The Featured Creatures.
Having released their demo tapeState Or Dieback in July, the foursome is now gearing up for a split 7-inch alongsideSeattle band Dead Bars. In anticipation, Sunshine State’s unveiled one of their two contributions, “Lunchblood”. On first listen, there’s several immediate parallels to Against Me!: the gritty feel of the guitars, singer Troy Pearlman’shaggard tones, the anthemic chorus, and a certain air of Springsteen-ian balladry. Yet, the band’s angst and anger is a bit more understated, leaving more of the emphasis on straightforward hooks and a little bit of (healthy) rock and roll grandstanding.
Listen in below:
The split 7-inch is due out May 6th via No Idea Records.
Sunshine State/Dead Bars Split 7-Inch Tracklist:
Dead Bars – “Funhouse Mondays”
Dead Bars – “Problems”
Sunshine State – “Long”
Sunshine State – “Lunchblood”
