Die Like Bothans:
Out of the Wreckage, Into the Riff
The summer of 2020 was surreal for everyone. People were locked in their houses, going a little stir crazy, but holding onto some fragile hope for what life might look like on the other side. For four musicians from four bands, in places not so far away, the strange suspension of time turned out to be exactly the opening they needed.
No manifestos, just a simple ad, the kind of thing you'd almost miss: someone in the neighborhood looking to just jam and see what happens. A Facebook acquaintance who'd been circling the idea of working together for years finally made the call. And so Die Like Bothans was born from a few people willing to reach out and make a connection in the most 2020 way imaginable: face masks, social distancing, and maybe a little too much hand sanitizer.
That unlikely origin story is written into the band's DNA. DLB draws from classic rock, hard rock, grunge, and metal. The result is music that feels both familiar and fresh, heavy and melodic, built on hook-filled grooves you'll be humming for weeks. Their set list runs the full spectrum: well-known covers, rarely-played cult favorites, and originals that hold their own in any company.
Their recordings sound like the aftermath of a storm channeled through amps and aching voices. "Happy Face" is a jagged, disarming track that lurches between restraint and rage, with a lyrical unease pulsing underneath like a warning you can't quite place.
With the addition of a new drummer, whose career spans blues, funk, rock, country, punk, and did we say rock? The band has been spending long hours at R-14 studios, honing the songs.
"Sirens Part 2" layers clean-toned introspection against tectonic shifts that recall the dynamic range of A Perfect Circle or Failure. "Rest in Peace" delivers soaring vocal lines over instrumentation that never feels overworked. And "Oh Machine", a protest song disguised as a broken hymn, one foot in the rubble, one eye on the horizon.
Die Like Bothans thrives on contrasts: melody and dissonance, beauty and abrasion, control and collapse, yin and yang. They are a voice of a generation that never got closure. Ask the questions everyone buried never answered. The silence is as important as the sound, all of it is significant.
Keep your ears open, we’re coming for them.
Die Like Bothans is: Rich Guess - Drums • Eric Kitchens - Bass • Cruz - Guitar • Chris Wilkins - Guitar
everybody sings… including the audience.