Being in a band, whether just starting out or veterans, is a huge, day in and day out grind.

Every single day presents a fresh new slate to bounce around ideas, try something new and hone your craft. For the last decade, alt-rock outfit Dead Poet Society has been doing just that, grinding.

All that hard work has paid off by leading them to sign with Spinefarm Records and release their debut album “-!-” and allowing them to make their dreams a reality.

“I'm very stoked for it,” shares vocalist and guitarist Jack Underkofler. “Everything on here is what I've always wanted our band to be. I think that we've honed into our writing style that is distinct to us now; I’m excited to show everybody it.”

The album, out March 13th, is a precarious, multiple genre encompassing piece of work, showcasing the wide breadth of creativity the band has. Spanning from spine-tingling breakdowns and vocals mixed with ethereal instrumentals, this record lacks complacency. Each song represents a tasteful skillset and expertly weaves between brother and sister ballads. Underkofler wanted to tackle the record from a complacency standpoint because he has often found himself unfocused on albums after three to four songs, something we all fall victim to.

“One thing I'm really excited about this album is that it spans this wide gamut of the rock genre,” boasts Underkofler. “We have these really heavy sludgy things we are trying this direction with but we also have some of our blues heavy stuff and then a folk song and a couple alt songs. One cool thing about this album is that we kept it in our minds when we were writing; it was that it was something on a whole that filled or ticked off every vibe check.”

“It was definitely a lot of fucking work, especially with this past year. Oftentimes, we screw ourselves over by setting unrealistic deadlines for ourselves and end up pushing really hard to meet those deadlines."

The Los Angeles based band tapped Tom Dalgety (Pixies, Ghost, Royal Blood) across the pond to help put together their creation. Bringing about sixteen songs is a tough project for anyone, but the COVID-19 pandemic put a wrench in the recording process, forcing the group and Dalgety to painstakingly send files back and forth. This posed a unique challenge because the band was used to in studio recording and having a back and forth and now had to wait up to 24 hours between communication. All that hard work paid off though, mentions Underkofler.

“It was definitely a lot of fucking work, especially with this past year. Oftentimes, we screw ourselves over by setting unrealistic deadlines for ourselves and end up pushing really hard to meet those deadlines. This year we couldn't do that because we signed to the label and at the time the label was interested in us, we couldn’t set fake deadlines anymore; we had to set real deadlines.”

Every day seems to blend together now but we are staring in the face of adversity and fighting back with everything we have. Grinding is the name of the game and while live music and the industry figure out the next steps, it is in the hands of the bands to keep pushing forward. Now, with the wheels definitely set in motion for Dead Poet Society, they can only look to the future. With a spot coming up over the summer at Download Festival and bigger, brighter things on the horizon, the dream is being lived.

“A philosophy of ours is never compromise the music,” explains Underkofler. “That's the most important thing at the end of the day because that’s your art; that's the reason you're doing this. Through that came this idea that instead of trying to fit into an specific category, making specific sounds, constantly sticking to one kind of style, we found that the best stuff we have ever written is [by] letting it come out the way it comes out.”

-I- By Dead Poet Society Is Out Now Via Spinefarm Records