Alright, who’s been to a carnival before? Was it all fun and games? Awesome varieties of carny food and playful acts?What if I took you on a journey to a different kind of carnival? Not with all the happy colors and cool rides. If so, beware for this isn’t for the faint of hearts.
But before we do, here’s what you need to know about our entertainers: Sunflower Dead is a rock/metal band from southern California, formed in 2012. Each member came in with a strong background, some being once part of nationally recognized bands such as CreeperandDROID, while others from internationally known bands as In This Moment andMemento. Their former bands have earned national recognition by touring alongside Korn, Linkin Park, HELLYEAH, Five Finger Death Punch, The Family Values Tour and the Vans Warped Tour.
Band members are Michael Del Pizzo (vocals/accordion/piano), Jaboo (lead guitar), Jamie Teissere (guitar), Leighton “Lats” Kearns (bass), and Jimmy Schultz (drums). On October 30th, 2015, they released their most anticipated 13 tracked album It’s Time to Get Weird.
Now, let’s go vintage for a while, say 1910-1930s – kinda like HBO’s 2003 series Carnival. Imagine you’re walking through the carnival grounds and you hear this unusual gothic tune that draws you to a big old tent, at the side you see an almost faded poster of the inside act. Out of curiosity, you go in and find this huge pipe organ, you know the musical instrument with different heights of pipe connected to a piano, at the bottom you find a man – giving you his back -in a long dark royal purple coat and black top hat- he being Michael, hitting every key whilst playing his emotions away. That instrumental tune being the album’s first track ‘Inhuman Lung’.
Sensing an audience in their mist, the soft haunting tune fades in but suddenly breaks into the uplifting, guitar riffing track ‘Dance with Death’, turning the once quiet and not- another- person in sight tent into a fire flaming, thunder bolting concert. For their highlighting act, they perform their next album titled track ‘It’s Time to Get Weird’ featuring KORN’’s very own Jonathan Davis. The track itself has that familiar spirit/element of KORN’s songs – e.g. ‘Did My Time’, ‘Freak on a Leash’ – and the title/track is kinda what inspired the whole creepy carnival scenario in my head LOL.
They then continue rocking on with their following tracks ‘Just a Little Kiss’ and ‘Dead to Me’, but then a slow track follows, ‘Nothing’ in which they tell about the hollow and emptiness that they feel without those whom they love. They then pick up the beat with the next three tracks ‘My Mother Mortis’, ‘I’ll Burn it’ and ‘The Rain’. ‘Interlude’ is a haunting, guitar grinding track, that’ll make you feel like you just entered a haunted house with flashing lights and some creepy “Joker” is about to chase you around. Which brings us to the next track ‘Through the Blackest Eyes’ in which the lyrics reminded me of every psychological horror/thriller movie I’ve watched (e.g. Freddy Kreuger, Saw, Scream…etc.). The band finalize their album with ‘Anthem of The Seeds’ that basically tells their listeners of who they are, and ending with the instrumental track ‘Outro’ which is basically your cue to leave; but taking with you an awesome memory.
Well, that’s the end of our journey. But if you wanna visit again, make sure you’ve got your “Bass/ sound-isolator” headphones plugged- in for a better experience. For now, have a listen to their track ‘It’s Time to Get Weird’ ft. Jonathan Davis.
P.S. The music videoIS a little weird.
Find them on Facebook here.
Edited by: NJ Bakr.
