When someone thinks of SeeYouSpaceCowboy and If I Die First, the thing that goes through many a mind is that alluring "throwback" sound that seems to be a love letter to the influences these artists grew up with and used to recreate the sound while doing entirely their own thing.  Both bands have established a niche that seems to cater to an absence in the modern sound of scene bands, while brilliantly displaying their prowess with catchy hooks and abrasive breakdowns. While both bands have aggressively displayed their nuances on their own respective albums, the concept of a split EP seems almost foreign to a modern episode but is yet another clever tactic from the old scene days when bands would split the cost of production and share the promotion push and profits. It was a brilliant stratagem back in the day and with the collective bands’ rabid cult-like fan bases both having similar roots, the merger only makes more and more sense as you think about it.

SeeYouSpaceCowboy has kept their fans in anticipation since their 2019 sophomore release The Correlation Of Entrance and Exit Wounds and If I Die First left so many folks wanting more after their debut EP My Poison Arms. Their new EP, titled A Sure Disaster, is slated for a May 14th release on Pure Noise and is just the thing everyone can use to cope with the weight of the last year upon us.

The music video for single "bloodstainedeyes" is a grotesque macabre display of ultra-violent passion that still resonates with artistic integrity. The track swirls from quiet spoken word to blistering rapid fire fry vocals to the high range delivery duo of Zubin and Lil Lotus along with the unhinged demonic banshee snarls of Connie Sgarbosa with a peppering of lows from Nedarb, there's a lot of chaos in the video as everyone takes turns kicking the ever-loving crap out of each other. You'd be curious how a guitar player combination of Ethan Sgarbossa / Nedarb / Travis Richter would mesh but sonically it all fits together so seamlessly, the song never feels like too many cooks in the kitchen and it works its mojo in waves on a visual medium. The drumming from both AJ Tartol and Derek Bloom is a divine spiritual backbone to the song's progressive roots as they're capable of delivering bombastic barrages of double pedal bass and sweet fills. It's standard business practice for the dude who did drums in From First To Last to deliver top-notch drum work and AJ definitely keeps up. 

The artistic aesthetic of this video creates imagery reminiscent of a scene that's forgotten what it is. When so many are worried about copying or parodying the past, this collaboration shows artists who handle their visuals like their music - with respect and dignity to the artform. It's silly seeing band members backyard brawl in their video but it's not hammy or cheesy. It's done in a tasteful manner that channels the artistic vision of director Cameron Nunez and Connie, who stepped in as creative director, with excellent make up done by Lisa Carrerio (that Zubin black eye looks awfully real).  If you turn the Youtube quality down to 144p, you can truly feel like you're in 2005 to get that early day Youtube feel. 

The tracklist for A Sure Disaster tracklist consists of 5 songs, with two songs from each band and the music video that dropped today as the only collaboration track.

1. A Clear Picture from an Unreliable Narrator – SeeYouSpaceCowboy

2. Modernizing the Myth of Sisyphus – SeeYouSpaceCowboy

3. bloodstainedeyes – SeeYouSpaceCowboy x If I Die First

4. Mirror, Mirror This Is Nothing Like You Promised – If I Die First

5. My Nightmares Would Do Numbers As Horror Movies –If I Die First

We reached out to Travis Richter of If I Die First (also known as the screamo guy/guitarist from The Human Abstract's Digital Veil, The Color Of Violence, From First To Last) for a comment regarding the band's recent release and how his music venue 1720 played a role in how this all came together.  "It’s cool for me because I met everyone (iidf/sysc) because of shows at 1720." He writes, adding further " We ended up tracking the vocals at 1720 and we shot the video at 1720...magnets man...How do they work?" which was either a way of referencing ICP or maybe it's more deep and thought provoking subtle way of saying when like minded individuals work together there's a certain amount of magnetically charged charismatic energy that creates fine art like this single "bloodstainedeyes."