Dead Bandit, ghost punk dreams, began as a four-piece but eventually became a long-term project between two musicians, Ellis Swan and James Schimpl. They started making music together in the early ‘90s as teenagers. Now, Ellis lives in Chicago, and James in a small Canadian town in the Okanagan region. Influenced by bands like Fugazi, Slint & Bedhead, they’ve been making music for over 25 years, but it was only in 2021 that they released their first work entitled From The Basement thanks to the Italian label Quindi Records who discovered them almost by chance on SoundCloud. Their sophomore record, Memory Thirteen, was out in 2014. Being a dislocated duo, distance is a factor both in the creation and emotional aspect of their music. Up To Your Waist (that you can listen here on world premiere) is the fourth single from their third album, Dead Bandit, out on March 14th 2025, again via Quindi Records.

What They Say: “Dark sky hangs heavy over a backyard bonfire, string of satellites trail overhead— a night train on light rails old acoustic loop sits quiet silent for years, press play in a basement kitchen as a Chicago apartment records his guitar screaming out: too many shakers / so little time“

The Album:

“Capturing phantom drones behind dusty beats and haunted twangs, Ellis Swan and James Schimpl return for their third album as Dead Bandit. Locked into a musical language unique to their collaboration, the duo once again put us out to pasture across broad sonic plains, drums flapping like loose fence panels in the prairie breeze and bass rumbling like distant thunder. True to their previous two records, Swan and Schimpl keep the strung out guitars at the front of what they do, whether playing a naked, desolate strum or running six strings through disruptive effects processing until they’re barely recognisable. But while there are details of disturbance when listening to Dead Bandit’s self-titled record up close, the wider impression is a smoother, more direct affair that toys with post-rock complexity and matches it with the emotional weight of melodic simplicity, gentle grooves and conscious arrangements.  

Up To Your Waist will be out next Friday, February 14th via Quindi Records. The album, Dead Bandit, will follow on March 14th 2025.