Indie Rock Outfit Trade Wind Share Bloodthirsty Music Video for “DIE! DIE! DIE!”

Anything goes – that’s the directive that supergroup Trade Wind operates under. Formed in 2013, each member brings their own musical background and style to the table, with roots in punk and hardcore. Trade Wind came together as a musical project to allow exploration of sounds and styles outside of each member’s respective main projects, resulting in musical shifts from album to album and a knack for genre-blending.

As an introduction to their new album, the band has shared ‘DIE! DIE! DIE!,’ an atmospheric track that explores the current socio-political landscape and the need for reevaluation and change. Acoustic styling and probing lyrics overlay the downtempo beat that holds steady throughout the song, reminiscent of slowcore, indie rock.

Trade Wind (Photo courtesy of Trade Wind)

The focus of the song really is the lyrics – vocalist and guitarist Jesse Barnett shares that it’s “about the choices being faced by every person who’s living through this current hellscape that we call ‘civilized society.’” A commentary on capitalism and materialism, he further explains how “this system, this monster, is killing us, and we need to stop it.” Honestly, it’s not hard to see where the song’s inspiration comes from – turn on the news for a solid ten minutes and you should walk away with an understanding. “I’m not trying to be divisive,” Barnett adds, “it’s not my way or the highway. It’s just definitely not THAT way.”

The music video further hones in on Barnett’s message, with the goal of visualizing how he perceives that the capitalist system can’t be stopped without people coming together and creating something more productive in its place. In his words, turning the system into something productive in terms of “making something that better suits and serves the people and the planet.”

The video shows Barnett breaking the fourth wall and maintaining eye contact with viewers, essentially emotionless as he delivers the lyrics while killing his bandmates, playing the role of ‘the system.’ It’s jarring, a bit unsettling, but undeniably suited to the song. “The world is falling apart and it seems that we as humans know what the problems are…but we’re so addicted to defending the people who are destroying the planet that we might deserve what we get unless we decide to fight it,” Barnett explains of the intent behind the single. “To the capitalist system, I say: ‘DIE! DIE! DIE!.”

‘DIE! DIE! DIE!’ is the lead single from Trade Wind’s upcoming third album, The Day We Got What We Deserved, due out May 21st.