‘Seems I Survived’: New release by Dead End Streets provides sense of optimism
Featured in the Dead End Streets’ video for “Seems I Survived” are, from left, Alex Hershey, Bill Maruca, Matt Aquiline, Tom Hohn, Heather Catley and Ray Vasko. Watch the video at youtu.be/u3v0sFwvegU.
From left are Dead End Streets members Heather Catley, Bill Maruca and Matt Aquiline.
Tom Hohn, aka Tommy Ray, is pictured with the rest of the M80s: from left, Dee Lorean, Jimmy Velcro and Ronnie Ringwald.
Having written and recorded tunes titled “Climate Change Christmas” and “Snowball Fight on the 4th of July,” musician Matt Aquiline was ready to tackle the topic of COVID-19.
“I woke up two weeks after my second vaccine dose, literally the two-week anniversary, and I started writing the song,” he said. “I knew that I was going to survive, so it was like, OK. When we go back, let’s do it right.”
The result is “Seems I Survived,” the initial release by the latest lineup of his band, the Dead End Streets. The lyrics focus on his sense of relief at being vaccinated, coupled with optimistic visions of a post-COVID future:
“Ready to be better than before, to rebuild and restore/There’s more to create and explore”
The sentiment also could pertain to the Dead End Streets, which lost half of its six-person membership during the pandemic. Along with Aquiline on guitar, mandolin and vocals, singer Heather Catley chose to stay, as did Pittsburgh music scene veteran Bill Maruca on keyboards.
Deciding to post on a classified advertisement website he was looking for a drummer, Aquiline was more than pleasantly surprised to connect with Tom Hohn, an alumnus of prominent regional bands including the Cynics and the Frampton Brothers.
“Then the bass player quit before we ever rehearsed together,” Aquiline recalled. “I was just scared to death. I thought, there’s no way this guy with this caliber is going to stick around through a band rebuilding.”
As it turns out, Aquiline had co-written the opening track on “Don’t Act Right,” the album released by Hohn’s band Boss Diablo in 2006.
“I’ve told Matt several times, early on and still, I really like his stuff,” Hohn said. “I think the lyrics and melodies and chord structures are very good.”
Meanwhile, Maruca had played keyboards in Boss Diablo, and another of Hohn’s former bandmates – Ray Vasko in the Framptons – joined the Dead End Streets on bass. Completing the current lineup is guitarist Alex Hershey, who has played in Bluebird and the Message.
Besides the Dead End Streets, Hohn also performs with the M80s, a tribute band featuring a singer who calls herself Dee Lorean and specializing in covering songs of – you’ve guessed it – the 1980s.
Last spring, he was looking for a simultaneous project of a different nature.
“I’ve been doing originals since even before the Cynics,” he said. “I was in bands in the early ’80s that did nothing but write their own stuff, and play for free at the Electric Banana and the Decade and Graffiti and the Upstage, and all the great venues that were around back then.”
As far as encountering Aquiline, “I got lucky that day and saw Matt’s ad looking for a drummer for a roots-rock band.”
Fronting the band with Aquiline is Catley, with the pair sharing lead vocals on “Seems I Survived.”
“We both grew up in Penn Hills, except 26 or so years apart or something like that,” Aquiline said, joking that it’s tough to say that they grew up together. Nevertheless, “She and I have also become friends. We do have a connection as people, as well, and I think that helps us sing together.”
Catley serves as lead singer on “The Time Has Come,” released by the Dead End Streets in March 2020, pretty much at the start of the pandemic. Featuring a horn section and vocals by Soulful Femme’s Stevee Wellons, the song calls for change in response to the normalization of racism, sexism, religious persecution and other negatives:
“There is no ‘other,’ there’s just sisters and there’s brothers/The pact we made says we look out for one another”
Following the Jan. 7 release of “Seems I Survived,” the band is continuing to work on new material for a full album, much of which will represent a change of pace from social commentary.
“I’m excited about this next group of songs,” Aqulinie said, “about cars and girls and relationships, rather than all this serious stuff.”
In the meantime, the Dead End Streets has a show scheduled for March 5 at Club Café, on the bill with Scott Township guitarist-singer-songwriter Bill Toms and his band, Hard Rain.
Music by the Dead End Streets is available at thedeadendstreets.bandcamp.com.