ON THE RISE
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The pop-punk, rap-rock duo Levi Zadoff and Dead Hendrix have worked hard to encapsulate the months of COVID-19 in an album called “Dead Summer,” and they haven’t even met in person yet.
That will change at the end of September when they meet up and perform live at ArtBarLA in Venice Beach, California on Sept. 30, but don’t expect any big emotional outburst over meeting in person for the first time from either artist.
“On an emotional level I don’t think it’s going to be much different,” Dead Hendrix said. “We’re already close as hell. Of course we talk every day on social media and on call so we’re already good friends.”
Their five-track EP, “Dead Summer” rolled out on all platforms on June 3 and has already been viewed 50,000 times.
Zadoff said the EP is an emotional ode to the losses both suffered from the pandemic and associated mental toll it took on friends and loved ones, and they hope listening to the album will help others who can relate to the pain suffered by many.
“So me and Hendrix experienced a lot of similar things,” Zadoff said. “He had a very close friend die from Fentanyl and I had a friend die from a Fentanyl overdose and a friend die from suicide, both people I knew for a very long time growing up in San Francisco. We know we are not the only individuals that went through something like this. This was a global thing, so many people were dying whether it was from the pandemic and the disease itself or from the mental health issues that came from all the isolation and being all cooped up. The inspiration was if we can relate to this, other people can and it’ll be therapy to them. It’s therapeutic to us but it's also therapeutic to others.”
And the name of the album relates directly to the message in the music.
“The summer was dead, nothing was going on, we were locked in our houses, not a lot of social stuff was going on,” Hendrix said. “There were people dying from COVID, from drug abuse, from suicide. Emotionally, I think a lot of us were pretty dead inside. It was just that, that’s what was going on in our lives when we wrote the project and that’s what came out.”
Based in Los Angeles, Zadoff uses lyrical versatility and life experiences to create music on track to set the mainstream music industry on fire. He is a firm believer in freedom of artistry and the idea that music is one of the best communication tools.
Dead Hendrix is a punk/rap artist from Centretown' CT' in Ottawa, Canada. He is 20 years old and has been writing songs since his single-digit years. He covers true-to-life topics such as drug abuse, heartbreak, insecurities, and trauma in his music while being as unique and original as possible.
The duo met during the pandemic when Zadoff found a clip of Hendrix performing on Snapchat and was moved by the music.
“I had to say ‘what’s up,’ because the song he was previewing was so good,” Zadoff said. “I heard him previewing the song on Sound Cloud and I swiped up and I wrote him to say how fucking objectively good that song was and how much I wanted to collaborate with him.”
Zadoff, from Los Angeles, sent Hendrix, who lives in Ottawa, Canada, a song idea he had and asked if he'd be interested in working together on it.
“As an artist you get a lot of that, you get a lot of people reaching out, so at first I took it with a grain of salt,” Hendrix said. “But after I heard what he sent me and I looked more into him and I was like this would be perfect to collab. And then it started with we were just going to collab on one song but as our friendship grew and we realized how good we were at collabing it grew from one song to a whole project.”
Both said collaborating from a distance over the internet has been significantly different from collaborating with other artists in person.
“I don’t think one or the other is worse or better,” Hendrix said. “I have some friends I collaborate with here in my city and we go to the studio and it’s more in person. I think me and Levi clicked and this has been one of the easiest collaborations I’ve been involved with. It just flows naturally.”
“100 percent, I think Hendi really summarized it really well,” Zadoff added. “I think that collaborating over the Internet has been obviously different but in some ways it streamlined the process of the song creation.”
Both artists said they really don’t have a favorite of the five songs, but they said “Love Games,” serves as the essence of “Dead Summer.”
“It gives off that energy we were trying to encapsulate,” Zadoff said. “‘Teenage Dirtbag’ in my opinion it’s an absolute classic. I really think that song has a lot of mainstream potential, depending on the listener, I’d point people to one of those or the other if they had the chance to listen to only one track.”
Make sure to stay connected to Levi Zadoff and Dead Hendrix on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.
Stream Dead Summer
Levi Zadoff Website
Levi Zadoff Instagram
Dead Hendrix Soundcloud
Dead Hendrix Instagram
Elvis Presley – ‘Mystery Train’
“My first love was Elvis, no question. In our house, we had a French-release compilation album of his songs called ‘Le Roi Du Rock ‘n’ Roll’. As a small kid, I was obsessed with ‘Mystery Train’. The way Elvis held his guitar like a gun and the percussive way he attacked the strings made me fall in love with the guitar. Many years later, I went busking around Europe on my motorbike with a tent and played my guitar in the streets. But it was all because of Elvis and those early Sun [Records] recordings – and ‘Mystery Train’ in particular.”
Blondie – ‘Autoamerican’
“There was an Our Price on Finchley Road, North London that I’d go to with my older brother and sister. That’s where I bought ‘Autoamerican’ in 1981. Blondie – what can you say? Apart from the fact that as a young boy, it was impossible not to be in love with Debbie Harry. I love the variety on this particular record – it goes through different genres. Years later, I saw Blondie play [in 2013] at a private function in New York with Kanye West. Debbie Harry was still magnetic.”
Queen, Wembley Stadium, 1986
“Queen were supported by INXS. It was before they released ‘Kick’ [in 1987]. I only went because it turned out my friend Kieran’s dad was a big-shot in the music industry and he got four tickets. I was around 17, it was a year after they played Live Aid and Queen were phenomenal.”
The Beatles – ‘Eleanor Rigby’
“All through our early teenage years, my younger brother and I were always at the top of the house listening to The Beatles. ‘Eleanor Rigby’ reminds me of the ‘80s and the views out of our house in London: looking at the grey, rain-drizzled skies. I always felt its melancholy, looking out of the window back then as a teenager. Not that I was unhappy, but I definitely responded to that in music.”
Ever meet Macca?
“I have met Paul McCartney and he was a complete gentleman. At a political party, we were watching the American election on TV and he came up to me and said [Lewis does a pitch-perfect Macca impersonation]: ‘Oh, you understand a bit or two about the TV, don’t you?’. And I just realised he’d seen me on TV and I melted. I went to bed grinning. That McCartney knows who I am is incredible. I was completely tongue-tied.”
David Bowie – ‘Heroes’
“I know 173 other people will probably also have picked ‘Heroes’ for this, but from the opening note, it’s just relentlessly brilliant. It’s the most evocative, triumphant, euphoric song – and unbelievably cool. The second album I ever owned was Bowie’s ‘Hunky Dory’ – and he’s remained a touchstone for me.”
The Rolling Stones – ‘Little T&A’
“I listen to the Stones a lot and I can never get ‘Little T&A ‘ out of my head. Keith Richards is quoted as calling the song ‘dumb’ and that it’s just about rock ‘n’ roll energy. It’s a celebration of carnality, I’m aware of that, but that’s the one that stays in my head!”
Jive Bunny And The Mastermixers – ‘Swing the Mood’
“I can’t fucking hear Jive Bunny again! But I don’t mean that in a pejorative way. When I was in my twenties, I would go out on my own dancing to old-school rock ‘n’ roll at rockabilly nights. Then Jive Bunny came out and cut up my favourite songs into snippets and put them into this endless [novelty] medley. And then it was never off the radio, so I’d have to put it into the Room 101 of music.”
Crazy P – ‘There’s a Better Place’
“It’s an ambient rave tune with a fantastic Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory sample. I’m just that age. I left school right into the dance culture of the ‘90s and that will still always get me up on the floor.”
The Weepies – ‘Gotta Have You’
“It reminds me of moving to LA as a family with my late wife Helen [McCrory]. My daughter was one year old and my son was about to be born. We were living in Venice Canals – and I was filming out there. We had a babysitter who was a 23-year-old roller-skating, already-Botoxed sunny Californian girl. We asked her, are you listening to any good music? She gave us two great bands. One is The Shins but the other was a lesser-known band called The Weepies. That song will always get me going.”
Elton John – ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’
“I can’t say I do karaoke but I will proudly divulge that I was at karaoke in Fulham Broadway once. I went in there with a friend and I got up and sang ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’ and I won a bottle of champagne for best karaoke of the evening! Very chuffed I was too. If I was back looking for another bottle of champers, I’d pick it again.”
Talk Talk – ‘It’s My Life’
“I was an ‘80s kid and I liked electronic music. I’ve always loved ‘It’s My Life’ and Andy Hollis’ vocals, as well as its slightly bombastic nature. Life’s what you make of it – seems like a good sentiment to have.”
Damian Lewis’ UK tour begins on October 2. His album ‘Sweet Chaos’ is out now via Thin Red Duke
