Tim Miller was once the famously intense frontman for Deadguy, the New Jersey hardcore/noise-rock band who broke up when they were just hitting their mid-’90s peak. These days, Miller is once again the famously intense frontman for the reunited Deadguy. Earlier this year, they released Near-Death Travel Services, their first album since the 1995 landmark Fixation On A Co-Worker. It’s better than anyone had any right to expect. But Deadguy is not Miller’s only band. He’s still got Bitter Branches, too.
Tim Miller started Bitter Branches in 2020, and the band includes a bunch of other Philly hardcore veterans, including Dan Yemin of Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, and Paint It Black. Today, Bitter Branches release their first new song since their 2022 full-length Your Neighbors Are Failures. (Miller remains extremely good at titling things.)
Bitter Branches recorded the new single “Basic Karate” with Jawbox/Burning Airlines frontman J. Robbins producing. It’s got dirty, nasty riffage and a beautifully unhinged performance from Miller: “Sometimes I wish I was a violent man! Sometimes I wish I was a petty man! Sometimes I wish I had my finger on that trigger! It looks so easy for them! It would be so easy to be like them! I wish!” Surrender to the negativity below.
“Basic Karate” is out now on Equal Vision.
