The Homeless Gospel Choir, aka songwriter Derek Zanetti, will be releasing a brand new full-length, This Land Is Your Landfill, next Friday April 24th via A-F Records (North America) and Hassle Records (UK). Today the Pittsburgh, PA-based musician has shared one more preview of the record with new single “Blind Faith” and its accompanying music video. This Land Is Your Landfill marks a reinvention for The Homeless Gospel Choir with Zanetti leaving the sparse arrangements of his earlier work behind, gathering an all-star cast of punk scene collaborators, and creating the kind of ruckus, full-band album that he’d always dreamed of.
“Blind Faith” offers a perfect introduction to this bombastic new sound, taking Zanetti’s heart-on-sleeve lyricism and merging it with fuzzed-out guitars and celebratory harmonies. Zannetti delved into the song’s lyrics, “Once they’re able to make you afraid they can get you to do anything. ‘Blind Faith’ is a distillation of how cultural control and manipulation works through fear. Perfectly capable people who are intelligent and brave and kind are just as susceptible to falling prey to fear as anyone else is. Those in power know this and that’s what they are banking on.”
After the passing of his father, Zanetti sought a new kind of comfort from music–a need for big, cathartic songs, and the solace of the community he’d found in the punk scene. The result is This Land Is You Landfill, where Zanetti is joined by Matt Miller (Endless Mike and the Beagle Club, Wingnut Dishwashers Union), Maura Weaver (Mixtapes, Ogikubo Station), Megan Schroer (Boys, Kitty Kat Fan Club), and Craig Luckman (Small Pollen, Belly Boys), along with producer Chris #2 (Anti-Flag, White Wives) and more, to help create a loud new chapter for The Homeless Gospel Choir. The band’s sound may have changed drastically but Zanetti’s unique lyricism remains, and This Land Is Your Landfill deftly balances the personal (grief, aging, self perception) with the sociopolitical (environmentalism, toxic social media, the hate and ignorance fueled by the Trump administration). The result is an urgent album that captures The Homeless Gospel Choir as the punk rock family it was always meant to be.