The Homeless Gospel Choir‘s brand new full-length, This Land Is Your Landfill, is out today from A-F Records (North America) and Hassle Records (UK). To celebrate the Pittsburgh, PA-based band led by songwriter Derek Zanetti has shared their new music video for album standout “Don’t Compare.” 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.
“Don’t Compare” captures that bombastic new sound, taking Zanetti’s heart-on-sleeve lyricism and merging it with fuzzed-out guitars and celebratory harmonies. The song’s surreal, self-referential music video finds Zanetti wrestling with the doubt and anxiety of our modern, internet-fueled existence. Zanetti explains, “The ongoing war of comparison culture has arrived on the very doorsteps of the homes we are locked inside of. This video is an inside look at a dystopian future that looks similar to our dystopian present. Directed and shot by Harrisburgs finest, Zach Moser, Clark Stephanic, and Matt Miller. Special guest appearance by punk rock super juggernaut Mikey Erg playing the supermarket cop.”
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.