MOONSTRUCK LUNATICS: Backstage with Dead Posey at Philadelphia’s Underground Arts

Tracey Callahan with Danyell Souza and Tony Fagenson of DEAD POSEY… on the road and killing it.

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend among some of my fellow Gen-Xers, who claim that “there’s just no good music out there anymore.” Let me disabuse you of that notion right now. Legions of incredibly talented musicians are making sublime music today, and some of them even draw their inspiration from our old favorites. Allow me to present Exhibit A: a ridiculously cool band from Los Angeles called DEAD POSEY. I stumbled across them on Apple Music in 2019 while listening to BONES UK (another ridiculously cool band, but not the subject of this piece) in the “Similar Artists” section. I instantly loved them. They only had one EP and one single when I discovered them, but I played those tracks endlessly. I joined the “Dead Posey Fans” page on Facebook, hoping desperately for tour dates, because I absolutely HAD to see them live. I don’t have to tell you what happened in 2020, which meant I didn’t get my chance until last Thursday, when they opened for THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE at Underground Arts in Philadelphia. They offered a $40 VIP package, which included a meet-and-greet with the band, an acoustic performance, a Polaroid with the band, 15% off DEAD POSEY merch, a signed tour poster, and a “Dead Posey Society” pin. Being a veteran of VIP packages and already a massive fan, I decided this was an excellent deal.

My friend and I queued up early, as is my custom for GA shows. As I descended the concrete steps into the dungeon/venue, I heard the strains of Cities in Dust by SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES. We paused briefly by the bouncer checking IDs, but for some unfathomable reason, he decided he didn’t need to see ours, and we were waved through the steel doors. I was instantly whisked back to my late teens/early twenties (despite the bouncer’s neglect) as I crossed the threshold into what was basically an oversized basement with a cement floor. The walls were festooned with fluorescent graffiti that was illuminated by black lights. Was this a concert or a rave? The stage was fairly small, and we secured a spot that would’ve been on the rail, if there had actually been a rail. I could have put my drink on the stage from where I was standing. Perfect. DJ Mike Saga continued to cater to the only two Gen-Xers in the room (that would be us) by playing TEARS FOR FEARS next… and then UB40.

Our retro reverie was cut short when the basement plunged into darkness. The eerie strains of Title by DISASTERPEACE wafted across the venue as the stage lights bathed the set in cobalt blue. The invocation from The Craft came crackling over the speakers. Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the East, powers of air and invention, hear me! Us… hear us! Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the South, powers of fire and feeling, hear us! Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the West, powers of water and intuition, hear us! Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the North by the powers of mother and earth, hear us! Guitarist Tony Fagenson and drummer Richie Bradley quietly took their places as the music intensified. Tony strummed a solitary note on his Gibson, which cued Richie to start the opening beat for Sorry I’m Not Dead. Vivid red lights saturated the stage, as DEAD POSEY’S stunning lead singer, Danyell Souza, slinked her way to the front of the stage.

To say that Danyell has stage presence would be a colossal understatement. She is positively magnetic, hypnotic even. She enchanted the crowd as she paced across the stage, almost stalking the audience like a predator. Her deep, throaty voice reverberated throughout the cavernous venue, filling the air with a melody that was both seductive and ferocious. She was clad completely in black, in an open-sided tank top with what appeared to be a Cornish Rex cat (looked real) with an upside down cross emblazoned across its forehead, a lacy bra that peeked out from the oversized tank, short skirt, fishnets, and knee-high platform boots. She engaged with the entire front row, placing her hand gently upon strangers’ cheeks and beguiling patrons who were largely there for the main attraction. At one point, she actually licked my friend’s phone. I got a fan girl rush when she cupped my face in her hand whilst singing directly to me, and later gave me a hug from the stage. She is luminous. Move over Joan Jett and Lzzy Hale: I think I have a new girl crush.

Listening to Tony Fagenson, who formerly drummed for EVE 6 until 2018, tear up his Gibson was a visceral experience. His punishing riffs thumped right through my chest, threatening a sensory overload. Richie Bradley kept a throbbing rhythm on the drums. The band only formed in 2018, but I’m telling you now, my friends, if you love DEPECHE MODE, SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES, THE SISTERS OF MERCY, or NINE INCH NAILS, you will fall head-over-heels for their dark and sinister, yet seductive, sound. The second song of their set is my personal favorite; a raw, gritty, powerful, and mercilessly rocking tune called Russian Roulette. Go watch the video right now. You won’t be sorry.

Next up was Parasite, a banger from their second EP, Malfunction, and then they gave us Gen-Xers (meaning just my friend and me) a little thrill. Danyell belted out the familiar lyrics to Blue Monday by NEW ORDER, but DEAD POSEY gave that new wave classic some sharp teeth with Tony’s powerful, pulsating guitar and Danyell’s rapacious vocals. The band then pivoted briefly to their first EP, Freak Show, with my personal favorite from their freshman release, Don’t Stop the Devil. Much to my delight, they surprised us with two brand new tracks, Moonstruck Lunatics and Shit Show. Could this mean a full album is finally in the works?

Can’t Take Me Down was the closing number, and judging by the considerable throng that was milling by their merch table and waiting to meet them, I can confidently say DEAD POSEY won themselves a number of new fans. Justin, their tour manager, instructed us to wait near the merch table until the band was ready to be interviewed and to give us the full VIP experience. We stayed put for the entirety of the second opener, KITE, so I will sadly not be reviewing their set.

Finally, Justin led us out to the tour bus, where the band was patiently waiting. Danyell introduced us to Bryan, the skeleton, who is apparently a permanent fixture on the tour bus. If I understood Danyell correctly, that particular Bryan was not the first touring skeleton, but they always name their decomposed companions “Bryan with a Y”. A ghoulish cat skeleton lurked by the sink, and an overhead video monitor appeared to be showing Dracula, whilst BAUHAUS’ Bela Lugosi’s Dead whispered through the compartment. We had an incredibly fun visit with the band for about the next 45 minutes. All three of them were so down to earth, modest, humble, and very easy to talk to. I had the privilege of asking them a few questions for the readers of DadHollywood.

TRACEY ON THE TOUR BUS

Tracey: I was excited to hear two tracks from your upcoming album during your set. When will the album be released?

Danyell: Hopefully around March 2023.

Tony: The first half of next year.

Danyell: We have a lot to do when we get home from this tour, so it’s just a matter of getting it done.

Tony: It’s balancing the touring with the recording, and all that. We’re going to release it on CD and vinyl, all the formats. Maybe even a cassette tape!

Danyell: Vinyl is happening, for sure.

Tracey: Will there be a headlining tour to promote the new album?

Danyell: You guys know, you have to go on tour with some bigger bands because they have the fan base. And then you collect a fan base, so it’s because of you guys, that is what enables us to have a career. So, it just depends when we get a bigger fan base where we can actually headline and be sustainable. Hopefully, it’s in 2023.

Tony: We’ve never done a headlining tour, so we’d have to figure out if we can make that work, but we’ll definitely be touring a lot next year, with someone.

Danyell: Especially after two years of being robbed, it’s so nice to be back out.

Richie: Yeah, we’re eager to get back out there.

Tracey: Who/what are your musical influences?

Danyell: Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson (but he’s been canceled).

Tony: New wave, goth, punk, and metal. Put them together, and you’ve got Dead Posey.

Tracey: Danyell and Tony, how did you two meet?

Danyell: When (Tony) was in Eve 6, I was the lead in their music video. I used to do more acting and modeling.

Richie: You were in the Victoria music video?

Danyell: Yeah. I was the lead.

Richie: No fucking way! I didn’t know this until now!

Danyell: Yeah, I had a metamorphosis and I let my inner side come to the outer side. So, I used to do a lot more of the acting and modeling, but I also used to write different notes and quotes and stuff, and throughout life, people would randomly ask me if I sing. I always wanted to perform. I love doing that, and I always wanted to write songs. So when we met, we hit it off and within a month of meeting each other, we went into Tony’s studio and just from my notes that I’d had over a few years, we wrote a song together. And when I got on the mic, it was like, “Wow, this is what I’m supposed to do!”

Tony: I was like, “Wow, she’s got a really great voice! I had no idea!”

Danyell: I fucking dropped everything else and was like, “Nope, just doing the band! Just doing music. That’s it.” So Tony brought me out of the closet as a singer. It’s been a decade now. And now we’re at a place where I’m thinking, “Oh, I’ll probably dabble in some acting again, but I want to get the band off the ground to a certain level.”

Tracey: How did you come up with the name DEAD POSEY?

Danyell: We liked the word “dead”, because I always liked the thought of a long time ago, when people would wear pins of their deceased loved ones. I really liked the concept of remembrance, not in a morbid way, but saying, “Hey, this time on earth is precious and we don’t know when we’re gonna go.” So I really liked that aspect of the word “dead”. And “posey” came from the nursery rhyme, Ring Around the Rosie. They used to put posies in their pockets during the plague because of the smell.

Tony: I think we liked the contrast of “dead”, which sounds kind of tough and afterlife, while “posey” is a flower. It was between that or Dead Cherries, so we went with “Dead Posey”.

Danyell: It was because “cherry” didn’t have a meaning to us and when I thought about the nursery rhyme, I liked the contrast between the two.

Tracey: You left some great songs off the set list tonight, like Freakshow, Holy Grail, and Fire Burnin’. Why?

Danyell: I think what happened is the pandemic happened. On our first EP, we were just kind of figuring out our sound. After we went on tour, our sound kind of developed and then the pandemic happened and everything just felt darker. Now, we have so many new songs for the upcoming album that we’re so excited to play.

Tony: Yeah, we’re trying to get these newer ones out.

Danyell: We’ve definitely steered in a different direction as far as the sound from the first EP to now.

Tony: We’re just growing a little bit. Bringing some different influences in.

Danyell: It was the first time we had enough songs to really pick and choose what we wanted, which was a luxury for us. Before, we were like…

Tony: “All we have is the Freakshow EP and one other song!”

Danyell: “Ooh, we have just enough songs!”

Tracey: What is your songwriting process? Do you start with the lyrics and then write the music?

Danyell: Honestly, it just depends. It really just depends.

Tony: A lot of times, we’ll start with just a line or two that Danyell has, like Moonstruck Lunatics, which we played tonight.

Danyell: For Shitshow, I have an app on my phone where you can make beats, so I just kind of started a bass beat, and then it turned into something else when Tony started messing with it.

Tony: But I did take the seed from that, and that started a musical track that we put together.

Danyell: And then the lyrics just started coming from that.

Tony: So really, the process for every song is different.

Tracey: If you could have any guest to sing on your next album, who would it be?

Danyell: Again, he’s canceled, so I don’t know…

Richie: I don’t know, he uncanceled himself, so I think it’s fine.

Danyell: I mean, MM (Marilyn Manson).

Tony: He does a lot of guest spots.

Danyell: If not, Shirley Manson or Courtney Love, I fucking love them, too. So, they’re not canceled. That will probably put me on safer ground. So yeah, those two are awesome.

At this point in our tête-à-tête, Danyell pulled out “The Book of Answers” and instructed me to ask it a question, as if it was an eight ball. I asked, “Will Dead Posey be coming back to my town next year?” I chose a page at random, and the answer was, “Count to ten and ask again.” So I did, in fact, count to ten and ask again. This time the answer was, “No matter what.” I intend to hold them to it.

Tony then produced his acoustic guitar, and Danyell asked if we’d like to hear two acoustic songs. We said yes, of course, and Richie started shaking a rattle and tambourine as Danyell launched into the opening verse of Sorry I’m Not Dead. In the unplugged setting, her voice was smoky and sweet and flowed beautifully over the chords from Tony’s guitar. Next up was Moonstruck Lunatics, which should be a track on their upcoming album. Danyell and Tony joked about us getting the “coffee house” versions of the songs, but, honestly, it was a beautiful way to rediscover both tunes.

After spending a lovely 45 minutes with the three band members, it was time for the party to come to an end. As part of the VIP package, we each got a Polaroid with the band, while Bryan the skeleton tried to grope me from behind. I also snagged a great picture with Danyell and Tony, with Danyell holding “The Book of Answers” and Bryan interlacing his bony digits through my fingers. I think I’m in love.

We returned to the venue more than halfway through THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE’S set. I had originally intended to review them, too, as I have really enjoyed listening to them in anticipation of this show. However, I’m not the least bit sorry to have spent so much quality time with DEAD POSEY. They were the band I came to see, and the opportunity to hang out with them and interview them was absolutely worth missing much of the headliner.

So, my fellow Gen-Xers, I exhort you to drag yourselves away from your 80’s music for just a moment and give DEAD POSEY a long listen. If you’re so fortunate as to have them breeze through your town, get off your butts and go see them! Their edgy combination of goth, new wave, punk, and industrial is exactly what you need to feel like a cool kid again. Wear your Doc Martens, like I did. Bring your lunch pail purse while you’re at it.