As of: February 16, 2024, 5:01 p.m
By: Christoph Ulrich
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“We take on big halls”: The Canadians have played often in Munich, now they are coming to the zenith.
© Morgan Coates
The Dead South have just released their album “Chains & Stakes”.
The band plays in Munich in the summer.
We spoke to singer Nathaniel “Nate” Hilts.
To say that The Dead South have a loyal fan base in Munich would be an understatement.
The Canadian quartet has announced its biggest concert to date in the city for June and will present its fourth studio album at Zenith.
This is notable in that the rough, banjo-based, mostly dark mix of bluegrass and folk doesn't necessarily appeal to the mainstream.
And yet more and more fans are joining the loyal followers from the very beginning.
Nathaniel Hilts, Scott Pringle, Colton Crawford and Danny Kenyon have been able to experience them in ever larger halls over the years: in Munich, among others, in the Milla (2013, 2015), in the Ampere (2017);
The performance in the Tonhalle planned for 2022 had to be canceled due to the pandemic.
Now the Zenith is on the agenda.
For singer, guitarist and mandolinist “Nate” Hilts, this is proof that constant touring pays off.
“Our agency thinks we are ready to compete with a large hall,” he said happily in an interview with our newspaper.
“It's a fantastic feeling.” He definitely feels a certain amount of pressure.
In June that was probably gone: “The first concerts of a tour are always a bit nerve-wracking, but after a while you can put us anywhere and we have fun.” Such statements can only be made from experience.
In fact, The Dead South is a band that is primarily at home on stage.
In 2023, they took things a little easier in this regard, reports Hilts – “because we wanted to go into the studio.
We still traveled a lot, but less than usual. That was good.”
The Dead South have just released the record “Chains & Stakes”.
The album “Chains & Stakes” was created in Mexico City, which was an idea from their US label: “In fact, our record company originally had the plan to send us to Iceland.” At some point it was said that Mexico might be more suitable.
“Of course we were excited about the idea: nice weather, good food…”
More free time, less pressure and lots of sun: a good combination, not only for the band, but also for the listeners.
Because even without knowing where it came from, “Chains & Stakes” is a new, slightly lighter, positive tone to listen to.
This fresh color is very good for the Dead South overall work of art, as can be seen especially in comparison with its predecessor “Sugar & Joy” (2019).
The record was generally convincing at the time due to the further development of individual facets.
In some places, however, she fell into a grumpy, dark self-quote.
The Dead South will play at Munich's Zenith on June 13, 2024
The fact that the well-told, very crazy and sometimes moving stories, told in the best folk manner, have a more varied sound than before makes “Chains & Stakes” interesting, the precision of the execution worth listening to and everything the best album since the hard-to-beat debut.
The fact that the work is also being released in a vinyl edition is due to the band's special request.
“I always listened to records,” says Hilts.
“Last year we saw that more records were sold than CDs worldwide.
I would say this is a trend that will continue.” But even if the numbers were different, The Dead South would release records: “Records just sound good – and look good.”
Album and concert information:
The Dead South: “Chains & Stakes” (Devil Duck Records).
The band will play at Munich's Zenith on June 13, 2024.