Dance punk artists Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler have been playing off and on together as Death From Above 1979 for more than a decade now, ever since a conflict with James Murphy’s Death From Above Records forced them to add the “1979” to the back of their original name. At the time, the band declared “jihad” against Murphy, calling him a “selfish piece of fuck” and expressing a desire to “fly a plane into his skull” (although they’ve somewhat mellowed on the subject in the intervening years). Now, seemingly out of nowhere, Grainger and Keeler have reverted to their original name, and released a new song to mark the change.
The newly rechristened band released “Freeze Me” earlier today, via BBC Radio’s Hottest Record In The World. (The song starts a little bit after the 2:30 mark in the player above.) The duo also gave a brief interview, although they didn’t mention the name change, and simply mentioned that fans won’t have to wait “ten years” for another full release, referencing the decade-long gap between their first and second albums.