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Sep 26, 2022 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Kyles Sykes

Over the past several years indie outfit The Band Ice Cream has undergone a metamorphosis of sorts, transforming from their stoner garage pop origins into something more jagged, tinged with influences from punk, neo psych, and indie rock. Lead singer Kevin Fielding wrote the band’s newly released record, PLAY DEAD, during a lengthy recovery period from injuries sustained in 2019, and the record finds the band deconstructing digital artifice, exploring the lives we create for ourselves online.

Ahead of the record’s release the band have shared a string of new singles this year, and today they’re back with the accompanying video for one of the record’s highlights, “Chemical Fire,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Chemical Fire” find Fielding and company delving into the world of garage punk and fuzzy indie rock, delivering howled vocals and gnarled guitar lines layered between massive hooks. But beneath the track’s shambolic punk delivery and raucous melodicism, the track’s lyrics prove rather thoughtful as Fielding reflects on moving on after death一“If I die in a chemical fire please know/Our love fed the brightest flame/If I die in a chemical fire please go/Move on without shame.”

In keeping with the track’s offbeat style, the accompanying video takes a more comedic (and bloody) approach, imagining a day in the life of an assassin. As Fielding explains, “With the subject of Chemical Fire being about dying and the ability to move on, Jeremiah Durian-Williams (director) and I wrote a fun twist on that theme that’s centered around what a normal day in the life of an assassin would be like. Kill, get Starbucks, kill, have lunch, etc. A comedic hyperbolization of the song’s meaning.”

Check out the track’s video below. PLAY DEAD is out now.