MENSA DEATHSQUAD Celebrate Courage with “Riot of the Rebel Angels”

MENSA DEATHSQUAD
Release “Riot of the Rebel Angels“
In support of movements who have stood up
to violence in the name of human rights

DECEMBER 14, 2021 (Kansas City, MO) — “I was standing with about two thousand of my neighbors in Mill Creek Park in Kansas City, MO demonstrating for black lives; demonstrating against police brutality; against indifference,” recalls Brandon Phillips, mastermind behind electronic darkwave band MENSA DEATHSQUAD. “When we held ourselves to a standard of conduct that we understood was approved of by local officials, we got maced, tear-gassed, beaten, cuffed and shot with beanbags and pepper balls. When we crossed the line and broke that standard of conduct, we got maced, tear-gassed, beaten, cuffed and shot with beanbags and pepper balls – AND slandered on TV. To an abuser, no form of grievance or resistance to their will is legitimate and the only way they know how to respond is with violence, libel and indignant denial of their own responsibility.”

Today, the longtime musician, songwriter, and member of bands The Gadjits, The Architects, and Other Americans, is releasing his new single, “Riot of the Rebel Angels,” in support of these movements. “‘Riot of the Rebel Angels’ is about the 2020 BLM marches and it’s about Stonewall and DAPL and the Ludlow Massacre and a lot of other movements that stood up to state sponsored violence. I celebrate the courage of those who’ve stood up to it in the name of basic human rights. ‘Riot of the Rebel Angels’ is for them.”  

Listen to “Riot of the Rebel Angels” below

“Riot of the Rebel Angels” is the second release of a larger work coming from Mensa Deathsquad in 2022, after their first single “Light“. For the upcoming release he teamed up with musician Barb Morrison (Antony and The Johnsons, Blondie, Deborah Harry) as his music mentor, working together to lay bare the passionate catharsis of Brandon’s new writing direction. “Light” was the first song they wrote together setting the tone for where Brandon wanted to go with his new music and how he and Barb would work together. That tone embodies pulsing club kicks and throbbing waves of synthesizers slamming headlong into jagged post-punk guitars and emotionally raw vocals about a desire so powerful that simply admitting its existence would set fire to heaven and earth.

“Riot of the Rebel Angels” by Mensa Deathsquad is out now on all DSPs.

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