Here's Why Death From Above Dropped the "1979"

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished Aug 17, 2017

In case you missed it, Death From Above dropped the "1979" from their name upon releasing single "Freeze Me" back in June. If you've wondering why this happened, though, Sebastien Grainger has now shed light on the sudden name change.

Speaking on Matt Pinfield's 2 Hours with Matt Pinfield podcast [via Consequence of Sound], Grainger revealed that the number suffix wasn't something himself or bandmate Jesse F. Keeler ever preoccupied themselves with. 

"We were having dinner one night and we were probably two bottles of wine deep and I was like, 'Let's stop using 1979. It's too long, it's a stupid, long name,'" Grainger said. He added that "no one said anything" when the band excluded "1979" in promo materials for tours with Eagles of Death Metal and Black Rebel Motor Cycle Club.

It should be noted, however, that while certain promo materials for those tours in 2016 had the band dropping the "1979," their social media accounts did not — something that in fact led to some confusion and much discussion here at Exclaim! In fact, the "1979" is still attached to most of the band's various social media accounts, as well as in the URL of their official website. It's even still predominantly featured across their Facebook page.

The change didn't truly become official until Grainger was designing art for "Freeze Me." "The song is 'Freeze Me' so I took a literal approach and bought an ice tray that had the alphabet in it," he explained. "I spelled out Death From Above, 'Freeze Me' [in ice] and there were no numbers in the ice tray. Had there been numbers in the ice tray, maybe 'Freeze Me' would've been a different thing. It wasn't laziness, just logistics."

Of course, Death From Above was the band's original name, with the "1979" being added in only after a legal dispute erupted with LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy and his DFA label.

Death From Above's new album Outrage! Is Now is due out on September 8 via Warner Bros./Last Gang. You can find details on the record and their North American tour here.

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