In MKE Music Rewind we revisit notable Milwaukee music that was released before Milwaukee Record became a thing in April 2014. This week: Direct Hit!‘s apocalyptic pop-punk masterpiece from 2013, Brainless God.
Now that we’re more than halfway through the ’20s, it’s probably safe to look back at the 2010s and make bold declarations with at least some level of confidence. When examining Milwaukee’s music scene between the years of 2010 and 2019, it’s my strong belief that no band in the city did more than Direct Hit! or had as large of an impact outside of Wisconsin.
The Milwaukee (by way of Madison) pop-punk project toured with world-renowned bands like NOFX and Reel Big Fish, played amphitheater shows with Blink-182 and Rise Against, earned a regular presence at notable punk festivals, sold out clubs throughout North America and Europe, and released beloved and critically acclaimed albums on respected punk labels. Looking back on everything Direct Hit! has done (and continues to do), it’s clear the decade of dominance was truly set into motion after the band released an ambitious 2013 concept album that helped bring this Wisconsin-born project to widespread consciousness.
Brainless God—the follow-up to 2011’s debut album, Domesplitter—features 12 songs that are intricately woven together by overarching themes of religion, death, and the impending apocalypse. While the album treads into abrasive and pointed territory, singer/guitarist/founding member Nick Woods’ loaded lyrics are countered by infectiously uptempo song structures and hooks that make hacksaw dismemberment, cult rituals, and a serial killer seeking his next victim into toe-tapping and singalongable earworms.
Direct Hit!’s uncanny ability to meld heavy song subject matter with pleasing musical accompaniment wasn’t lost on Shane Olivo, who recorded a portion of the album at his Bobby Peru Recording Studio.
“If you just listen to the music, you can just pawn it off as pop punk, but it’s some of the best lyrics I’ve ever heard,” Olivo told Milwaukee Record in 2014. “They’re super super smart—the juxtaposition of the poppy, upbeat music with the dark, conversational lyrics.”
In addition to Olivo’s engineering, Brainless God was produced by All-American Rejects guitarist Mike Kennerty, who also provided some bass guitar, piano, keyboard, and background vocals to select songs. Nick’s brother Peter J. Woods—a prolific experimental musician and performance artist—filled in on bass for the majority of the record on just five hours of notice after Direct Hit!’s then-bassist abruptly quit when the band hit the studio. This record is also the first DH! album to feature Devon Kay, who’s still the band’s lead guitarist today.
As if writing and recording a thematic 12-movement album that has been referred to as “a punk rock opera” isn’t impressive enough in its own right, Direct Hit! also made a music video for each and every Brainless God song and combined them all into a gritty and graphic short film that spans approximately 36 minutes worth of blood and blasphemy. The band’s audio and visual efforts clearly paid off.
Brainless God was released on Red Scare Industries (which has been home to acts like Menzingers, Elway, The Brokedowns, and more). Then Fat Wreck Chords came calling. The legendary punk imprint put out 2016’s (also conceptual) Wasted Mind, a split album with frequent tourmates Pears, a 2018 full-length called Crown Of Nothing, and a reissue of Domesplitter. Along the way, many of the extended tours, opening opportunities, and song placements mentioned above came to be.
A dozen years removed before releasing Brainless God, Direct Hit! is still kicking. Now roughly six full years into the ’20s, there have been a few changes to Direct Hit!’s lineup, recorded output has dwindled considerably, and shows are few and far between (especially here in Milwaukee). Still, after the run Direct Hit! had throughout the 2010s, everything after is just a bonus. No band is Milwaukee can match what Nick Woods and co. did during that decade, and much of that unmatched epoch of output and opportunity is thanks to their apocalyptic pop-punk masterpiece from 2013.