News

Dan Vapid and the Cheats have shared the video for 'Sour Pauline,' the first single taken off the band's fifth full-length album, Welcome to Dystopia, out on Friday, September 23. The songs focus on the pandemic, malignant narcissism, the rise of conspiracy theories, isolation, and unhealthy discourse on social media. “I try my best to see the good when I can, but as a society we have reached a turning point and it isn’t good. Many of the songs on ‘Welcome to Dystopia’ reflect that.” Dan Vapid continues, “2020 was the most surreal year I've seen in my lifetime. I hadn’t had that ‘holy fucking shit’ moment since 9/11/2001, even Rod Serling couldn’t have made the 2020 episode of the ‘Twilight Zone’ if he had tried.”

Welcome to Dystopia was engineered, mixed, and mastered by Gabe Usery at Encapsulated Studios in St. Louis, MO. and produced by Dan Vapid and Gabe Usery. It will be available for pre-order on Friday, September 16 on vinyl and CD via Eccentric Pop Records and cassette tape later this year via Memorable But Not Honorable Tapes.

The band features singer, songwriter, and guitarist Dan Vapid, a veteran of the punk scene who has played in influential bands such as Screeching Weasel, The Riverdales, Sludgeworth, The Methadones, Noise By Numbers, The Mopes, and The Queers. The current lineup features Dan Vapid (Vocals/Guitar), Simon Lamb (guitars/vocals), Dillon Dunnagan (bass/vocals), and Gabe Usery (drums/vocals).

In the fall of 2021, they released their highly praised fourth full-length album, Escape Velocity. In 2019, they released Three, the band’s third full-length and first in six years. In 2013, their sophomore LP titled Two was released, which was produced by Matt Allison (Alkaline Trio, The Lawrence Arms), as well as a split 7" with Masked Intruder, a split 7" with The Jetty Boys, and made an appearance on Our Lips Are Sealed - A Tribute to The Go-Go’s. In 2012, they released their self-titled debut album, Dan Vapid and the Cheats.