Dead Alright shares their new single, “Smoke and Mirrors”
Montreal’s Dead Alright (the solo project of Brand New Lungs/ Never Hit Again frontman Louis-Charles Berthiaume) has released the debut single “Smoke and Mirrors,” the first of what’s expected to be a series of new songs that will be released throughout 2023.
Fast, catchy, and fun, “Smoke and Mirrors” takes inspiration from ’90s/00’s punk rock but is also grounded in the present. With a strong theme and a huge chorus, this song talks about being stuck at home, reliving the good days of the past inside your head, and building up the courage to get back out there.
Watch the lyric video for “Smoke and Mirrors” below and learn more about Dead Alright via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
I’m L-C, aka the head honcho behind the skate pop-punk project Dead Alright. I write songs and record them and have a lot of fun in the process! My goal with the project was to create songs that were up to par with the albums I grew up listening to but also to create something fresh and fun.
Tell us a bit about your most recent release.
I have 11 songs recorded, and the plan is to release them one by one to really shine a spotlight on the songs and share the BTS details behind them. The latest song released is Strong Enough to Fail (or it’s soon to be released!). It’s a fun pop-punk song about having the guts to try stuff and have fun, even if it means failing. I constantly find myself thinking about that when I write new songs: do people really care? But then I realize that *I* care, and in the end, it’s more than enough for me.
A good friend of mine, Alexandre Lindsay, sang the bridge in this song. He plays in my old band Never Hit Again, and I really just love his voice. I’m super glad of how everything came together.
Where do you tend to pull inspiration from when writing?
A lot of the time, I hear something (a song or just a sentence), and something just pops in my head, so I try some stuff and start from there. I usually start with the chorus with the vocals and build around that.
I usually write songs at the computer, record riffs and parts, and play with the building blocks to create the structure and arrangements. I just love doing that. It feels like the possibilities are endless.
Style-wise, by reflex, I write stuff that is super 90’s/00’s adjacent because I am just in love with the energy of these songs. It’s really what I try to replicate.
Do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to tell us about?
I’m pretty much alone in the project right now, so apart from acoustic sets here and there, there are no shows planned as of now. I would love at some point to do a live band and play these songs live, though it’s definitely in the plans. If someone has cool show offers, it might speed up the process, too I guess!
What’s your goal for 2023?
I’m going to release my songs and talk about them as much as I can, and I hope people enjoy them! PEACE