Quicksand Tease New Album ‘Distant Populations’ With Heavy Song ‘Missile Command’

Quicksand are teasing their upcoming album, Distant Populations, with a heavy new song, “Missile Command.” The album is due out digitally on August 13th and on vinyl on September 24th.

Over a serpentine groove by bassist Sergio Vega and drummer Alan Cage, singer-guitarist Walter Schreifels sings oblique lyrics about love and rain. “True worlds bring/As lights fill up the sky,” he sings. “You better get used to it.”

“It really kind of focuses on Sergio’s whole motif in a very simple way,” Schreifels said in a statement. “He and Alan just have this really kind of trademark groove, and I think that really sings on this one to me. I just felt like it’s a kind of song that is very us, but we hadn’t written it yet.”

The trio cut the album at Conshohocken, Pennsylvania’s Studio 4 Recording with producer and engineer Will Yip (Code Orange, Defeater). Josh Wilbur, who has worked with Lamb of God and Megadeth, mixed the record. They released the Distant Populations track “Inversion” in April.

The record marks the band’s first release since the departure of guitarist Tom Capone, who was arrested for allegedly shoplifting while on tour in 2017; Capone has since joined former Cro-Mags frontman John Joseph’s new group Bloodclot.

The 11 songs’ lyrics deal with relationships and society and the loneliness that pervades modern life for some people. “Everyone is on the one hand so connected with each other, and on the other hand, is so far apart,” Schreifels said. “We’re checking out each other’s social media and we know what everybody’s doing. But when we’re sitting in the same room together, we’re looking at our phones.”

The band will hit the road to support the album in the fall, playing headlining shows around the U.S.

Distant Populations Tracklist

1. “Inversion”
2. “Lightning Field”
3. “Colossus”
4. “Brushed”
5. “Katakana”
6. “Missile Command”
7. “Phase 90”
8. “The Philosopher”
9. “Compacted Reality”
10. “EMDR”
11. “Rodan”

Quicksand Tour Dates

September 28 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
September 29 – Asbury Park, NJ @ The Stone Pony
October 1 – Lancaster, PA @ Tellus 360
October 2 – Albany, NY @ Empire Live
October 4 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
October 5 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
October 6 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe
October 8 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
October 9 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
October 11 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
October 12 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
October 13 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
October 15 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
October 16 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
October 18 – Phoenix, AZ  @ Valley Bar
October 19 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
October 21 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
October 23 – Houston, TX @ Studio @ Warehouse Live
October 25 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade (Hell)
October 26 – Charlotte, NC @ The Underground
October 27 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
October 29 – New York, NY @ The Bowery Ballroom
October 31 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of The Living Arts