Following the release of their snarling first single “Iggy Pop”, Milwaukee’s Bicentennial Drug Lord slow things down with “This Pabst Blue Ribbon”—a ghostly country ballad and the second track off their forthcoming album You Are Never Alone, due June 20, 2025. Where “Iggy Pop” paid gritty tribute to the band’s punk roots, “This Pabst Blue Ribbon” turns inward, trading distortion for atmosphere and capturing the quiet ache of memory, regret, and unlikely comfort found in a cheap beer and old ghosts.
“This one sets the tone for everything that follows,” says bassist/vocalist John Daniels. “Even if sometimes your only companions are the ghosts from your past and Pabst Blue Ribbon.” Anchored by gently worn vocals, mournful lap steel, and a patient, cinematic pace, the song embodies the record’s central question: what happens when the rock n roll mythology runs out, but you’re still standing? Recorded in Asheville, NC with producer Alex Farrar (MJ Lenderman, Wednesday), the single shows BDL redefining rock maturity not as compromise—but as deeper truth.
“This Pabst Blue Ribbon” isn’t just a song—it’s a late-night confession, a tallboy toast to endurance, and a quiet declaration that the myth of rock n roll doesn’t have to end in flames. Instead, BDL offers a new story: one where survival, memory, and empathy take center stage. For those who grew up on fuzz pedals and heartbreak but now find themselves nursing rescue dogs and old regrets, Bicentennial Drug Lord is here to remind you: you are never alone.
You Are Never Alone releases the 20th of June, via Vfib Recordings. Pre-save links can all be found at https://ffm.to/youareneveralone.
What is Rock n Roll Mythology? You know the basic tenets: Use drugs and alcohol to subvert convention and normalcy. Write songs and use music and lyrics to convey angst and dissatisfaction with the status quo. Revel in the breaking of hearts. Most importantly your own. Create poetry and beauty out of ugliness and sorrow whilst catapulting yourself and your bandmates to superstardom. Then, lastly, exit this earth by the age of 27.
What happens though, when say, things don’t quite work out that way and one is still wandering the earth with guitar and pen in hand? One must create a new mythology. One in which the hero is aging and trying not to take a drink or maybe still taking a drink. Trying to quit smoking or maybe still smoking but maybe lights instead of 100’s. Remembering failed relationships. Attending funerals from said previous mythology. Rescuing dogs. Thinking about how to maintain a relationship instead of destroying it.
I’ll tell you what you get. You get the new record from Bicentennial Drug Lord: You Are Never Alone. A comforting (like the title assures us) 10 song, power pop, rock and country gem composed by longtime pals and Milwaukee Natives: John Daniels – Vox and Bass (Soda, Maki) Rick Donner – Vox, Guitar, Harmonica (Punchdrunk) and Alan Weatherhead – Vox, Guitar, Keyboards, Lap Steel (Soda, Maki, Sparklehorse, Hotel Lights).
BDL is joined brilliantly on Drums by Kevin Lumley. Libby Rode…
