Dead II Society may be a new band, but its members are hardly newcomers to the Northern Ontario music scene. The outlaw punk collective was born during the pandemic, when vocalist and guitarist Erik “Buzz” Boissoneau found himself isolated at home in Chelmsford, Ontario. After years fronting metal band Garden of Bedlam and performing solo in Toronto, he decided it was finally time to make a full album of original songs.

Buzz started building demos in his basement and named the project Dead II Society, a nod to creating music while the world felt shut off from society. The lineup gradually came together: childhood friend Andrew “Torg” Torgerson on bass, Mike “Yak” Yakasovich on guitar, and Charlie “Chuk” Yanni on drums. Their musical histories span punk, metal, alt-rock, and alt-country, and once the four finally rehearsed together, the chemistry was obvious.

Dead and Buried

Their first release, “Dead and Buried,” arrived September 16, introducing a sound that stretches from skate punk and arena rock to alt-country. At its core, though, this is a song about grief, anger, betrayal, and finding a way through the mess. Fans of Bad Religion and Social Distortion should feel at home here.

The song was written after a close friend lost her father far too young and then found herself dealing with someone attempting to strip her and her brothers of their inheritance. She couldn’t find the words for everything she was feeling, so Buzz wrote them for her. It’s the first time he’s written a song inspired by the story of someone so close to him, which gives all that punk-rock fury a particularly personal edge.