Death Lens to headline at RETRO Manchester

Los Angeles alt-punk band Death Lens will headline at Manchester’s RETRO following the recent release of their new album Cold World.

The Manchester gig lands after Death Lens dropped their latest album Cold World in May. The album marks an 11-track departure from their previous material.

The album title sets the tone for the release, and also emphasises the driving force behind the band. “Cold World just seemed to fit in the days we’re living, they explain. “It’s the desire to thrive in a deteriorating world all while pushing those who feel like there is no hope and hoping to give them a second wind, a sense of hope.”

For the album, Death Lens changed tack, embracing the use of a producer for the first time. “The genius behind the production and recording was Brett Romnes” the band explains. “This was our first time using a producer and we were scared that our sound was not going to be us, but Brett was such an amazing addition to the writing process. We molded our thoughts together, he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, we disagreed in parts, a lot of banter, a lot of “Ah ha!” Moments that led to amazing riffs and lyrics and creative ideas. That goal was to find a common ground and build off of that and we did almost instantly on day one, it was beautiful. We like a guy leading us who is rough around the edges, and that was Brett Romnes. He was like the 6th member of Death Lens, he was a part of us for those weeks together.”

The album brings to the fore Death Lens’ Bryan Torres’ examination of his place in the world. It takes on social injustice, political and world unrest, emotional, mental and physical reactions to it all. These are all subjects close to the band’s heart. They grew up as minorities 20 miles east of Los Angeles, describing themselves as ‘five brown boys from La Puente’. They were surrounded growing up by police harassment and gang violence. They have using this experience to feed in to their sound and desires. “We began as your typical party garage punk,” explains Torres, “but have evolved to using our platform to speak [on] living in heavily policed areas, immigrant dominant areas where we push for immigration reforms and using any resources we have to help the community.”