Dead Pioneers are a Native American punk band making radically political music about white people’s perceptions and misconceptions of indigenous peoples.

What a unique discovery this is! I’m not normally drawn to 21st century punk but this is so much more than that. It’s certainly the first time I’ve encountered a Native American punk band.

More than that – much more – it’s radically political: a spoken-word diatribe about the treatment of America’s indigenous peoples by the white invaders.

Hence the provocative band name: Dead Pioneers.

Lead singer Gregg Deal (yes, he’s called Gregg – more on that shortly) is a larger than life character in every way: metaphorically and literally. All the better to bark out his exhaustive critique of white Amerikkka, backed by an explosive barrage of drums and guitars.

The lyrics, rich with humour, sarcasm and a blistering sense of anger, raise the question of the white majority’s stereotypical assumptions and expectations about native peoples, based on their perceptions of indigenous existence.

Especially this section:

“A woman once asked me my Indian name
And I said ‘It’s Gregg’
And she was so disappointed, she was like
‘No it has to be Red Eagle, or Two Rivers’
‘Or Greyskull?’ I said.
‘Yes, wait, is that for real?’
‘No, no’ I said without her realising my brief but generationally relevant He Man joke, the kind of joke that would tell her that while Indian, I’m also having an American experience too.
I finally said to her ‘How about Walking Eagle?’
‘Yes! Yes!’ she said ‘But is that true?’
‘Yes, it’s totally true’

“I never did have the heart to tell her that an eagle only walks when it’s too full of shit to fly
Cos I’m a Bad Indian”