Speedfreak's "Doomsday Devices" Is an Explosive Thrill (Video Premiere)

Speaking in terms of character, I think every city has a few bands like Chicago’s Speedfreak. Essentially an institution at this point, these are gritty, hard-boiled rockers that thrive in the inebriated ecstasy of dive-bar mayhem, capable of packing any stage (within the city limits) on just an afternoon’s notice, and prone to releasing albums in time spans measured in decades. Frustratingly, most such bands remain unappreciated on a global scale, but it’s not for lack of kicking ass or creativity. In particular, Speedfreak has long cranked up in the volume in Chicago with a distinct vintage of Southern-tinged rock and heavy metal fine-tuned for blasting out of the fastest vehicle you own.

We’re premiering a music video today for a track off their last album Fast Lane Livin’, which released earlier this year–this video for “Doomsday Devices” highlights Speedfreak’s appetite for gleeful mischief as well as their hard-won chops.

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Speedfreak is city grease, southern smoke, and motor oil combined into an infectious serum, and the dosage is plenty high on “Doomsday Devices.” It’s an oddly danceable track, actually, and should you see it performed live, it all starts to make sense. Drummer Dave Hornyak–also the owner of local venue Live Wire Lounge–mounts two cowbells to his kit and neglects neither, and the rest of the band never runs short on energy. Here in this video, they channel that energy into a tongue-in-cheek parody of classic PSAs.

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I did mention earlier that there’s probably some bands like Speedfreak out there, but they truly are a singular force in Chicago. Anyone entrenched in the local metal scene has surely seen them live (perhaps at Forever Deaf Fest last year) or heard their name passed around like a mythological force, and their members have helped keep the torch burning for, as mentioned, goddamn decades. I’m hoping for a new Speedfreak album before 2032, myself, but in the meantime you can be sure they’ll be keeping our venues fucking loud.

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The band comments:

“Doomsday Devices” was one of the last tracks we wrote for the Fast Lane record. While the lyrics to “Doomsday Devices” are really about living with bad habits, our videographer, Zane Rerek, had the idea to lean into the literal definition of a ‘doomsday device’. With Zane in the director’s chair, we thought it’d be fun to shoot the video like an old PSA, only instead of nuclear attack or satanic panic, heavy metal music was the big threat that had everyone clutching their pearls. We took a lot of inspiration from a bunch of old 1950s, 1960s, Ed Sullivan Show-style performances, and once we started shooting, it really came together as its own thing. We had a blast making the “Doomsday Devices” video, and we’re stoked to share it with you!

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Fast Lane Livin’ released April 15th independently via Bandcamp.