A Dirty Dozen with WE MIGHT DIE – March 2026

According to a recent press release: “Rising Las Vegas punk trio We Might Die return with their most confrontational release to date, the blistering new single “ICED OUT,” now streaming everywhere. Written from the perspective of an ICE agent, the track delivers a searing, satirical takedown of state violence and the justifications used to defend it — a loud, fast, and furious spiritual successor to the classic protest punk lineage of “Police Truck” by Dead Kennedys. Fronted by fearless teenage bassist / vocalist Liv, the band brings an unfiltered intensity to both stage and studio, pairing blunt, zero-filter lyrics with razor-sharp hooks. On drums is her father Chance, a scene veteran with nearly 25 years in punk, grindcore, and metal, whose Animal-like energy fuels the band’s relentless speed. Travis rounds out the lineup with intricate riff work, dynamic songwriting, and face-melting leads that give WMD their sonic depth.” We get the band to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release. What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through? Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Chance: Definitely no hidden messages in our newest release “ICED OUT.” We tried to make the lyrics and approach to arrangement on this song very deliberate. I suppose that is one of the perks about playing by the kind of music that we play. We don’t have to sugarcoat things or allude to anything. The verses in “ICED OUT” are written from the perspective of an ICE agent justifying their actions behind a veil of apathy and pseudo-manifest destiny with the tagline of “I’m just doing my job.” The chorus is written from the perspective of people targeted by ICE and suddenly becoming an ‘enemy of the state.’

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

Travis: I moved to Las Vegas in 2023(?) and started playing and practicing guitar, bass and drums pretty seriously. At the time I was struggling really hard with mental health issues and basically every time I sat down to practice it would make me feel really terrible. But I decided that I would continue playing because I didn’t want the illness to control what I did. So I started taking lessons at School of Rock and they have an adult program with a show that everyone gets to participate in at the end of a four month season. I realized at that show that I wasn’t scared to get up in front of a crowd and perform. My mind was preoccupied with other things that felt more scary. So it felt pretty rewarding. I still felt like shit but I just got up and did it anyway. So I just kind of ran with that. I’m going to play music even though my mind and body are screaming at me not to. I feel like I’m kind of an oxymoron in that way. I didn’t start playing music because I liked how it felt. And I didn’t listen to music very much at the time. Now as time has gone on I feel like I get more joy out of it and it feels better to sit down and play. It just took that period of time of forcing myself to do it and forcing myself to be in social environments to get to a point where I can feel better about it. Also, I think everyone needs a creative outlet especially when dealing with mental health issues. Anyway, that’s how I got to the point where I wanted to be a musician.

Liv: I’ve been involved with music my whole life. Ever since I was born my dad has been in bands and i’ve obviously been immersed in every project he’s been apart of. Naturally, he taught me guitar and it sort of just stuck with me. I think i’ve always wanted to be a musician as well. I remember coming up with band names since I was around 8. I’ve always liked attention and getting to speak my mind so a punk band is one of the most perfect things for that. I’m a very outspoken person already but now that i’m able to address issues way bigger than me on an actual stage it just feels natural.

Chance: I feel that I have always had a connection to music. Showing my age a bit here, but I remember listening to tapes on my Walkman when I was a little kid to go to sleep at night. Usually every Christmas as I got older I would use any money I received as a gift on CDs. I started with things like Michael Jackson and Weird Al. Later I started listening to CDs from my Stepfather’s collection purely based on the cover. That led me to discover bands like Van Halen, Queen, Black Sabbath, Ozzy, Pink Floyd, Queensryche and KISS. Around age 12 I decided that I wanted to play bass like Gene Simmons. I went to our local guitar shop and the people working there suggested that I should learn guitar first since that knowledge would transfer over to bass. I started playing in punk and metal bands a few years later around age 15. I’ve been playing music in the punk, grind, and metal genres ever since.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

Travis: when I was a teenager I was really into hardcore punk. I liked all the bands and resonated with the message. I was an outsider. People didn’t understand me/like me. Therefore I liked musical outsiders and weird musical ideas. And I was angry at the injustice and greed in society. I saw the Angry Samoans in Boston when I was 17. They were older even then but they still had a lot of energy and their set was really cool. Basically they just took requests from the crowd for the whole thing. Nothing was planned and they just kept pulling out song after song. I liked how fun and unpredictable it was. Any Toxic Narcotic show was great. So many people would show up and everyone would move and dance and whatever. As I got older I started focusing more on post punk music. Basically anything you would expect when someone says post punk. Joy Division, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees. New bands like Drab Majesty, Molchat Doma.

Liv: I remember when I was around 7 or 8 my dad, Chance, showed me Paramore. Obviously I was immediately in love because it was a female singer in a genre I had never heard females in before. From then on he showed me many different female fronted bands such as Spiritbox. Since then, I’ve remained a diehard fan of Paramore and many other female lead bands. As I’ve gotten older my music taste has also expanded. I currently listen to a variety of genres ranging from groups like ILLIT to Knocked Loose and The Locust.

Chance: Exposure to post-hardcore bands like The Blood Brothers, The Fall of Troy, and The Jonbenet really opened my eyes to a more chaotic and challenging approach to songwriting. Also, noise bands like The Locust had a huge impact on my songwriting. These bands showed me that songs don’t necessarily need to follow the standard format of verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus. These bands also tend to blur the lines of their respective genres.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Chance: I would love to work with Kat Moss from Scowl. She has some of the meanest sounding harsh vocals and I think it would complement our songs well.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour? What do you like to do to unwind?

Chance: For me, I love retro gaming. I still have all of my original Nintendo consoles and play them when I have free time. I’m a huge fan of the old Donkey Kong games. My favorite game of all time is DOOM. The ones from the 90s. I still play those to this day on my PC. Otherwise, I really like cooking. There aren’t many dishes that I can’t make at this point.

Liv: I think I actually have very chill hobbies. One of my favorite things is to play some comfy games on my computer with some tea. I also enjoy painting and drawing! I think we’re all very introverted people so when we’re not in the studio or have time to rest on tour we are mostly spending it by ourselves or just unwinding from having to be so social constantly.

Travis: I like being creative in a lot of different mediums. Painting, drawing, sculpting. Thinking about storylines and characters. I just don’t have a lot of energy at this point so my time spent doing artwork is limited. I like retro games quite a bit too. Ditto on the energy thing. I basically just play music as much as possible. Focusing on music theory helps me and I like comparing and contrasting between different instruments using the circle of fifths and other musical jargon.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

Liv: If Beach Bunny lyrics had a baby with Scowl and dated The Hives on the side.

Chance: I cannot possibly add anything to what Liv said here. I agree 100%.

Travis: We’re an intellectual, nonconformist, anarchist collective and we think of our music as ideas that can’t have a label. We might be a little bit too niche and understand the world a little bit differently than everyone else does…/s

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Chance: I am always the cook since I love doing it. We frequently have barbecues and holiday meals together where I cook most everything.

Travis: I bring the Josh, his name be praised. Don’t make me pull my banjo out 🫵

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

Chance: I think it might be when my old band The Anatomist opened for ’68. Josh Scogin was a hero to all of us in The Anatomist from his work with The Chariot and Norma Jean. So it was great getting to have time to hang out and talk with him before and after the show.

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

Liv: I think the best part of being a musician is getting to connect and make music that connects people. It’s so amazing to know that other people may relate to our lyrics and not feel so isolated. I think that’s definitely the best part. If I couldn’t be a musician my dream job would either be a mortician or interior designer. Mortician because I think it would be really nice to help bring peace to loved ones when someone passes away and interior designer because I think i’d be really good at it and I like creative things.

Chance: The best part about being a musician is that I get to transform into a larger than life version of myself when I am performing. Off stage I tend to be quiet and introverted. On stage, I can yell at people in the crowd to get people hyped up. I also find playing music to be very cathartic. It centers and relaxes me. If I’m having a rough day anxiety-wise, a few minutes playing guitar or drums always brings me back down. If I wasn’t playing music, I would love to run a recording studio full time or possibly even have a coffee shop since I like making coffee.

Travis: My favorite part of being a musician right now is knowing Chance, Liv and Stephanie. I can be having the worst day ever and when I go to practice with them everything shifts and I get pulled out of my brain. I’m not trying to be sappy, it just is functionally helpful for me. I want to make weird art or comic books / zines. I feel like making a scary weird art book would be really rewarding. Or a scary animated series. I would want to be Art Person. Is that a career choice?

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

Chance: I haven’t really thought of this before. I feel that every question is a good question. Since I’m a gear nerd, I would welcome a question along the lines of “What is one unorthodox piece of gear you use?”  Or something like that. My answer to that question is: Liv mainly derives her tone from a Darkglass bass distortion/pre-amp pedal. People always comment that they really only see those being used by metal bands. I do know that Liv gets tired of answering the question “What is it like being in a band with your dad?”

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Chance: I’ve been in a lot of bands over the years. I wish I knew back then what I know now. Perhaps I would have seen larger success in those bands.

Travis: When Liv beat me at the Walking Dead arcade game at Beer Zombies. I would own her now with my advanced skills.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Liv: I would go back in time and be there for the recording of Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party by Hayley Williams. This is such a powerful album and she’s an amazing artist. This album is so important to me and it’s just beautifully done.

Chance: I really love how Drain recorded their newest album …Is Your Friend. In that they recorded with everyone in the room together and stepped away from click tracks and all of that. It really produced such a natural sounding record.

WE MIGHT DIE LINKS:

OFFICIAL SITE

INSTAGRAM

Category: Interviews