The St. Louis metalcore group dead7 are this week’s featured Meet The Band artist. Their full-length debut Love What You Can While You Still Got Something Left To Love is out now. Vocalist Jason Kozik introduces us to his band.
Chad Bowar: Give us a brief history of dead7.
Jason Kozik: It started when Zach (drums) and Tim (guitar) and I met up back in 2019 to jam and maybe play a cover song. We played a few songs, loved the energy around it, and decided to start a band. As we developed our style, we added in Dee (guitar) and Stephen (bass) to the band. Fast-forward to 2021, we’re in the studio with our producers Ben McGuiness and Caleb Freihaut working on new material. They gave us the talk of, “the music you’re making is way cooler than what your band’s branding is. It couldn’t hurt to change things up.” So when we finished most of “the new pain collection” we decided to sit down with our current lineup (Me, Zach, Tim, Stephen, and Dee) and decide on what we should do with this project and what we wanted to go by.
Most of us were turning 27 at the time and so we got on the topic of the 27 club. Since our music really dives into the topics of love, death, addiction, and a lot of painful topics. We ran with the idea of maybe going by “twenty7” but found a lot of artists with the same name. After doing some more research, we found a picture of 7 of the prominent members from the 27 club (one of the first Google image results) so we went with “dead7.” Since then we have just been doing what we think is the best for our band and trying to keep it fun.
Describe the songwriting process for Love What You Can While You Got Something Left To Love.
Anytime we write we try to keep the ideas as fluid as possible. We don’t try to come in with fully fleshed out songs. There may be some riff ideas, melodies, or even some lyrics. Usually we’ll start with a small idea and bring it to life fully. We kept our process true to how we’ve always done it. The main difference with this record is that we really focused on each song having a “top line” or “hook.” It’s what makes people remember a song the most.
What is your strongest memory of the recording of the album?
One thing that sticks out to me is when we finished writing “Blood.” We sat down and talked about how we really found the direction sonically and thematically for this record. We got done tracking and all had this “Whoa” feeling. One of the best feelings when writing new music.
What was the biggest challenge in its creation?
Carving out the time to make sure we could get it done and make everything sound great. Everybody in the band has a career and family, so trying to balance that and make something like a record is super tough. A lot of late nights and early mornings.
How would you characterize its style/sound?
There are a wide array of influences/styles on this record. It’s an exploratory approach to modern metalcore. We love breakdowns, but we also love melodies and electronic stuff. We want to try and make deep hard hitting riffs and instrumentals but also deliver the music in a way that could be enjoyed by a huge audience. Definitely experimental in the way that we’re not afraid to try new things.
What lyrical topics do you cover?
A lot of the topics on this record explore the different feelings that can happen during a relationship or even just life in general. It revolves around the uncertainty of love, life, and death. There’s a lot of self-reflection throughout the album and exploring the acceptance of some of the unhealthy qualities of a relationship.
What inspired the album title?
The line is taken from our track “Nuclear.” There’s so much uncertainty with the world, relationships, and life overall. It’s something I resonate with deeply. Love all the people, things, anything while you still can; you never know when they could be gone forever. It captures all the themes of the record in a single sentence. We also thought it’d be funny to make the album title super long, like all the old punk and metalcore song titles from the early 2000’s.
How did you come to sign with SharpTone Records?
It was a very organic experience. We checked our band’s Instagram messages one day and had a message from someone at SharpTone records. We did our research because we all thought it was a scam, but when we found out it wasn’t we decided to pursue the opportunity. After we talked with the A&R at SharpTone, his name is Sal, we decided to work together, and SharpTone has been very awesome to us so far. We super appreciate all the help and guidance they provided to us and for giving us the opportunity to be on a label with so many other awesome bands.
What are your goals and expectations for the album?
With the album that we have, we’re hoping that it’ll better our chances to secure some more connections within the music industry. There are lots of different people that we’d love to work with, and a lot of different places that we’d love to play. Our hope is that we can expand ourselves to new locations and new listeners and push ourselves to reach new heights.
How were the video shoots for “Hole” and “Blur”?
The video shoots were a lot of fun. We actually worked with our director Spencer on our previous project. Over the time since we’ve known him, he’s developed himself into one heck of a hard worker, and a very creative director. And we loved that we were able to do all of this within our St. Louis community. Everybody was super professional, and I love the flow of how they were able to accomplish what we were able to accomplish for all of our videos, especially “Nuclear.” I’m super excited to show that one off.
What has been your most memorable dead7 live show?
Probably our performance at Upheaval Festival in 2024. That was our first out-of-town show and our first out of town festival performance. When we were setting up, there were about 10 people in front of the stage, most of which were our family and friends that had traveled to come see us. Then about 15 minutes before we went on, a sea of about 400 plus people came over from the main stage to come watch us play. We played an amazing set and we connected with so many new fans that day and it was just an overall surreal experience considering that our project had only been active for two years. I’ll never forget that show for sure. A close second would have to be our show at the old rock house in St. Louis where we opened up for Gideon, Fox Lake, Left to Suffer, and No Cure. One reason is that I got married in that same venue, the second reason is that the lineup was just freaking awesome.
What are your upcoming show/tour plans?
We are currently in the process of trying to secure a booking agent. We’d really like to start touring more in 2026, whether its national or international.
How’s the heavy music scene in St. Louis these days?
The heavy music scene has always been pretty healthy in St. Louis. A lot of where our heavy music is the strongest is hardcore. We have a lot of smaller hardcore style venues and a lot of different hardcore bands in the area, as well as a good majority of death metal. There are some more up-and-coming bands in the post-hardcore or metal scene that are starting to put out more music. One band in particular, Pale Kaori is definitely in the realm of Swancore. You have Sawed Off, which is a really really good death metal band. One of the more well-known hardcore bands from the area is Direct Measure.
What are some of your non-musical interests and hobbies?
The main hobbies that I participate in my free time would have to be cooking and video games. I’m a huge fan of making a lot of homemade fast food style dishes, I also really like to experiment with different styles of cuisine. My specialty is Mexican food, but I love trying to make new Asian style dishes, especially from Thailand. When it comes to video games, I really just like to play games to try and relax and take my mind off of things, so I don’t play many competitive games anymore and if I do, I’m mainly playing them just because my friends are playing. The games that I’m playing currently are Drive Beyond Verizon, Call of Duty Black ops six, and Forza Horizon Five.
Anything else you’d like to mention or promote?
Truthfully, we are just super grateful for all the opportunities we’ve been given so far and the fact that people give a shit about our music. Whether you like us, don’t like us, have, or never heard us before; welcome to The Unwanted.
(interview published July 12, 2025)
Watch dead7 – “Hole” Video
