Dear and the Headlights Release Pre-Breakup Demos

Dear and the Headlights may have officially broken up, but we're not done hearing music from the Phoenix indie rockers. In their official breakup letter to fans, guitarist PJ Waxmen expressed frustration with the music industry, but not with writing music itself. Clearly they were actually pretty prolific when it came...

By Christina Caldwell

August 31, 2011

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Dear and the Headlights may have officially broken up, but we're not done hearing music from the Phoenix indie rockers.

In their official breakup letter to fans, guitarist PJ Waxmen expressed frustration with the music industry, but not with writing music itself. Clearly they were actually pretty prolific when it came to that end of things. Between 2005 and 2010, the band recorded 30 demos that were released yesterday.

"They will be available for download and streaming," the band said on their Facebook wall, when they initially thought the demos would be released later in the week. "There's not going to be any real liner note info or anything, but we'll try to make ourselves available on Facebook to answer any questions or whatever."

Or whatever...

Fans showed extreme disappointment when the band announced their break up, but as one Facebooker put it, "Whoever wrote this sounds like he barely gives a fuck. How sad."

I choose to believe that they really do give a fuck. Former New Times music editor Martin Cizmar once called Dear and the Headlights the "most important band in Arizona." You just don't get to that level without giving a fuck. And hey, even if they don't give a fuck, we still do. Download the stream for free on the band's MerchNow page.

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