South African/Kiwi indie rock/punk rock afficionados The Transits are back with their Halloween ’24 offering Living Dead For A Paycheck. Boom. Mic drop of a single. Listen to this once and I defy you to tell me you ain’t got the chorus ringing round in your head for ages afterwards!

I have been hooked on these guys since I reviewed last year’s Halloween release Lost Ones and its awesome story video a la Jacko‘s 83’ legendary vid Thriller. This year’s Halloween vid is, while not as long, even more entertaining! It’s on YouTube and has Zombies, for f***s sake! Well made-up Zombies, I hasten to add. To the video soon.

The single starts with some great, half volume guitar chugging at frenetic pace, and hooks into a baritone vocal somewhat reminiscent of the Smash Mouth guy, although The Transits are not so nasal in the timbre. As some nice synthy effect loops drop in to carry the verse along, the vocal rises into a raucous, out and out rock sound, and then we hit… that chorus.

It deserves a paragraph to itself. I have been humming all day this chorus that, while retaining its punkiness, its indie edge and it’s sheer volume, also brings you the earworm of 2024 due to it being just about the catchiest anthemic chorus I’ve heard in ages. It’s a head shaker, a fist raiser, an air drums maker! Give it a listen. This is just entertainment incarnate for me.

The YouTube vid, and the lyrics, are about what? I’ll let the EPK explain: “Living Dead for a Paycheck is a fun, tongue-in-cheek song about working yourself to the bone for someone else’s benefit. The song encourages people to pause and realize that life is for living, not just surviving.”

The video illustrates the message so well, and with such mirth. Check out the Zombies in the image accompanying this review. These two will give you a guided tour of the office, and a whole lot more. I won’t spoil the surprise any further. Well done to band member Dom Antelme for the editing. Great video, great camera work, great lighting.

Musicianship is obviously fundamental to a good record. The Transits tick this box. Songwriting too – tick again, massively so, and well done to guitarist/vocalist Ryan Lunn on this song. Studio work, done by Ryan at Echolake Studios in South Africa, again has delivered a balance worthy of the song. I see this on heavy rotation on all rock and indie friendly stations, plus Juice would be committing a crime if they didn’t air the vid regularly. Live? You’re gonna be roaring along to this one, believe me.

The drum work of Tyrone Smith in this number is breath-taking, and he and Dom‘s rhythm section combination is thunderous and really guides the track along at perfect tempo for the melody they have captured. Just to add: Dom, Ryan and Tyrone all provide vocals, so the vocal credit on this are not only stellar but a true team effort.

This is going on my personal Spotify. I don’t do record of the year sort of things, because I find myself viewing a comparison of a rock song with a hip hop song being an apples and pears thing. Also I don’t like this idea of it being competitive as such. Recognise the great work, yes. Leave it at that.

Well done The Transits. I cannot laud this song enough. Absolutely nailed me in sheer entertainment value in just the audio and visual ways that float my boat the most. Go find it now and see what I mean!