Paint The Town Dead: Southern New Hampshire’s Post-Hardcore Veterans Return Heavier, Angrier, and Ready for What’s Next
Paint The Town Dead is a post-hardcore/metalcore band based in the Southern New Hampshire, Manchester-area music scene. The current lineup features Pat Griffin on vocals, Dave Carignan on guitar and vocals, Myke Dill on bass, and Sean Griffin on drums. While the band may have taken a lengthy hiatus, their history in the New England underground runs deep—and their return has proven that the chemistry that brought them together years ago never disappeared.
Originally active throughout the mid-2000s, Paint The Town Dead spent several years playing heavily throughout New England, sharing stages with bands including Our Last Night, The Receiving End Of Sirens, and Ice Nine Kills during the early years of those groups and many others. Their reach even extended beyond the United States, with the band making their way into Canada during their original run.
After stepping away from music for an extended period, Paint The Town Dead found themselves back together three years ago when they were approached about playing a reunion show by longtime friend and local promoter Richie Downs of NH Booking.
Although that reunion show was ultimately postponed, the idea of returning to the stage had already reignited something within the band.
The Reunion That Became a New Beginning
Rather than wait, the members decided to put together their own show in June 2025. They were already practicing their old material, and instead of letting that momentum disappear, they turned it into an opportunity to officially bring Paint The Town Dead back to the stage.
Since that June 2025 show, the band has performed six shows, receiving encouraging reactions from audiences and proving that their return wasn’t simply an exercise in nostalgia.
There is clearly still an appetite for what Paint The Town Dead brings to the stage.
For the members, however, the comeback isn’t just about revisiting the past. Their music has continued to evolve, and their current direction is noticeably heavier than where they left off.
From Post-Hardcore to Something Heavier
Paint The Town Dead’s most recent EP, From Skyline To Flatline, represented the band’s post-hardcore sound, but the material they’re currently developing is pushing much further into metalcore territory.
The band describes their newer music as heavier, angrier, and more aggressive—a natural evolution that has developed alongside the members themselves.
Maybe getting older has something to do with it.
As the band puts it, they may simply be “older and more disgruntled now,” but whatever the reason, the change in sound is producing tracks they’re genuinely excited about.
That evolution is particularly evident in the band’s approach to songs they’ve carried with them throughout their history. One of the band’s earliest songs has now been re-recorded for the fourth time, becoming something of an ongoing joke within the group. Each time they’ve returned to it, they’ve attempted to improve it, and each version has become heavier and angrier than the last.
Old Songs, New Energy
The band’s history is also being incorporated into its future in another way.
Paint The Town Dead is revisiting a track originally featured on a DIY demo recorded inside the old barn where they used to practice. While the song never received the level of production their studio EPs eventually received, the band sees an opportunity to give it the treatment it deserves.
It’s a fitting reflection of where Paint The Town Dead currently stands: looking backward without being stuck in the past.
The band has the history, the memories, and the original material—but they’re approaching all of it with a renewed perspective and a heavier sound.
Building New Music While Navigating an Old Challenge
One of the band’s biggest challenges now isn’t finding inspiration. It’s finding the time.
With shows continuing to come up, the band naturally shifts its attention toward preparing its live set, which can temporarily push the album-writing process to the side. Balancing everyday life with rehearsals, performances, and the creative process has made finishing the upcoming record a gradual process.
Still, significant progress has already been made.
Paint The Town Dead currently has five tracks ready to go, with a sixth in development and potentially a seventh to follow. They also have three new singles written, with a fourth on the way.
The goal is to have the album recorded by late 2026.
Finding Their Place in a Growing Scene
Another challenge facing the band is one familiar to virtually every independent artist today: getting noticed.
The Southern New Hampshire and broader New England scene has been getting stronger, with multiple quality shows happening every week and an abundance of talented bands releasing new music.
For Paint The Town Dead, that means simply making music isn’t enough.
Audiences have limited time. There are only so many shows people can attend and only so much new music listeners can discover. The band understands that it has to give people a reason to choose them—to experience them live, listen to their music, and continue following their journey.
That competitive environment, however, also gives Paint The Town Dead something to push against.
Rather than trying to follow trends, they’re focusing on developing a sound that reflects where they are now.
Having Fun With the Next Chapter
At this stage of their careers, Paint The Town Dead isn’t approaching the future with unrealistic expectations or trying to force a particular outcome.
They’re having fun again.
After years away, simply being back together, playing shows, writing new music, and seeing where the next chapter leads is meaningful in itself.
The band’s sound has changed considerably since its earlier days, and that evolution is something they appear eager to embrace rather than resist. Their next album will continue that progression, moving deeper into metalcore while retaining the identity and history that helped define the band in the first place.
A Possible 2027 Tour Could Take the Comeback Further
Looking beyond the album, Paint The Town Dead has already begun considering what could come next.
One possibility is a small tour in the summer of 2027, potentially giving the band an opportunity to promote the new material while introducing themselves to audiences outside their immediate area.
For a band that has already traveled throughout New England and even into Canada during its original run, hitting the road again would provide a natural continuation of its comeback story.
There is also the possibility of that postponed reunion show eventually becoming a reality, with the band hinting that something may be in the works for next year.
Paint The Town Dead Is Just Getting Started Again
Paint The Town Dead’s story isn’t simply about a band from the mid-2000s returning for a few nostalgic shows. It’s about four musicians rediscovering the reason they started making music together in the first place and finding that their creative chemistry is still alive.
They’ve already returned to the stage, played six shows, begun writing an entirely new record, revisited songs from their earliest days, and developed a heavier sound than ever before.
Now, the focus is on finishing the album and expanding their audience.
With new music taking shape, a recording target of late 2026, and the possibility of touring in 2027, Paint The Town Dead is entering its next chapter with something it didn’t necessarily have during its first run: perspective.
The band has already lived through one era of the New England heavy music scene.
Now they’re back to see what happens when they turn everything they’ve learned since then into something heavier.
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