Dead Poet Society is an American rock band formed while attending Berklee School of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in 2013. The band was made up of Jack Underkofler (vocals, guitar), Jack Collins (guitar), Nick Taylor (bass guitar) and Will Goodroad (drums). Dylan Brenner replaced Nick Taylor on bass in 2019.
The band started off as an indie group, self-producing and self-recording their songs, including two acclaimed EPs. In a 2016 interview with Beyond The Stage Magazine, frontman Jack Underkofler described the band’s sound as “heavy indie rock” and contrasting heavy, down-tuned guitar riffs with soft, pop-adjacent choruses and verses.
Also in 2016, after graduation the band moved to Los Angeles. That same year, their music was discovered by the influential Mexican YouTube Channel Pepe Problemas. Their review caught the attention of another up-and-coming rock band Sputnik, who invited the band to open for them on their national tour of Mexico. Over the following two years the band toured Mexico several times building a strong fanbase.
Their US break came in 2018, when Spotify editorial staff added the single “American Blood” to their playlists, after the band had built a strong organic following on social media and the streaming platforms. Josh Katz of the band Badflower, was one of their early fans, notably of their song “CoDA”, which he championed to his label Big Machine and others, resulting in interest from several labels including Spinefarm, where they later signed and released their debut album -!- in 2021.
The band has gone on to become headliners in their own right, selling out 1000 + venues and playing the main stages of the biggest festivals around the world.