NYC’s legendary queer punk outfit The Dead Betties have never shied away from raw truth, but their latest single, “What’s A Good Victim Supposed To Say?” is their most powerful statement yet — a fearless confrontation with trauma, societal expectation, and survival itself. The track arrives alongside a searing new video, ahead of their upcoming Whitey EP, due November 21 via Rotten Princess Records.
Listen: “What’s A Good Victim Supposed To Say?”
Watch: Official Video
Pre-order: Whitey EP
Release Party: November 21 @ Union Pool (NYC) with Tami Hart
A Survival Anthem in the Face of Silence
With “What’s A Good Victim Supposed To Say?”, frontman Joshua Ackley breaks years of silence to share his story as a survivor of rape. The song, both deeply personal and universally resonant, tears apart the performative expectations society places on victims — the idea that survival must look, sound, or feel a certain way.
“It’s an experience that completely upends the rest of your life,” Ackley explains. “There’s this role as a victim that people in society want you to play… but victimization matched with the cult of positivity is such a dangerous and repugnant concept. The cult of positive thinking doesn’t make room for people to actually process things that happen in their lives.”
Driven by crunchy, distorted guitars, unflinching vocals, and breakneck drums, the track channels the band’s signature ferocity into something devastatingly honest — an unvarnished declaration of pain and resilience.
Punk as Reckoning — and Reclamation
Produced by the band themselves, the Whitey EP captures The Dead Betties—Ackley (vocals/bass), Eric Shepherd (guitar), and Derek Pippin (drums)—at their most urgent and self-assured. It’s punk sharpened by perspective, infused with the righteous anger of adulthood and the hard-earned clarity of survival.
Ackley says:
“We’re ready to keep doing what we set out to do when we moved to New York at 19 — to push angry queer music into the public domain. It’s our responsibility now as adults to do better and actually put out the art we want to hear.”
The result is ferocious queer art, stripped of pretense and pulsing with unfiltered humanity.
Critical Acclaim
“If Sonic Youth started a poppy hardcore band in 1989.” — Kathleen Hanna, on the Whitey EP
“Formed in 2000 and have persisted against bigotry from all angles.” — Rolling Stone
“A gem in its own right.” — OUT
NYC Release Party
November 21, 2025
Union Pool – Brooklyn, NY
with Tami Hart
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