“Impossible Future,” the new single from long-running New York queerpunks the Dead Betties, is all about striving for a better tomorrow. “My life is not about how good I look on paper,” frontman Joshua Ackley sings over driving guitars. “My life is not about how far I run from danger.” Where he and his bandmates do run, however, is toward optimism. “I want an impossible life,” Ackley sings in the chorus. “This is the future now.” The song, which is on Spotify now, is the title track of the trio’s new EP, which hits streaming services on Oct. 18.
“‘Impossible Future’ is about rejecting the safe and predictable, pushing through challenges that seem impossible,” Ackley tells Rolling Stone. “When faced with the decision, I skipped college because it felt too confining. I wanted to dive into the toughest situations and fight my way through to the other side. The thrill of the impossible is my driving force.”
The group, which finds singer-bassist Ackley playing along with drummer Derek Pippin and guitarist Eric Shepherd, formed in 2000 and have persisted against bigotry from all angles, whether fighting through neo-Nazis barring their entry into venues or in their private lives. Ackley, in particular, faced heat as the Vice President of Communications for Girl Scouts of the USA from the conservative media a decade ago simply for fronting the Dead Betties, which Breitbart described in square quotes as “homo-punk” and “homocore.”
“The conservative media attacks during my time at Girl Scouts were absurd but not surprising,” Ackley says. “Coming out in the early Nineties taught me to channel hostility into success. When those stories hit, I was just promoted to director and kept my head down, worked hard, and got promoted again to VP. Turning impossible situations into fuel has always been my strategy. It works every time.”
But Ackley has also received support from allies. One supporter was Bikini Kill and Le Tigre frontwoman Kathleen Hanna. Ackley previously served as an assistant engineer for her archival tapes’ inclusion in NYU’s Bobst Library. Ackley calls the experience a dream come true. “Kathleen’s wisdom is in her actions — she welcomed me and created an inclusive community,” Ackley says. “Through her, I ended up at parties with Joan Jett and Kim Gordon. She truly leads by example.”
Role models like Hanna have helped Ackley realize what he wants his “Impossible Future” to be. “My ideal impossible future is living without sacrificing individuality, creativity, or vision in order to fit in,” he says. “We’re so self-curated today that we’ve become our own censors. I want to eliminate even the idea of self-censorship in my life.”