Deadsy is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rockRock music is a genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the 1960s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country music and also drew on folk music, jazz and classical music....
band from
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
. They have played many shows in California, but have also toured nationally multiple times as well as touring as part of the
Family Values TourThe Family Values Tour was created by the band Korn in 1998 to be an annual rock & rap Tour.The tour took the year off in 2000, due to heavy competition, like the Anger Management Tour. After a four year hiatus, the Family Values returned in 2006 with Korn, Deftones as the headliners. 2006 featured...
.
Deadsy started out in 1995, when
Elijah Blue AllmanElijah Blue Allman, also known by his stage name P. Exeter Blue I, was born July 10, 1976. He is the son of Cher and Gregg Allman and half brother of Chaz Bono, Island Allman, Michael Allman, Layla Allman, and Devon Allman....
(known within the band lineup by his stage name Philips Exeter Blue I) decided he would get a record deal to support himself. He recorded a handful of demos with Alec Puro and later sent a Juno 106 keyboard to Renn as an invitation to join the band.
Deadsy was quickly signed to
Sire RecordsSire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer. Its early releases as a record label were issued in 1968, distributed by London...
, and they got working on writing new songs.
Deadsy is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rockRock music is a genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the 1960s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country music and also drew on folk music, jazz and classical music....
band from
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
. They have played many shows in California, but have also toured nationally multiple times as well as touring as part of the
Family Values TourThe Family Values Tour was created by the band Korn in 1998 to be an annual rock & rap Tour.The tour took the year off in 2000, due to heavy competition, like the Anger Management Tour. After a four year hiatus, the Family Values returned in 2006 with Korn, Deftones as the headliners. 2006 featured...
.
The Beginnings (1995-1996)
Deadsy started out in 1995, when
Elijah Blue AllmanElijah Blue Allman, also known by his stage name P. Exeter Blue I, was born July 10, 1976. He is the son of Cher and Gregg Allman and half brother of Chaz Bono, Island Allman, Michael Allman, Layla Allman, and Devon Allman....
(known within the band lineup by his stage name Philips Exeter Blue I) decided he would get a record deal to support himself. He recorded a handful of demos with Alec Puro and later sent a Juno 106 keyboard to Renn as an invitation to join the band.
The Sire years (1996-1999)
Deadsy was quickly signed to
Sire RecordsSire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer. Its early releases as a record label were issued in 1968, distributed by London...
, and they got working on writing new songs. Because they had no bass player at the time
Jay GordonJay Paul Gordon is a musician and producer.Originally from the Excelsior District of San Francisco, California, Gordon is the vocalist in the synth-industrial band Orgy, which rose to prominence through their signing to Korn's fledgeling label, Elementree Records, their appearance on the first...
(of Orgy) was asked to play bass for their short self-titled album. After the album was recorded and released for promotion, Craig Riker joined on bass as a full time member, and they were once again writing songs for the upcoming full length
Commencement. Only a few songs were written for the new album as the band had planned to re-release most tracks from the self-titled album. A music video for "She Likes Big Words" was made at one of their early shows, also for promotion. With the album in the final stages of development, Sire parted ways with
Elektra RecordsElektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009.-Beginnings:...
, and the release was pushed back to a later date. Soon after, Deadsy was dropped from the label entirely, ending the life of both the first and would-be second album, Commencement. Some promotional copies of the self-titled album are still floating around.
The Dreamworks years (1999-2003)
While in the process of finding a new label, Carlton Bost was added on z-tars and guitar. Ashburn Miller replaced Craig on bass January 2002 after Craig and Deadsy parted ways.
Jonathan DavisJonathan Houseman Davis is the lead vocalist and frontman for the alternative metal band Korn. As well as being Korn's lead singer, he has also recorded and played drums, guitar, and bagpipes in many of Korn's albums...
(of the band
KornKorn is an American rock band from Bakersfield, California, which formed in 1993. The band's catalogue consists of nine consecutive debuts in the top ten of the Billboard 200. To date, Korn has sold over 30 million albums worldwide while earning six Grammy nominations—two of which they have won...
) signed Deadsy to the new record label Elementree Records, to release
CommencementCommencement released May 14th, 2002 from the rock band, Deadsy. This is the official release of the album, distributed through Dreamworks Records under the Elementree sub-label. The album contains two cover songs: "Brand New Love" written by Lou Barlow of the band Sebadoh and "Tom Sawyer" written...
. Most songs came from the self-titled album, but some were newly written for the album, including "The Key To Gramercy Park", for which a video was made, directed by friend and Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, as well as being the band's second song with Jonathan Davis. Davis invited the band to join the 2001
Family Values TourThe Family Values Tour was created by the band Korn in 1998 to be an annual rock & rap Tour.The tour took the year off in 2000, due to heavy competition, like the Anger Management Tour. After a four year hiatus, the Family Values returned in 2006 with Korn, Deftones as the headliners. 2006 featured...
before their album had even been released. This move helped build the fan base and helped the band onto the tour soundtrack. After the album's release, the band made a second music video for their cover of
SebadohSebadoh is an indie rock band formed in Westfield, Massachusetts by Eric Gaffney and Dinosaur Jr bass player Lou Barlow. Along with such bands as Pavement and Guided by Voices, Sebadoh helped pioneer lo-fi music, a style of indie rock characterized by low-fidelity recording techniques, often on...
's "Brand New Love".
Release of Phantasmagore and the present (2003-2008)
Deadsy signed onto
Immortal RecordsImmortal Records was an independent record label out of Los Angeles, California. Founded by Happy Walters in 1994, the label had helped launched the careers of such influential acts as 30 Seconds to Mars, Korn and Incubus over the years. The label had also released soundtracks, including Judgment...
to release Phantasmagore in 2006 . During the 4-year process of writing the album, Deadsy released clips and demos on their official website. Deadsy was asked back to the
Family Values TourThe Family Values Tour was created by the band Korn in 1998 to be an annual rock & rap Tour.The tour took the year off in 2000, due to heavy competition, like the Anger Management Tour. After a four year hiatus, the Family Values returned in 2006 with Korn, Deftones as the headliners. 2006 featured...
in the summer of 2006, which was co-headlined by the
DeftonesDeftones is an American rock band from Sacramento, California, formed in 1988. Consisting of Chino Moreno , Stephen Carpenter , Chi Cheng , Frank Delgado , and Abe Cunningham .-Early years: 1989-1993:When Carpenter was 15 years old he was hit by a car while skateboarding...
and Korn. Deadsy went on another tour with the Deftones in the fall/winter.
In January 2007, Deadsy parted ways with bassist Ashburn Miller ("Creature"), and added Jens Funke to the line up.
In February 2007, a short statement from Elijah was posted on the band's message board: "I am making a solo record." Recently, Carlton has joined
The Dreaming"The Dreaming" is the title song from Kate Bush's fourth studio album The Dreaming and was released a single on 26 July 1982. Bush hadn't released a single since "Sat in Your Lap" thirteen months earlier. "The Dreaming" made it to #48 on the UK Singles Chart.The song is about the destruction of...
full time. On April 16, 2007, a MySpace bulletin was posted with a statement by Alec Pure whom had this to say: "As you all know we are going to be taking a short break from Deadsy so Elijah can make a solo record and I can continue scoring projects I wasn't able to do from the road."
In early 2008, "Elijah Blue and the Trapezoids" was revealed as the name of Elijah's solo project.
On September 11, 2008, Dr Nner apparently left the band in order to concentrate on carpentry and family life. "It was too rough-and-tumble a lifestyle," said the man who has become Renn Hawkey again, fulltime.
Musical style and themes
Elijah describes the band's low and dissonant style as
Undercore. Elijah's low baritone singing style, down-tuned guitars, Dr. Nner's synths and Carlton's Z-tar all contribute to the band's sound.
- "We wanted to make something that was transcendental, really rule-defying, and very against the grain. And when people listened to it at first, it would just feel very like a sense of foreignness, almost like watching a David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker and visual artist. Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, for The Elephant Man , Blue Velvet , and Mulholland Drive . He also received a screenplay Academy Award nomination for The Elephant Man...
film." - Elijah Blue
The lyrics and imagery of the songs sometimes focus on many subjects in either sexual, religious, magical or popular culture contexts. Occasionally one notices obscure references to pedophilia, Secret Societies,
The Urantia BookThe Urantia Book is a spiritual and philosophical book that discusses God, Jesus, science, cosmology, religion, history and destiny. It originated in Chicago, Illinois, USA, sometime between 1924 and 1955, but its authorship is unclear...
,
Star WarsStar Wars is an epic space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was originally released on May 25, 1977, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, spawning two immediate sequels, released at three-year intervals...
, the novel
DuneDune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert, published in 1965. It won the 1966 Hugo Award and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel...
, by
Frank HerbertFranklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels...
and even Disney's
101 Dalmatians101 Dalmatians is a 1996 live-action film produced by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a remake of the 1961 animated film of the same name . It stars Glenn Close as the villainous Cruella de Vil, and Jeff Daniels as Roger, the owner of the 101 dalmatians...
.
Many of the multi-color ideas were influenced directly from the 1955 film This Island Earth. In fact Elijah even took his alter-ego name from one of the leading characters of the story, Exeter.
Visual appearance
Elijah has often called the band an "art project", or
"art movement". Complete with a manifesto (available on their site), and visual iconography. Each band member represents one element or "Entity" that drives human society. Each entity is also represented by their own color and unique appearance.
International Klein BlueThe International Klein Blue is a deep blue hue first mixed by the French artist Yves Klein.International Klein Blue was developed by French artist Yves Klein as part of his search for colors which best represented the concepts he wished to convey as an artist...
- Academia (
P. Exeter Blue)
YellowYellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–580 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of somewhat longer and shorter wavelengths...
- Science / Medicine (
Dr. Nner)
GreenGreen is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
- Leisure (
Alec Püre)
GreyGrey or gray describes the tints and shades ranging from black to white. These, including white and black, are known as achromatic colors or neutral colors. In recent years, "neutral colors" had been reclassified...
- War (
Carlton Megalodon)
RedRed is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked human eye...
- Horror (
Jens Funke) (
Ashburn Miller) (
Craig "The Beast" Riker **archetypus**)
Albums
- Deadsy
Deadsy is a self-titled album by Deadsy, their first album on a label. It was released in 1996 on Witchouse Records as a promotional-only release , and later re-released in 1997...
(1997)
- Commencement (1999)
- Commencement
Commencement released May 14th, 2002 from the rock band, Deadsy. This is the official release of the album, distributed through Dreamworks Records under the Elementree sub-label. The album contains two cover songs: "Brand New Love" written by Lou Barlow of the band Sebadoh and "Tom Sawyer" written...
(2002)
- Phantasmagore (2006)
Singles
| Year |
Title |
Album |
| 2002 |
"The Key to Gramercy Park" |
Commencement Commencement released May 14th, 2002 from the rock band, Deadsy. This is the official release of the album, distributed through Dreamworks Records under the Elementree sub-label. The album contains two cover songs: "Brand New Love" written by Lou Barlow of the band Sebadoh and "Tom Sawyer" written...
|
| "Brand New Love" |
| 2006 |
"Friends" |
Non-album track |
| "Razor Love" |
Phantasmagore |
| 2007 |
"Carrying Over" |
Non-album Tracks
- Anti-pop (3:35) (This song was originally done by Kommunity FK
Kommunity FK is a gothic rock rock band that helped establish what came to be known as the deathrock scene in Los Angeles. The band was formed in 1978 by American rock singer Patrick Mata influenced by Killing Joke, Throbbing Gristle, David Bowie, Public Image Limited, and Joy Division...
.)
- Asura (Demo) (3:27)
- Asura (Demo Clip) (1:24)
- Babes In Abyss (Demo) (3:23)
- Better Than You Know (Demo Clip) (1:58)
- Better Than You Know (Unmastered) (6:14)
- Book Of Black Dreams (Demo Clip) (1:03)
- Brand New Love (Radio Mix) (3:42)
- Carrying Over (Live) (4:24) - From Family Values Tour
The Family Values Tour was created by the band Korn in 1998 to be an annual rock & rap Tour.The tour took the year off in 2000, due to heavy competition, like the Anger Management Tour. After a four year hiatus, the Family Values returned in 2006 with Korn, Deftones as the headliners. 2006 featured...
compilation 2006.
- Colossus (4:25) - Made available to participants of a MySpace promotional effort.
- Crimson and Clover (3:37) - Features Cher. From Walk on the Moon soundtrack.
- Dreamcrusher (Demo Clip) (1:12)
- Fox On The Run (3:22)
- Friends (3:58) - Available for purchase through iTunes.
- Just Like Heaven (6:02) - The Cure cover.
- Mansion World (Deepsky Remix) (7:41)
- My Only Friend (3:26) - From Winter Passing
Winter Passing is a 2005 American drama film. It is the directorial debut of playwright Adam Rapp, also known for his work on the show The L Word. The film stars Zooey Deschanel and Ed Harris, with supporting performances by Will Ferrell and Amelia Warner...
soundtrack.
- Replicas (5:12) - Was featured on a Gary Numan tribute album in 1997.
- Time (Demo Clip) (1:17)
- Strength Of Mind (Demo) (3:27) - Was made available for purchase by Immortal records without the band's knowledge, and was subsequently taken down.
- The Key To Gramercy Park (Demo) (3:10)
- Tom Sawyer (Live) (4:11) - From Family Values Tour
The Family Values Tour was created by the band Korn in 1998 to be an annual rock & rap Tour.The tour took the year off in 2000, due to heavy competition, like the Anger Management Tour. After a four year hiatus, the Family Values returned in 2006 with Korn, Deftones as the headliners. 2006 featured...
compilation 2001.
- Texas Never Whispers (3:43) - Pavement cover
Music videos
| Year |
Title |
Director(s) |
| 1999 |
"She Likes Big Words" |
|
| 2002 |
"The Key to Gramercy Park" |
Fred Durst William Frederick "Fred" Durst is an American musician, director and actor, known primarily as the front man of the nu metal band Limp Bizkit.-Early life:...
|
| "Brand New Love" |
The Deadsy Legions |
| 2005 |
"Babes in Abyss" |
|
| 2006 |
"Razor Love" |
|
External links