Deadsy

Deadsy is an American heavy metal band from California.^[2] The band is known for its visual iconography and signature characteristics assigned to each band member. Each musician is identified by a specific color, stage name, and graphic tied into the band's theatrical nature. The band has released three studio albums. After independently releasing a self-titled debut in 1996, the band garnered mainstream exposure with the support of alternative metal pioneers Jonathan Davis^[3] and Fred Durst^[4] who aided Deadsy on their 2002 album Commencement. Throughout the 2000s, Deadsy toured across the United States, most notably performing on the Family Values Tour.^[5] The band released a second major label album, Phantasmagore, in 2006 before taking an indefinite hiatus in 2007.^[6]

History

Early years and formation (1995–96)

Deadsy began in 1995, when Elijah Blue Allman (son of Cher and Gregg Allman), also known as Phillips Exeter Blue I, started recording a handful of demos (including "Dear" and a cover of "Texas Never Whispers") with Alec Puro (Alec Püre) and later sent a Juno 106 keyboard to Renn Hawkey (Dr. Nner) as an invitation to join the band.^[7] The three members evolved their sound in the studio and sought out a record deal out of "adolescent necessity."^[8]

Sire years (1996–99)

Deadsy was quickly signed to Sire Records, and they got working on writing new songs. Because they had no bass player at the time, Jay Gordon (of Orgy) was asked to play bass for their short self-titled album.^[9] After the album was recorded and released for promotion, the band temporarily relocated to NYC where drummer/producer Marc Jordan joined the band for a brief spell. Deadsy performed their first show at Coney Island in 1997, and abandoned the show after 3 songs for unclarified reasons. All that is really known about the show is that Alec was absent and the bass player they had was a guy named "Andy Trench". 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.^[10] With the album in the final stages of development, Sire parted ways with Elektra Records, 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.^[11]

DreamWorks years (1999–2003)

While in the process of finding a new label, Carlton Bost was added on Z-Tar and guitar. Ashburn Miller replaced Craig on bass in January 2002, after Craig and Deadsy parted ways. Soon after, Jonathan Davis (of the band Korn) signed Deadsy to the new record label Elementree Records and invited the band to join the 2001 Family Values Tour.^[12] Commencement was finally released in May 2002. Most of its tracks came from their 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.^[13] This was Deadsy's second song with Jonathan Davis, following "Sleepy Hollow".^[11] A second video was filmed for their cover of Sebadoh's "Brand New Love". Amidst promoting Commencement, Deadsy had already begun working on a follow-up album.

The support from successful nu metal figures provided Deadsy their most prominent mainstream exposure and media coverage in 2002. However, despite this, neither single managed to chart, and Commencement failed to achieve expected sales. Elementree folded soon after. Nevertheless, Deadsy continued touring and focused on the development of their next record.

Phantasmagore (2003–07)

Deadsy signed onto Immortal Records to release Phantasmagore in 2006 .^[14] 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 Tour in the summer of 2006, which was co-headlined by the Deftones and Korn. Deadsy went on another tour with the Deftones that began in the fall.

In January 2007, Deadsy parted ways with bassist Ashburn Miller (also known as Creature),^[15] and added Jens Funke to the line up.

Hiatus (2007–Present)

In February 2007, a short statement from Elijah was posted on the band's message board, reading: "I am making a solo record." Carlton then joined The Dreaming full-time. On April 16, 2007, a MySpace bulletin was posted with a statement by Alec Püre, who wrote: "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. Although as of 2016, the project has yet to release anything more than three demos on their Myspace page.

On September 11, 2008, Dr. Nner left the band in order to concentrate on carpentry and family life. He is married to actress Vera Farmiga. They have a son named Fynn, born on January 15, 2009. On November 4, 2010, Farmiga gave birth to daughter Gytta Lubov Hawkey. Dr. Nner then commented: "It was too rough-and-tumble a lifestyle," who then reverted to using his birth name, Renn Hawkey, full-time.^[16]

As of February 2010, Elijah has claimed "Deadsy is sleeping at the moment," although the true state of the band is still questioned by many.^[6] In the mean time, he is focusing on his art, which was premiered at the Kantor Gallery on February 24, 2010.

Creature (Ashburn Miller) and Carlton Megalodon (Carlton Bost) joined Orgy's new lineup in September 2012. They released a single, "Grime of the Century", to promote their forthcoming studio album.

Possible return (2014–present)

Elijah Blue Allman has made three different posts about his music and Deadsy on his Twitter. The first saying: "Follow me and @KINGQueenie on [Twitter]... and come out of the woodworks [Deadsy legions]." The second saying: "Alright now that that's out of the way... Time to make some heavy fucking music... The beast is back...," which could possibly be referring to Craig Riker. The third states: "I think I'm gonna call my new band [Cock Riot]... Might sound a bit too much on the fey side though, unfortunately."^[17]

Musical styles and themes

Allman describes the band's low and dissonant style as Undercore. Elijah's baritone singing style and guitars, Hawkey's synths, Püre's electronic drums and Carlton's Z-Tar all contribute to the band's sound. Allman stated: "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 film."

The lyrics and imagery of the songs sometimes focus on many subjects in either sexual, religious, magical or popular culture contexts. Occasionally, one notices references to pedophilia, Secret Societies, The Urantia Book, 1956 Film The Forbidden Planet, Star Wars, the novel Dune by Frank Herbert, and even Disney's 101 Dalmatians.

Many of the multi-color ideas were influenced directly from the 1955 film This Island Earth. Allman has stated he took his alter ego name from one of the leading characters of the story, Exeter.

Members/Visual appearance

Elijah has often called the band an "art project", or "art movement". Complete with a manifesto 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.

Current members

• International Klein Blue – Academia (Elijah Blue Allman a.k.a. Phillips Exeter Blue I) – lead vocals, guitar, programming (1995–present)
• Grey – War (Carlton Bost) (Carlton Megalodon) – ztar, guitar (1999–present)
• Red – Horror (Jens Funke) (Creature) – bass guitar (2007–present)
• Green – Leisure (Alec Püre) – drums, programming (1995–present)

Former members

• Yellow – Science / Medicine (Renn Hawkey) (Dr. Nner) – keyboards, synthesizer (1996–2008)
• Red – Horror (Craig Riker) (The Beast) – bass guitar (1999–2002)
• Red – Horror (Ashburn Miller) (Creature) – bass guitar (2002–2007)
• Red – Horror (Jay Gordon) – bass guitar (1997–1999)
• Red/Black – Horror (Andy Trench) – bass guitar (1997)

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Singles

Extras

• "Asura" (demo clip) (1:24)
• "Asura" (demo) (3:27)
• "Avalon" (demo) (4:49) cover song originally by Roxy Music. Track originally appeared on an early cassette demo but was not in broad circulation so it was unofficially remastered by Voskat and Akashaman
• "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 compilation 2006
• "Colossus" (demo) (4:25) made available to participants of a MySpace promotional effort
• "Crimson & Clover" (3:37) song originally from the 1999 movie "A Walk on the Moon" featuring Allman's mother, Cher
• "Dear" (demo) (6:47) One of the earliest original compositions c/o

Deadsy

• "Do You Want It All?" (unreleased) (0:00) Unreleased Phantasmagore song, it is known to have been played once at the Roxy in 2004
• "Dreamcrusher" (demo clip) (1:13)
• "Friends" (3:58) available for purchase through iTunes
• "Just Like Heaven" (demo) (6:02) cover song originally by The Cure
• "Key to Gramercy Park" (demo) (3:11)
• "Mansion World" (deepsky remix) (7:41)
• "My Only Friend" (3:26) cover song originally from The Magnetic Fields for Winter Passing soundtrack
• "Replicas" (5:12) was featured on a Gary Numan tribute album in 1997
• "Sands of Time" (demo clip) (1:17) demo clip for track eventually known as Time
• "Strength of Mind" (demo) (3:27) was made available by Immortal Records by mistake. Several purchases were made before it was quickly taken down
• "Texas Never Whispers" (3:43) cover song by the band Pavement
• "Tom Sawyer" (live) (4:11) from Family Values Tour compilation 2001

Music videos

Notes

References