Dry Cell (band)

Dry Cell was an American rock band formed in 1998 in California known in earlier stages of the band as Impúr. They have had a steady line-up having only one former member, that being Dave Wasierski. The consist members have been Jeff Gutt, Danny Hartwell, Judd Gruenbaum and Brandon Brown. They are possibly best known for their song "Body Crumbles" which was featured in numerous third party media, such as the Queen of the Damned soundtrack and Madden NFL 2003 among others. As of 2012, the band has released just one studio album, Disconnected in 2002. That album was followed up with "collection" album.

History

Early years

Part of the band formed in 1998 when guitarist Danny Hartwell and drummer Brandon Brown met at the Ratt Show on the Sunset Strip, when Dan "Kassan" Hartwell, in his attempt to buy all of LA music, created "Beyond Control". Later met up with then-vocalist Judd Gruenbaum. The original name of the band was "Beyond Control".

After forming, the band paid for the attention of Warner Brothers' Jeff Blue, an A&R Executive responsible for discovering Linkin Park. He later signed the band to a development deal, and found a new lead singer for the band in Jeff Gutt from Detroit.

In an interview with the website, The A&R Online, Blue described Dry Cell (at the time tentatively called "Impúr") as: "they're like Metallica meets Incubus meets Linkin Park but heavier. No DJing, no rapping, very melodic and the kids are just phenomenal musicians".^[3]

Blue went on to tell how he discovered the band: "A friend of mine told me about the drummer who was 11 at the time and said how amazing he was. I ended up hearing a demo that wasn't very good but because I was right down the street from where they were playing I went up and saw them and was actually very impressed. I made a development deal and have now been working with them for over a year and a half. I'm with them six hours, six days a week. I have them in a rehearsal room right next to Warner Brothers".^[3]

While known as Impúr the song "Body Crumbles" was featured on Rob Zombie's sampler disc Calling All Maniacs which circulated with his 2001 release titled The Sinister Urge.

Disconnected

The Disconnected album jewel case

After being signed to Warner Bros. Records, the band went to work recording their debut album titled Disconnected. The 12-track album was due to be released on July 16, 2002. It was later pushed back to August 27, 2002. In the end, one of the band members' father got into a heated argument with Blue regarding the size of the band's promotion budget, the result of months of behind-the-scenes disagreement. Within 48 hours the father took his complaints to Warner, and two days later they released Dry Cell from their contract.^[4]

The only place Disconnected was ever sold at (albeit in limited quantities) was during the Locobazooka Festival in 2002. These were the final Warner pressed copies complete with artwork. However, advanced copies of the album which come in a paper sleeve cover and contain different artwork, can be found more regularly. However, one song from the album, "Body Crumbles", could be found in other places, such as; the Queen of the Damned soundtrack, as part of the Madden NFL 2003 soundtrack and on the Hard Mix 2002 promo CD. That same year, the band's cover version of the Stone Temple Pilots song "Heaven & Hot Rods" was used on the NASCAR on Fox: Crank It Up soundtrack, as well, "Slip Away" appeared in EA Sports BIG franchise video game Freekstyle and the song "So Long Ago" is on the soundtrack for Warren Miller's Storm.

The band always stated there was no chance of releasing the album, even if they were to sign a new record deal. In 2008, it was announced that the band would be releasing Disconnected sometime after September of the same year. It was eventually released in 2009 on iTunes.

In October, 2002, Dry Cell was featured in a New York Times article regarding their brief stint with Warner Bros.^[5]

After Warner Brothers

In March 2003, it was reported that a deal had signed with Epic Records.^[6][7] However, nothing ever became of this contract.

In early 2004, Dave Wasierski was named as the band's new vocalist. At the time, it was reported that 8 new songs had been completed.^[8]

In 2005 vocalist Jeff Gutt re-joined the band, and they recorded four new demo tracks. The two songs released to the public were titled "New Revolution" and "The Lie". In late 2005, Danny Hartwell left the band. The group subsequently disbanded.^[9] After their split, two other tracks titled "Into Oblivion" and "Find a Way" were made available for download via their MySpace page.

In 2007 the band stated that;

Dry Cell back by popular demand! Contacted by legendary A&R producer to reunite in late 2007 the band is currently working together on four new demos for Jeff Blue, and is gearing up for their release of their Disconnected record. Dry Cell will be starting to write music for their next record on July 13. New record to be released In early summer of '09. Disconnected record is to be released after September of this year the moment we get confirmation of the date we will post it here. Get the word out- log on and chat with band members!

In February 2008, bassist Judd Gruenbaum noted on the band's MySpace that they had gotten back together for guitarist Danny Hartwell's birthday party at The Roxy on Sunset strip. They were also recording new music according to Gruenbaum. Sometime afterwards, Dry Cell updated their MySpace page stating they were halfway finished with recording a brand new album according, to Danny Hartwell in this message, "About half of it is done the rest is coming soon so its all good there should be some new posts of it up online in the near future keep it real..."

On December 15, 2009, Dry Cell announced through a comment left on their MySpace, that they released two full-length records on iTunes, saying that one was of old songs (assumed to be Disconnected), and one was of new songs. But the songs were not found on iTunes for several days. A few days later, the Disconnected album (advance version) appeared on iTunes, with alternate cover art.

Later in January 2010, the second album appeared on iTunes with the title The Dry Cell Collection, which included mostly previously released material and several more. Four songs on the record had been on the band's MySpace months before the release.

Since early 2010 there were no updates/news from the band. In 2012 it was revealed that Jeff Gutt has left the band in 2009 for good and the band is now defunct.^[10]

Members

• Jeff Gutt – vocals
• Danny Hartwell – guitar
• Judd Gruenbaum – bass, backup vocals
• Brandon Brown – drums

Former

• Dave Wasierski – vocals (2004-2005)

Discography

Albums

Disconnected (Album Advance)

Advance/iTunes

1. Slip Away - 3:58
2. Under the Sun - 3:32
3. Body Crumbles - 3:05
4. Last Time - 3:12
5. Sorry - 3:33
6. Silence - 3:11
7. So Long Ago - 3:44
8. Forever Beautiful - 2:49
9. Disconnected - 2:48
10. Ordinary - 4:20
11. Brave - 3:00
12. Last Time (Reprise) - 3:12

Jewel Case Version

1. Slip Away - 4:15
2. Under the Sun - 3:33
3. So Long Ago - 3:47
4. Forever Beautiful - 2:53
5. Ordinary - 4:37
6. Last Time - 3:37
7. Brave - 3:03
8. Disconnected - 2:50
9. Sick - 3:14
10. Silence - 3:16
11. Body Crumbles - 3:13
12. Sorry - 3:34
13. I Confide - 2:58
14. Body Crumbles (Humble Brothers Remix) - 3:21

The Dry Cell Collection

1. The Lie - 3:31 (previously released as "The Lie (Rock Version)" on demo sampler 2008) ^[11]
2. I Deny - 3:29
3. Affliction - 3:07
4. Find a Way - 3:39
5. New Revolution - 3:50
6. Into Oblivion - 3:52
7. Living for Nothing - 3:35 (previously released as "Grape Jelly" on demo sampler 2003)^[12]
8. Velvet Elvis - 3:02
9. Sick - 3:12
10. Body Crumbles Remix - 3:24
11. So Alive - 3:21
12. Tragedy - 3:37 (previously released as "Tragedy Pass" on demo sampler 2008)^[13]

2008 Sampler

1. Affliction
2. I Deny
3. The Lie (Rock Version)
4. Tragedy Pass

2005 Sampler

1. Find A Way
2. New Revolution
3. Into Oblivion
4. The Lie

2003 Sampler

1. Living For Nothing / Grape Jelly
2. I Regret / PeeWee
3. The Way You Abuse Me / Velvet Elvis

All songs were given two titles, the first title using lyrics from the song, and the second were the primarily used titles.

Non-album songs

• Heaven & Hot Rods (Stone Temple Pilots cover) - was released on NASCAR: Crank It Up
• Understand Me (Demo 2000) - was released on 10th Annual Los Angeles Music Awards 2000 Sonic Sampler ^[14]
• I Confide - BSide from the Disconnected Advance, mixed differently from the jewel case version.
• Sick - BSide from the Disconnected Advance, mixed differently from the jewel case version.
• Sick (Clean Edit) - BSide from the Disconnected Advance, which was an censored version of the song.

References

External links

• Dry Cell on Myspace