Watership Down (Band)

Watership Down
Also known as	Watership Down (2002, 2010-present), Atomship (2002-2004), AtomshipDown (2006-2009)
Origin	Gulf Coast, Mississippi, United States
Genres	Alternative Metal Experimental Metal Progressive Rock
Years active	2002-2004, 2006–present
Labels	Wind-Up Records (2002–2004) Unsigned (2006-present)
Associated acts	Papercut Massacre, Lonely Unit Shifter
Website	Watership Down FacebookAtomshipDown Website
Members
Chad Kent Derek Pardoe Jesse Duncan
Past members
Joey Culver Nathan Slade (Deceased)

Watership Down (formerly known as Atomship and AtomshipDown) is a three-piece rock band, composed of Derek Pardoe, Chad Kent, and current Together Tomorrow guitarist Jesse Duncan. Nathan Slade, the band's original guitarist, died in December 2009. Current Papercut Massacre vocalist, Joey Culver, was the stand in vocalist of Atomship with Derek being the main and current. The band was known as Watership Down in 2002, before changing their name to Atomship, which ran until 2004, shortly after the band released their debut album, The Crash of '47. Joey Culver replaced Derek Pardoe on the Crash of '47, because Pardoe was unable to due to his anxiety. Atomship was dropped from Wind-Up Records due to poor record sales. Joey Culver was signed 6 months later with Wind-Up Records under the moniker Papercut Empire, later changed to Papercut Massacre, which contained music previously written by Slade though he was not credited. However, guitarist Nathan Slade, drummer Chad Kent and touring bassist Roy Williams had a falling-out with Joey Culver over "irreconcilable differences". In 2006, Atomship reformed as AtomshipDown. In 2010, AtomshipDown reverted their name back to Watership Down.

Atomship

The band was formed by vocalist Derek Pardoe, drummer Chad Kent, and guitarist Nathan Slade in southern Mississippi. 10 of the 11 tracks on The Crash of '47 were written by Slade and Pardoe while Chad Kent was recovering from shoulder problems. It has been said by some that Joey Culver helped form the band; this is not the case. Culver was given credit on the album but only wrote the song "Plastic People". The band was originally called Watership Down, after Richard Adams’ classic tale, the band retains a cartoon alien rabbit as its logo, which was designed by Nathan Slade. The logo also reflects the group's interest in UFOs and extraterrestrials. As confirmed by the album's title, the album references the alleged date of the UFO crash in Roswell, N.M. "We're fascinated with some of these things", Slade says. "We’re not conspiracy theory nuts but it is interesting how the media covers up some stuff that's obviously there. We have a pretty strong thirst for knowledge." Derek Pardoe, who was a founding member and lead vocalist, was not featured on The Crash of '47 and remains uncredited for his role in the production of the album, and his role in the band overall. Joey Culver took over the vocals on The Crash of '47 because Derek's Pardoe's anxiety issues made him unable to record with the band. Nathan Slade played the bass on 5 songs, and Cordell Crockett played bass on the rest.

AtomshipDown

In 2006, Atomship reformed as AtomshipDown, and was composed of Derek Pardoe, Nathan Slade, and Chad Kent. In 2007, the band announced that they were going to release two albums simultaneously. The first of these albums was to be entitled Let Us Sleep Awhile, while the second was untitled, but labeled as the evolution of Atomship. Derek Pardoe founded "Omni-Mind Productions" at which the band recorded the tracks "Deflower", "For So", "Red", and "Magnolia".

In an interview posted on the band's myspace page on February 10, 2007, vocalist Derek Pardoe states the following:

"The band's debut album, "The Crash of '47," was well received nationally and essential listening locally. The success of The Crash of '47 was due, in large part, to Derek Pardoe, the band's original lead singer. Pardoe wrote the lion's share of the lyrics along with Slade and Kent. The trio has since reunited, along with Williams, and is hard at work on the follow-up to their debut. They say they've never been happier, and I know their large and loyal fan base is thrilled to have the core unit back together. "We did this huge circle," Pardoe said. "You know, when we came back to write, and doing all these different kinds of things, we ended up right back where we were, because it's what we enjoy."

Pardoe also stated that the new album was progressing slowly. The band began working on a demo reel for Let Us Sleep Awhile. The final track written for this demo was entitled "Silhouette" and can be found here. This turned out to be the final track written by the trio, as Nathan Slade died on December 5th, 2009. After his death, the remaining two members, along with new guitarist Jesse Duncan, went back to Watership Down.

Death of Nathan Slade

Derek Pardoe announced on the band's Facebook page and MySpace that Nathan Slade died on 5 December 2009. The cause of death was an accidental drug overdose on a prescription medicine.

Watership Down

On June 15, 2010, Derek posted the following on Youtube: "Self Recorded Demo coming soon. Thank you all for being so patient while Chad and I took time to deal with the loss of Nathan and took our time deciding if we would play again as Watership Down and release what work we had done with Nathan including some new music we had written together." In addition to some songs recorded for Let Us Sleep Awhile, confirmed songs on the album are "Come Back" and "Seven Months". The former is where Derek announced the above, and can be viewed here The latter was featured in Derek Pardoe's tribute to Nathan Slade, which can be viewed here On August 27, 2010, an article about the group was featured in the South Mississippi newspaper the Sun Herald. In the article, the band's new guitar player, Jesse Duncan was announced. "I was out for a long enough time. People have asked me to play in other projects, but I don’t think I’m ever going to stand on a stage again without Chad," Pardoe stated when asked if he will play live. "The way to beat anxiety is by realizing that you cause it. I had some hard times, and there was a period when people thought all I did during the day was panic. But things become more important than anxiety. You become stronger for the experience, though." Roy Williams is involved in the making of the new album, which is set to be released in 2012. The band's facebook page was deleted in mid-February, leaving the band's status currently unknown. No member of the band has confirmed or denied reports of the band's breakup.

Line-up

Members

• Chad Kent - Drums, Percussion (2002–2004, 2006–present)
• Derek Pardoe - Lead Vocals, Bass Guitar (2002, 2006–present)
• Jesse Duncan - Lead Guitar (2010–present)

• Derek Pardoe was the original lead vocalist of Watership Down. However, Pardoe was not featured on Atomship's, The Crash of '47. Vocals were provided by, Joey Culver, who was said to have co-written 6 of the tracks.

Session members

• Cordell Crockett - Bass (2004)

Touring members

• Roy Williams - Bass (2003–2004, 2006–present)

Former members

• Joey Culver - Lead Vocals (2002–2004)
• Nathan Slade - Guitar, Bass (2002–2004, 2006–2009)

Discography

Album Title	Date of Release	Label
The Crash of '47	May 4, 2004	Wind-Up

External links

• Watership Down Facebook