Murder City Devils

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Murder City Devils
Origin	Seattle, Washington
Genres	Garage Punk, Punk, Heavy Metal, Horror Punk [1]
Years active	1996-2001, 2006-Present
Labels	Sub Pop
Associated acts	Area 51 The Hookers Pretty Girls Make Graves Big Business Melvins Smoke & Smoke Dead Low Tide Broadcast Oblivion Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death Modest Mouse
Website	http://www.themurdercitydevils.com
Members
Spencer Moody Dann Gallucci Derek Fudesco Coady Willis Nate Manny Leslie Hardy

The Murder City Devils was a garage punk band active between 1996 and 2001. Since 2006, the band has played occasional shows at festivals and in Seattle and briefly toured the West Coast in February 2009.^[2]

Contents 1 History 2 New Material 3 Discography 3.1 Albums 3.2 7" 3.3 Compilations 3.4 Video 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History

The band's original lineup, consisting of Spencer Moody, Dann Gallucci, Derek Fudesco, Coady Willis, and Nate Manny formed in Seattle, Washington in 1996. Gabe Kerbrat was their permanent roadie, and considered a member. Within a year, the band had released two singles Three Natural Sixes (Hopscotch Records #5) and Dance Hall Music (Empty Records MTR-354) and signed with the "Die Young Stay Pretty" label, a subsidiary of Sub Pop. The self-titled debut album was released in 1997.

In 1998, the band released Empty Bottles, Broken Hearts, its second full-length album. This release saw a greatly increased use of electric organ, and in the same year they recruited Leslie Hardy as their full-time keyboard player. Hardy had previously played bass guitar for Hole on the 1993 single "Beautiful Son." The Murder City Devils then embarked on a year-long tour of North America to support the record. During that tour, they played with the likes of At the Drive-In, Pearl Jam, The Black Halos and Built to Spill.

After a short break, the band released In Name and Blood in 2000, with photos in the liner notes notoriously depicting every member as a murder victim. They also appeared as both individual actors as well as a band in David Larson's independent film The Edge of Quarrel. The band released the Thelema EP in 2001 before breaking up later that year due to circumstances surrounding Hardy's departure from the band. (The Stranger Sep 27 – Oct 3, 2001 issue, It's My Party column by Kathleen Wilson)

The band's final concert on Halloween was recorded and released by Sub Pop in 2003, titled "R.I.P." Notably, R.I.P. includes two previously unrecorded songs. It was also released on DVD in 2005.

In 2006 the band announced they were reuniting for a July show in Seattle with all original members. The band performed on July 29 at the Capitol Hill Block Party closing the two day music festival on Saturday night. The day following the Block Party performance the band played a secret unannounced show with The Blood Brothers at The Showbox in downtown Seattle, the same venue where "R.I.P." was recorded.

Another reunion show was played at the Fun Fun Fun Fest on November 3-4, 2007 in Austin, TX.^[3] The band played a handful of shows throughout 2008 and launched a brief West Coast tour on February 11, 2009 at Seattle's The Showbox.^[2][4] Murder City Devils' week-long tour culminated in Los Angeles with two performances at the Henry Fonda Theater on February 17 and 18, 2009^[5].

Murder City Devils' song "Press Gang" was recently featured in Travis Rice's 2008 high definition snowboarding video, "That's It, That's All."

It was announced that the band would be performing at the 2009 Coachella music festival.^[6]

They have also agreed to perform on the main stage at the 2009 Sasquatch Music Festival in Quincy,WA.

Played Riot Fest in Chicago at the Congress Theater on October 9, 2009.

Also have shows scheduled October 10, 2009 Austin, TX at The Mohawk and October 11, 2009 Minneapolis, MN at First Avenue.

[edit] New Material

At the end of their set, on Dec 30, 2009 at The Showbox - Seattle, WA, Leslie thanked the audience for coming and confirmed that the band was indeed working on new material. No additional information was given. After the set finished, the band returned to the stage and performed a previously unreleased song, "7 sins." This seemed to be a hint toward the new material on the way.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

• The Murder City Devils (1997)
• Empty Bottles, Broken Hearts (1998)
• In Name and Blood (2000)
• Thelema EP (2001)
• R.I.P. (Live album of last show at the Showbox in Seattle, October 31, 2001) (2003)

[edit] 7"

• Three Natural Sixes (1997)
• Dance Hall Music (1997)
• Dancin Shoes (1998)
• Christmas Bonus Single (1998)
• Murder City Devils/Botch Split (Sound track to the movie The Edge of Quarrel) (1999)
• Murder City Devils/Glucifer Split (1999)
• Murder City Devils/At The Drive-In Split (2000)

[edit] Compilations

• Technology (Remix of "Dance Hall Music" by DJ Ropstyle) (2000)
• Free The West Memphis 3 CD (Cover of "She" by the Misfits) (2000)
• Give the People What We Want: The Songs of The Kinks CD (Cover of "Alcohol" by The Kinks) (2001)
• Buddyhead Suicide Sampler CD (Remix of "Press Gang" by the Latch Brothers) (2004)

[edit] Video

• The End (DVD) (2005)
• Rock & Roll Won't Wait (DVD) (2004)
• Rock & Roll Won't Wait (VHS) (2001)
• The Edge of Quarrel (VHS) (2000)
• The Edge of Quarrel (DVD) (2007)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Allmusic Murder City Devils article
• Crawdaddy! article on Murder City Devils and Dead Low Tide, "Ride the Dead Low Tide," March 26, 2008
• Sub Pop Murder City Devils page
• Luckyhorse Industries - Murder City Devils merch page
• MTV Murder City Devils page
• Murder City Devils collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
• The Edge of Quarrel at Excursion Records