Deadsy

Deadsy
Years active	Early 1990s – Present
Members	Phillips Exeter Blue I Creature Dr. Nner Alec Püre Carlton Megalodon

Deadsy is an American rock band. They are fronted by Elijah Blue Allman aka Phillips Exeter Blue I, son of Cher and Gregg Allman (of The Allman Brothers Band). The other members of Deadsy are Creature (Bass), Dr. Nner Nner (Synths), Alec Püre (Percussion) and Carlton Megalodon (Synth guitar).

History

Deadsy began in 1995. Elijah recorded several demos (including Dear and a cover of Texas Never Whispers) with Alec Puro (who would later go by the name 'Alec Pure' in the band) in the garage of the band's would-be manager, Josh Richman. Elijah then sent Renn Hawkey a demo tape and a Juno 106 synth and Renn joined (under the stagename of Dr. Nner) shortly after.

In 1997, the band was set to release their debut album Commencement under the Elektra/Sire label. The track listing at the time was quite a bit different than the final release, a whopping five years later. Just as everything seemed in place for the debut, Sire split from Elektra, and the release was shelved (promotional copies are still floating around, but are somewhat rare).

"Basically, we got the record deal when we shouldn't have -- we were all 19," Blue explained. "I got it out of desperation. I got kicked out of the house, and I was like 'Fuck it, I'll go get a record deal.' So it kind of happened out of necessity, in a sense, and a lot of the delays were just because I didn't know how to handle my business that well. Also, Sire was going through some problems in leaving Elektra. Every bad thing that could happen did happen." - P. Exeter Blue

Eventually in 2002 after a series of false starts, Deadsy were signed by Elementree Records (the band Korn's label) and allowed to release their debut album. Korn singer Jon Davis had collaborated with the band before, most notably on the song 'Sleepy Hollow' and the new addition to the CD, 'Key to Gramercy Park'.

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 give the music an almost surreal quality. Deadsy's sound is often compared to Gary Numan.

"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." - Elijah Blue

The lyrics and imagery of the songs sometimes focus on many subjects in either religious, magical or popular culture contexts. Occasionally one notices obscure references to Secret Societies, The Urantia Book, Star Wars, and the novel Dune, by Frank Herbert. In fact, many of their songs seem very esoteric, given that only a few would understand just what the lyrics are describing or making reference toward.

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.

Blue - Academia (P. Exeter Blue)

Yellow - Science / Medicine (Dr. Nner)

Green - Leisure (Alec Pure)

Grey - War (Carlton Megalodon)

Red - Horror (Creature)

Unlike the usual darker "gothic" aesthetics of other groups, Deadsy's style was a bit more colorful. This really set the group apart from other bands in the genre as well. This and their music made them a very interesting act to see live on-stage.

In April 2004, at the Troubadour in Hollywood CA., Deadsy unveiled their new look for the upcoming Phantasmagore album. The new logo was revealed - a television test pattern containing the Entity colors. No longer present were the usual zombie/schoolboy uniforms that the fans had become familiar with. The band emerged on stage in black tattered robes and opened with a new song, Sands of Time.

In June 2004, at a show following the previous one, Josh, Deadsy's manager announced enthusiastically, "Deadsy legions! Are you ready for the next level of UNDERCORE?!" This was seemingly a sign of things to come, as changes would soon be made to other avenues of information related to Deadsy.

The band's familiar website also went through a transformation in order to reflect the changes the band itself had undergone and the in-site message board was brought back after a long hiatus.

In May 2006, the band finishes their work on their new album "Phantasmagore". A video shoot for "Book of Black Dreams" is planned for June.

Fans

Deadsy fans are referred to as the Legions. They are encouraged to promote and spread the word on the band wherever possible. They are often viewed as being very supportive, probably even more so because Deadsy has a great reputation for being very supportive of them. As gratitude for each other's continuing love, the band will often meet up with the fans after their shows to thank each other, or simply hang out with them. Deadsy legions are often seen sporting white chains as a means of distinctive apparel to denote that they are indeed fans of the band and can be recognized by other like-minded individuals. The chain represents the strength and unity of Undercore.

Collaborators

Jay Gordon of Orgy, Troy Van Leeuwen of Failure/A Perfect Circle/Queens of the Stone Age, Jonathan Davis of Korn, Ritchie Birkenhead, Hollinson Robinson, Jed Whedon, Sunny Levine and Nigel John Taylor of Duran Duran have also made several contributions to Deadsy's projects (in particular on the commercial release of their album Commencement).

Discography

• Deadsy (1997)
• Commencement (2002)
• Phantasmagore (2006) (TBA)

External links

• The official Deadsy website
• The official Deadsy Myspace community
• The official Deadsy Livejournal community
• DeadTV fan site