Deadboy & the Elephantmen
Deadboy & the Elephantmen is Dax Riggs' latest musical venture. The band, currently made up of Riggs and Tessie Brunet, signed a three-record deal with Fat Possum Records in 2005. For the latter part of 2005 and most of 2006 they have been on the road touring.
Riggs plays guitar and handles lead vocals. Brunet plays drums and sings backup. Deadboy marks her first time playing in a band.
The music isn't as harsh as Riggs' first band, a death metal group called Acid Bath. And, it's not quite as mysterious as his follow-up group, Agents of Oblivion. Deadboy has had several incarnations, and its musical style has evolved or adapted to fit each. Riggs and Brunet were often compared to the White Stripes in quick-hit reviews that appeared in Rolling Stone, Maxim, Elle magazine and others in early 2006. On the Internet, it's often referred to as "Swamp Rock."
New York City-based Nasty Little Man handles the band's promotions. Nasty also represents Beck, the Beastie Boys and the Foo Fighters.
Background
Riggs and Brunet both spent much of their lives in Houma, Louisiana, where the band is now based. For the first few years following 2000's Agents of Oblivion album, Riggs and Deadboy & the Elephantmen (with widely varying lineups) played only around Louisiana and Mississippi.
During this time Riggs also would play solo acoustic shows or open-stage style venues, sometimes under the moniker T-Daks and his White Plastic Soul. The material consisted mostly of selected cover songs and early versions of what would become Deadboy songs. Leonard Cohen, the Pixies, Nick Drake, The Misfits, and Bonnie Prince Billy are among the artists whose music Riggs would often choose to play, adding his own unique interpretation to the rendition.
Many fan-recorded Deadboy shows are in circulation on the Internet. The earliest known live recording is circa December 2000. On August 23, 2005, the eTree Live Music Archive received permission from Riggs to host live recordings on archive.org, as long as the archives are kept free and provided in a lossless audio format.
Albums
Deadboy's first album, "If This Is Hell, Then I'm Lucky" was released in 2002 and subsequently distributed by Rotten Records, the same label that handled the major Acid Bath album releases several years earlier.
An EP, "Song Mechanism", was recorded and released in late 2004 and was distributed by Riggs through the Deadboy Web site and local Louisiana music stores.
"We Are Night Sky" was available for purchase online in late 2005, but its official release date was February 7, 2006. While it is technically the second full-length album for Deadboy & the Elephantmen, it was the first featuring the simpler two-person lineup with Riggs on guitar and Brunet on percussion. As their first release under Fat Possum Records, it was more widely distributed than previous recordings, so much that it is often referred to as their 'debut' album.