Alexis Stephen Francis Marshall (born March 22, 1980) is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist of American noise rock band
Daughters
A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between groups ...
and was formerly the frontman of the
mathcore/
grindcore band As the Sun Sets.
Marshall formed Daughters in 2002 following the disbandment of As the Sun Sets. Daughters disbanded in 2009 and reunited in 2013. Marshall released his debut solo album ''House of Lull . House of When'' on
Sargent House
Sargent House is an American management company and record label based in Los Angeles. It was founded in June 2006 by Cathy Pellow, who is a music video commissioner for Atlantic Records and also owns a music video production company called Ref ...
in 2021.
Life and career
Alexis Stephen Francis Marshall was born on March 22, 1980 in the state of
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. He moved regularly before settling in
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...
for college alongside other extreme music acts from the same city such as
Lightning Bolt and
The Body.
Daughters
Rhode Island mathcore/grindcore act As the Sun Sets were formed in 1998 with Marshall as a founding member. After the band split up, Marshall formed Daughters with Brent Fantini, guitarist Nick Sadler and Samuel Walker in 2001.
The band released their first EP in 2002. Their debut album, ''Canada Songs'', was released in 2003, followed by ''
Hell Songs'' in 2006.
In August 2009, several months after the band finished work on their self-titled album, ''
Daughters
A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between groups ...
'', the band had what Marshall later described in an early 2010 interview as a "big falling out". Bassist Samuel Walker and guitarist Nick Sadler departed, resulting in Marshall and drummer
Jon Syverson being the only members remaining in the band.
The band's hiatus meant that they did not tour to promote the album.
Tensions between Sadler and Marshall contributed to the dissolution of the band, with Marshall feeling unhappy about the direction that Sadler wanted Daughters to take musically. In an interview Marshall explained, "Nick wrote a lot of the stuff on there, and he was really looking to make it accessible, and see how it fared... There are definitely parts of the record that were written to see how people will respond, which is kind of disappointing."
Marshall also cited his commitment to sobriety as playing a role; in an interview with ''
Consequence
Consequence may refer to:
* Logical consequence, also known as a ''consequence relation'', or ''entailment''
* In operant conditioning, a result of some behavior
* Consequentialism, a theory in philosophy in which the morality of an act is determi ...
'', he said: "I assumed I wouldn’t be able to mix music … ‘cause, you know, there’s so much fuckin’ alcohol, drugs, and crazy people throwing shit at you."
After Andy Low organized a meeting between Marshall and bandmate Nick Sadler, Daughters reformed, performing their first post-hiatus gig in 2013. The band released "Satan in the Wait", their first new song in eight years, in July 2018.
In November, they released a new album, ''You Won't Get What You Want'', through
Ipecac Recordings
Ipecac Recordings is an independent record label based in California. It was founded on April 1, 1999 by Greg Werckman (ex-label manager of Alternative Tentacles, ex-lead singer of DUH, ex-employee of Mercury Records) and Mike Patton (Faith No ...
.
In 2012, Marshall formed Fucking Invincible with a current member of
Dropdead
Dropdead is an American hardcore punk band based in Providence, Rhode Island. They have been active in the punk scene since 1991, having been formed in January of that year. The band's songs are generally short and very fast-paced, with few las ...
and Soul Control. In the same year, he collaborated with the Assembly of Light choir in their self titled EP.
Solo work
In 2017, Marshall published his first poetry book, ''A Sea Above the Pains of Our Youth''. He released another poetry collection in 2020 titled ''Moving Windows''.
Marshall released his first solo single, "Nature in Three Movements", in 2020. The single was a standalone track and was not included on Marshall's solo album. In June 2021, Marshall released "Hounds in the Abyss", the debut single from his first solo album, ''House of Lull . House of When.'' The album was released on July 23, 2021. It was produced by Seth Manchester. Collaborators on the album included Marshall's Daughters bandmate
Jon Syverson.
''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
'' awarded the album a score of 7.2/10. ''
Kerrang!
''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...
'' gave the album a mixed review, writing that, "It's lacking the punchy impact you’d expect from Daughters, and there’s nothing in the way of catchy hooks to reel listeners in."
Artistry
In As the Sun Sets and early Daughters releases, his vocals were a mixture of high pitched screaming and
death growls
A death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in death metal and other extreme subgenres of heavy metal music. Death growl vocals are sometimes criticized for their ...
, but he has since abandoned both, as he uses a clean vocal style since Hell Songs. His clean vocals have been compared to those of
Nick Cave and
David Yow
David Yow (born August 2, 1960) is an American musician and actor born in Las Vegas, Nevada and best known as the vocalist for the noise rock bands Scratch Acid and the Jesus Lizard. Yow's debut solo album, '' Tonight You Look Like a Spider'', w ...
.
Marshall is the chief vocalist and lyricist of Daughters. He has described himself as taking a narrative approach to song-writing.
Daughters have been noted for their "confrontational live shows, where Marshall may endure “people spitting in my mouth, punching me, grabbing me, trying to pull my shirt off or whatever". He has cited
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...
's early performances as an influence on his approach to live performances.
Personal life
Marshall was originally from
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...
, but currently lives in
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. He has two children.
Marshall has spoken about his struggles with alcoholism.
During Daughters' first run, the band's live shows were infamous for Marshall's behavior. He often performed fully nude, drank his own urine, rubbed his penis on the microphone and bled himself.
At a festival performance in Japan, Marshall vomited on the front row of the audience. In 2006, Marshall fled the stage in the middle of a concert at Los Angeles'
Knitting Factory
The Knitting Factory is a nightclub in New York City that features eclectic music and entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United States.
The Knitting Factory gave its audience poetry readings, perform ...
because the police arrived to arrest him for
public indecency
Indecent exposure is the deliberate public exposure by a person of a portion of their body in a manner contrary to local standards of appropriate behavior. Laws and social attitudes regarding indecent exposure vary significantly in different ...
. He has admitted to "flossing" his buttocks with a microphone cable, inserting microphones into his anus and in Belgium, nearly starting a fight because he masturbated onto an object.
Botch bassist
Brian Cook recalled: "Women pulled at his briefs. Fans fondled and licked his exposed cock. A confessed 'sex addict', Lex would swap spit with both men and women mid-set and fuck fans in venue bathrooms." Marshall said this behavior was caused by both alcohol and his own boredom.
Marshall was in a relationship with musician Kristin Hayter, who performs as
Lingua Ignota, from July 2019 to June 2021. In December 2021, Hayter accused Marshall of domestic abuse and rape throughout their relationship. Marshall denied the allegations, releasing a statement that said "Kristin is a person that I loved and cared deeply for, however, our relationship was unhealthy for both of us. I can assure anyone reading this that I absolutely did not abuse her, mentally or physically. I am investigating legal options.” Sargent House, the record label which released Marshall's solo album in July 2021, soon revealed that it had privately terminated Marshall in August 2021 when Hayter first alerted the label of Marshall's abuse allegations, but waited to publicize their decision for Hayter's privacy.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Alexis S. F.
Living people
21st-century American male singers
1980 births