Damond Jiniya
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Damond Jiniya is an American vocalist, lyricist and author. He was born December 16, 1974, in Palm Springs, California. His most notable work was fronting the prog metal band
Savatage Savatage () was an American heavy metal band founded by brothers Jon and Criss Oliva in 1979 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The band was first called Avatar, but, shortly before the release of their debut album ''Sirens'' (1983), they changed thei ...
. Damond also achieved international notoriety with his electro-metal band Diet of Worms.. He recorded with
Lover of Sin Lover of Sin is an American black metal/deathrock band, containing members from Christian Death ( Maitri/Valor), Diet of Worms (band) member Juan "Punchy" Gonzalez, Tony Norman (live) from Monstrosity and Morbid Angel, Howard Davis (live) from ...
(
Christian Death Christian Death is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles County, California, in 1979 by Rozz Williams. With major line-up changes over the years, Christian Death has retained "a relentlessly confrontational stand against organized reli ...
). Damond has performed at festivals such as
Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music, rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and su ...
(DE),
Graspop Graspop Metal Meeting is a Belgian Heavy metal music, heavy metal festival held in Dessel each year since 1996, excluding 2020 and 2021 due to covid restrictions. Despite the small size of the festival grounds (upholding a perimeter of only ~4&nb ...
(BE), "
Gods of Metal Gods of Metal is the biggest Italian metal festival, held annually since 1997. It takes place in early summer, usually on the first or second weekend of June. It is most often held at venues in or near Milan, but took place in Bologna three tim ...
(IT) and the Dracfest UK. He has been featured worldwide in publications such as ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' (U.K), ''
Metal Edge ''Metal Edge'' was a magazine covering heavy metal music published by Zenbu Media. The magazine was founded in the summer of 1985, during the height of glam metal's success. Zenbu Media acquired ''Metal Edge'' in February 2007. Both ''Metal Edge ...
'' (U.S.A), ''Rock Hard'' (DE), ''
Metal Maniacs ''Metal Maniacs'' was an American magazine that was based around heavy metal music. History Founded in 1989 by Mike 'G' Greenblatt and Katherine Ludwig of Metal Shop. Where its sister publication ''Metal Edge'' largely covered glam metal, ''Meta ...
'' (U.S.A), ''Aardschok'' (NL) and most recently ''Roadie Crew'' (Brazil). In early 2022 he published 2 full literary books. "Anarchist Poems" and "Amerikan Family Ultra". In Oct. 2022 Damond launched his unique brand of children's music books. journals and activity books " Jiniya Notebooks"


Early life

Damond was born in
Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...
Dec 16th, 1974. He comes from a family of performers. His grandmother, mother, sister and niece all sing professionally. His mother was a country singer. He joined his mother onstage at age 2 and became part of her show. Damond traveled the United States extensively with her throughout most of his childhood, living in New Hampshire, Tennessee, Washington, Arizona, Nevada and Florida. He put together his first band at age 12 in Nashville, TN.


Diet of Worms (1996-2004)

Damond founded Diet of Worms with guitarist, producer Juan "Punchy" Gonzalez in 1996. They recorded a demo entitled "Diet of Worms" The demo was well received by critics and fans alike. The duo quickly went on the road with acts such as
Godhead (band) Godhead, occasionally typeset as gODHEAD, is an American rock music, rock band from Washington, D.C. They were the only band signed to musician Marilyn Manson's short-lived vanity label, Posthuman Records. History The band was formed in 1994 u ...
,
Mortiis Mortiis is an electronic band from Notodden, Norway fronted by Håvard Ellefsen, who is also known as the namesake of the band. The name is a misspelling of the word "mortis", which is the pronunciation used by the band. Mortiis started as the ...
,
Switchblade Symphony Switchblade Symphony was an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Their music combined orchestral sounds with heavy synth sequences and ethereal vocals to create a union of classical music and gothic rock. History Switchblade S ...
and
Christian Death Christian Death is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles County, California, in 1979 by Rozz Williams. With major line-up changes over the years, Christian Death has retained "a relentlessly confrontational stand against organized reli ...
touring the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe (1997–2003) DOW became a trio in 1998 adding Christian Death drummer Steven "Divine" Wright. The band played their last show in Haarlem, NL in 2003. Diet of Worms disbanded in 2004 citing personal differences. DOW recorded 3 studio albums and 1 EP.


Savatage (2001-202?)

Damond joined Savatage in March 2001 after the departure of their former lead vocalist
Zachary Stevens Zachary Trussell (born March 5, 1966), known professionally as Zachary "Zak" Stevens, is an American singer, best known as the second lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Savatage. He currently performs with the heavy metal band Circle II Circl ...
. Damond traveled extensively with Savatage to support their 2001 release ''
Poets and Madmen ''Poets and Madmen'' is the eleventh studio album by American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 2001. It was their last album before their 12-year hiatus, which lasted from 2002 to 2014. The album has a loose concept inspired by the career ...
''. The band headlined in Europe, Brazil, and the U.S.A. They also played/headlined festivals with
Suicidal Tendencies Suicidal Tendencies is an American crossover thrash band formed in 1980 in Venice in Los Angeles, California by vocalist Mike Muir. Muir is the only remaining original member of the band. Along with D.R.I., Corrosion of Conformity, and Stormtr ...
,
Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along wit ...
, W.A.S.P.,
Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who has been the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1981 to 1993 and 1999–present. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage ...
,
Living Colour Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. The band currently consists of guitarist Vernon Reid, lead vocalist Corey Glover, drummer Will Calhoun and bassist Doug Wimbish (who replaced Muzz Skillings in 1992). S ...
,
Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...
etc. In 2001 they opened for
Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...
in Europe on their "Demolition" tour. There were immediate plans to record a follow up record, but Savatage went on indefinite hiatus in 2003 and the album was never recorded. Having never been officially fired. Damond remains the final contracted singer of Savatage.


Various Projects (2005-Present)

After his departure from Savatage in 2010, Damond briefly took up acting. He starred in a low budget independent film called ''Chasing the Tiger'' with Jennifer Karnes. He released his fifth studio album called ''The Neglected'' in 2005. In 2006 Damond released "Starclone". In 2008 he released "Nebulas on Doomsday". Damond released his 8th international independent recording "Herman Nebula" in 2013. Damond was featured on blabbermouth.com, ''Roadie Crew'', Metalsucks and Brave Words online. In a 2018 interview, he mentioned that he was working on two books including a poetry/biography and a fictional piece. In 2018 he formed Blackbird Sanctuary Media. In 2019 he released two full length recordings "Dreaming of Snakes" and "Down the Tracks" In 2020, he and his wife developed Earth Stone Spirit.com. This is a successful online everything store. In 2020 he celebrated 20 years as a successful vocal coach (since 2000) in 2022 Damond has become an online influencer for TikTok, youtube and Cameo.com. In 2022, Damond wrote and released his first book " Anarchist Poems" worldwide in Feb. He released "Amerikan Family Ultra" ( his first work of fiction) on Easter black '22.


Books

*''Anarchist Poems (2021) *''American Family Ultra(2022)''


Discography

*Diet of Worms (1996) *To Thine Own Self (1997) *Aquarius (1999) *Tantrumland (2004) *''The Neglected'' (2005) *Starclone (2006) *Nebulas on Doomsday (2008) *Herman/Nebula (2014) *Fake New Flyers EP (2018) *Down the Tracks (2020) *Dreaming of Snakes (2021) *Muscleboy (DUE OUT Dec.16th 2023)


Compilations

*''Black Sunshine 2'' (
Cleopatra Records Cleopatra Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1992 by Brian Perera. The record label has since grown into a family of labels, including Hypnotic Records, Purple Pyramid Records, Dea ...
) *''1er. Festival Oscuro'' (Dilemma Records MX)


References


External links


Ex-SAVATAGE Singer DAMOND JINIYA Breaks Silence, Says He Was 'Left In The Cold'

Encyclopaedia Mettalum entry on Damond Jiniya





JON OLIVA: Singer DAMOND JINIYA Is Still An Active Member Of SAVATAGE

Chasing the Tiger 3 starring Damond Jiniya and Jennifer Karnes
* http://www.bravewords.com/news/52456
Damond Jiniya, ex de Savatage, rompe su silencio (Damond Jiniya, ex-Savatage member breaks the silence)
* http://www.music-reviewer.com/10_01/savatage.htm * http://www.resurrection.at/archivneu/inties/savatage_intie.htm

* http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/BLABBERMOUTH.NET/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=34416 * http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=12724 * http://www.speed-n-power.com/disk.php?did=10845 * http://www.savatage.com/bandinfo_new/members/damondjiniya.html * http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/Blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=21055 * https://web.archive.org/web/20090901154021/http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=9734 * https://www.amazon.com/s?k=d.+michael+o%27connor&i=stripbooks&crid=2ZWTUDQ71ZEVT&sprefix=%2Cstripbooks%2C241&ref=nb_sb_ss_recent_1_0_recent {{DEFAULTSORT:Jiniya, Damond 1974 births Living people Musicians from Palm Springs, California American lyricists American writers Singers from California Songwriters from California 21st-century American singers 21st-century American male singers American male songwriters