Dave Pybus (born 4 June 1970) is a British

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

musician, best known as the former bass player of

Cradle of Filth Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved originally from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal and other metal genres. Their ly ...

Career

Pybus's first band was called Anul Death (1988–1991) which later changed its name to Darkened. From 1990 to 1994, Pybus worked at

Peaceville Records Peaceville Records is a British independent heavy metal record label. The label was founded by Paul "Hammy" Halmshaw (of the bands Instigators and Civilised Society) in Dewsbury, England in 1987, who was also a one-time drummer of Sore Throat ...

as a graphic designer. His name is credited on several records from that period including

Darkthrone Darkthrone is a Norwegian extreme metal band from Kolbotn, Akershus. Formed in 1986 as a death metal band named Black Death, in 1991 Darkthrone embraced a black metal style influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and became one of the leadin ...

- ''

A Blaze in the Northern Sky ''A Blaze in the Northern Sky'' is the second studio album by Norwegian black metal band Darkthrone. It was recorded at Creative Studios in August 1991 and released on 26 February 1992 by Peaceville Records. It contained the band's first black m ...

'',

Autopsy An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any di ...

- ''

Mental Funeral ''Mental Funeral'' is the second album by Autopsy, released in 1991 by Peaceville Records. Track listing *All music by Autopsy. Lyrics by Chris Reifert – except track 5, Eric Cutler Personnel ;Autopsy * Chris Reifert – vocals, drums *D ...

'',

My Dying Bride My Dying Bride are an English doom metal band formed in Bradford. Since their inception in 1990, they have released 13 studio albums, three EPs, one demo, one box set, four compilation albums, one live album, and one live CD/DVD release. Alon ...

- ''

As the Flower Withers ''As the Flower Withers'' is the debut studio album by Yorkshire-based doom metal band My Dying Bride. The artwork was designed by Dave McKean. This is the only full-length My Dying Bride album on which lead vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe utilizes ...

'' and ''

Turn Loose the Swans ''Turn Loose the Swans'' is the second album by the British doom metal band My Dying Bride, released in 1993. It marked a radical departure from the band's first full-length, ''As the Flower Withers''. Martin Powell's violin playing had become ...

''. He also worked with

Vital Remains Vital Remains is an American death metal band from Providence, Rhode Island, formed in 1988. History Formation and early years Guitarist Paul Flynn formed Vital Remains in 1988. Vital Remains' first line-up included Paul Flynn on lead guitar, ...

Pitchshifter Pitchshifter are an English industrial rock band from Nottingham, formed in 1989. The band was started by lead guitarist and programmer Johnny A. Carter, and bassist and vocalist Mark Clayden. The band’s early material was characterized for ...

, Therion,

Anathema Anathema, in common usage, is something or someone detested or shunned. In its other main usage, it is a formal excommunication. The latter meaning, its ecclesiastical sense, is based on New Testament usage. In the Old Testament, anathema was a cr ...

, G.G.F.H., Kong,

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse (poetry), verse. A second edition fo ...

, Banished,

Pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle aroun ...

Ship of Fools The ship of fools is an allegory, originating from Book VI of Plato's ''Republic'', about a ship with a dysfunctional crew. The allegory is intended to represent the problems of governance prevailing in a political system not based on expert kn ...

, and

At the Gates At the Gates is a Swedish death metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. The band was a major progenitor of Gothenburg-style melodic death metal alongside In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. Prior to their first disbandment in 1996, At the Ga ...

(first three albums). Around 1993, Peaceville signed a U.S. distribution deal with Caroline, where Pybus and

Lyle Preslar Lyle Preslar is an American musician best known for being the guitar player and songwriter for the hardcore punk band Minor Threat. Before that, he was the vocalist for The Extorts, who later became State of Alert after he quit. Despite not perfo ...

worked together for over a year. In 1991, Pybus formed Dreambreed, a band in which he provided vocals and played guitar. They were influenced by the

Misfits Misfits or The Misfits may refer to: Film and television * ''The Misfits'' (1961 film), a film starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift * ''The Misfits'' (2011 film), a Mexican film * ''The Misfits'' (2021 film), an American ...

and released a six-track mini CD titled ''Sometime'' in 1995. Pybus stayed in Dreambreed until 1998, when he joined Anathema on bass guitar. He stayed with Anathema until 2001, appearing on two albums – ''

Judgement Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct uses. Aristotle s ...

'' (1999) and ''

A Fine Day to Exit ''A Fine Day to Exit'' is the sixth album by the British rock band Anathema. It was released on 9 October 2001 through Music for Nations. This is the only occasion where an Anathema album has John Douglas credited as a writer for around half of ...

'' (2001) – after which he sessioned and later joined

, often operating under the

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

''Herr Pubis'', following the departure of bassist Robin "Graves" Eaglestone. Pybus appeared on: ''

Damnation and a Day ''Damnation and a Day'' (subtitled ''From Genesis to Nemesis...'') is the fifth studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on 10 March 2003 and is Cradle of Filth's only album on a major label, Sony Records, afte ...

'' (2003), ''

Nymphetamine ''Nymphetamine'' is the sixth studio album by Cradle of Filth. Recorded between February and July 2004, it was released on 28 September by record label Roadrunner. ''Nymphetamine'' marks the first recorded appearance of guitarist James McIlroy ...

'' (2004), ''

Thornography ''Thornography'' is the seventh studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on 17 October 2006, by record label Roadrunner. It was produced by former Anthrax guitarist Rob Caggiano, engineered by Dan Turner and m ...

'' (2006), ''

Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder ''Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder'' (subtitled ''The Life and Crimes of Gilles de Rais'') is the eighth studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on 28 October 2008, through record label Roadrunner. It is the ba ...

'' (2008), '' Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa'' (2010). In 2005, Pybus took a six-month break from Cradle of Filth and started Sixsixsix Records. In July, he was honoured with an appearance on the

Roadrunner United ''Roadrunner United'' was a project organized by American heavy metal record label Roadrunner Records to celebrate its 25th anniversary. It culminated in an album released worldwide on October 11, 2005, entitled ''The All-Star Sessions''. Four ...

CD alongside

Peter Steele Petrus Thomas Ratajczyk (January 4, 1962 – April 14, 2010), known professionally as Peter Steele, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was best known as the lead vocalist, bassist and composer of the gothic metal band Type O N ...

Josh Silver Josh Silver (born November 14, 1962) is an American musician who is the former keyboardist, producer and backing vocalist of gothic metal band Type O Negative. He joined the band at frontman Peter Steele's request. He played for Type O Negati ...

, Steve Holt and

Joey Jordison Nathan Jonas "Joey" Jordison (April 26, 1975 – July 26, 2021) was an American musician. He was the original drummer and co-founder of the heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he was designated #1, as well as the guitarist for the horror punk s ...

. After his break he re-joined Cradle of Filth and played bass on the debut

Angtoria Angtoria was a symphonic metal band composed of British singer Sarah Jezebel Deva and Swedish brothers Chris and Tommy Rehn. Singer Sarah Jezebel Deva joined with the brothers in 2001 to create the band. Their debut album, ''God Has a Plan for ...

album, released in April 2006 via

Listenable Records Listenable Records is an independent metal label originally founded in 1990 in France. The label specializes in metal, with a focus on extreme metal music. The company has published albums from many acclaimed extreme metal bands, such as Immo ...

. 21 April 2008 saw the release of Dreambreed's ''Misery Sessions'' on CD, via Pybus' Sixsixsix Record label; the sessions were originally recorded in 1997. Pybus launched his own monthly podcast ''Life Is a Hideous Thing'' in December 2014, running for 16 episodes, including four commissioned by

, and featuring guests such as

Pat Mills Patrick Eamon Mills (born 1949) is an English comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since. He has been called "the godfather o ...

Dave McKean David McKean (born 29 December 1963) is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art, and sculpt ...

Doug Bradley Douglas William Bradley (born 7 September 1954) is an English actor and author, best known for his role as the lead Cenobite "Pinhead" in the ''Hellraiser'' film series and for narration on various Cradle of Filth albums. He is also starri ...

, among others. One episode was unpublished, featuring

Paul "Hammy" Halmshaw Paul Halmshaw also known as "Hammy" (born 1965) is a British musician who founded Peaceville Records, which signed some of the most infamous death, black, and doom metal and crust punk bands worldwide in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. He ...

. This was held back due to Hammy not being happy with the results and using the inspiration from the recording sessions to write his book ''Peaceville Life'', released in 2016.

Guest appearances

upPybus at Kuopio Rockcock 2008 In 1991, Pybus played guitar in a

cover band called The Hatebreeders. He made a guest appearance on the song "Summernite Stalker" for German

horror punk Horror punk is a music genre that mixes punk rock and 1950s-influenced doo-wop and rockabilly sounds with morbid and violent imagery and lyrics which are often influenced by horror films and science fiction B-movies. The genre was pioneered by ...

band The Spook, released in August 2007. In October 2008, he performed live for two shows with German band Samsas Traum and toured with them in November 2009. He played bass on the track "Hell is the Face of Love" for Autoclav1.1 in 2008. Pybus contributed to the

project, playing bass on the track "Enemy of the State". He played bass on

Sarah Jezebel Deva Sarah Jane (born 25 February 1977), better known by her stage name Sarah Jezebel Deva, is an English singer. She was the female soprano vocalist for Cradle of Filth for 14 years and the frontwoman of the band Angtoria for 10 years. In 2009, D ...

's debut album ''

A Sign of Sublime ''A Sign of Sublime'' is the debut solo album of former Cradle of Filth vocalist Sarah Jezebel Deva. It is the only album to be released by Deva on Rising Records, as a new three-record deal was signed with Listenable Records for the follow-up ...

'' in 2010. Pybus played bass on one track for My Black Omen, a multinational

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

project featuring

Kam Lee Barney Kamalani "Kam" Lee is an American death metal vocalist. He is best known for his vocal contributions to an early incarnation of Death (called Mantas) from 1983 to 1984, and later joined Massacre in 1985. Career Massacre recorded two de ...

(

Mantas Mantas is a Lithuanian given name. Mantas is also a surname found in several European countries including Portugal, Spain, Greece, Germany, and others. The exact connection between the different regions of occurrence is presently unknown, although ...

Massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

) on vocals, Ross Feratu (The Spook, Gorthaur's Wrath, Ramonstars) on guitar and Brian Forman (Unburied) on drums. They released one cover version of the Massacre song "Chamber of Ages" in May 2011. Pybus left Cradle of Filth in spring 2012. He played bass with American band

Prong Prong or Prongs may refer to: * Prong, synonym of tine (structural), a branch or spike of various tools and natural objects * Prong (band), an American metal band * Prong (company), an iPhone accessories company in New York City * Prongs, British ...

for their ''

Beg to Differ ''Beg to Differ'' is the second studio album by American heavy metal music, heavy metal band Prong (band), Prong, released in 1990 through Epic Records. The album includes one live track ("Third from the Sun", a Chrome (band), Chrome cover) recor ...

'' European tour and the following U.S. tour in the summer of 2012.

Discography

Dreambreed

*''Sometime'' (1995) *''Misery Sessions'' (2008)

Anathema

*''

'' (1999) *''

'' (2001)

Cradle of Filth

*''

'' (2003) *''

'' (2004) *''

'' (2006) *''

'' (2008) *'' Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa'' (2010)

Angtoria

*''God Has a Plan for Us All'' (2006)

Sarah Jezebel Deva

*''A Sign of Sublime'' (2010)

References

External links

Profile on Cradle of Filth's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pybus, Dave 1970 births Living people English heavy metal bass guitarists Male bass guitarists Cradle of Filth members People from Heckmondwike 21st-century English bass guitarists