Deathray (1998–2007) was a band from
Sacramento
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, formed by former
Cake members
Greg Brown and
Victor Damiani
Cake is an alternative rock band from Sacramento, California, consisting of singer John McCrea, trumpeter Vince DiFiore, guitarist Xan McCurdy, bassist Daniel McCallum, and drummer Todd Roper. The band has been noted for McCrea's sarcastic lyr ...
, and Dana Gumbiner, a musician formerly of the Sacramento indie band Little Guilt Shrine.
After leaving Cake, Brown and bassist Victor Damiani met up with Gumbiner, who was playing solo shows under a variety of names, most notably The Micronauts. The three recruited multi-talented rock and jazz drummer James Neil and keyboardist Max Hart to form Deathray. After selling over 3,000 copies of their
EP, Deathray was signed to
Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records was an independent record label founded by Phil Walden and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia. Capricorn Records is often credited by music historians as creating the southern rock genre.
History
Label and studio foun ...
.
Their self-titled debut album was produced by Eric Valentine and released in 2000. While the album received critical praise, the band's future became murky during the collapse of Capricorn and a hastily organized nationwide tour. After a long battle, Deathray was dropped from Capricorn, but regained control of the masters from their album, which they have since released on their own label, Doppler Records.
Shortly thereafter, Hart left the band to move to Los Angeles and form his own band, The High Speed Scene, which has since released its major-label debut on the Neptunes' imprint, Star-Trak Records.
Neil also left Deathray after the release of their first album, but went on to join numerous bands, including: Milwaukee (as keyboardist with Johnny Gutenberger of Two Sheds, and Chris Robyn of Far), Red Planet, An Angle, Jay Shaner's Cowboy Killers, and he is currently the drummer for the California-country band The Golden Cadillacs. Following the recording of Cake's album ''
Comfort Eagle'', drummer
Todd Roper left the band and has since also joined Deathray.
Brown and Gumbiner (continuing his solo electronica project Night Night, and currently owner/producer/engineer at Station To Station Media + Production, and a
contributing writer at TapeOp Magazine) remain the principal songwriters of Deathray, with Damiani also penning several tunes for the band.
A Deathray song titled "I Wanna Lose Control" appears on the soundtrack to the 2006 animated film
Open Season, along with a cover of
Paul Westerberg
Paul Harold Westerberg (born December 31, 1959) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the Replacements. Following the breakup of the Replacements, Westerberg launched a solo career that saw him re ...
's "Wild as I Wanna Be." These are the first two Deathray songs published by a major record label since the band's debut.
As of July 1, 2007 the band has split up, according to an entry on their official website.
Discography
Studio albums
*''Deathray'' (2000)
The band's self-titled album was released in 2000 with producer Eric Valentine (
Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1993. After years of lineup changes in the early and mid-1990s, the songwriting duo of Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan signed the band's first major-label reco ...
,
Smash Mouth
Smash Mouth is an American rock band from San Jose, California. The band was formed in 1994, and was originally composed of Steve Harwell (lead vocals), Kevin Coleman (drums), Greg Camp (guitar), and Paul De Lisle (bass). With Harwell's depa ...
,
Citizen King
Citizen King was an American music group from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, whose style was a mix of hip-hop, soul, and punk. They are best known for their top 40 hit "Better Days (And the Bottom Drops Out)", which peaked at on the ''Billboard'' Hot ...
). The genre is usually thought of as
pop or
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
. It has received generous college and radio airplay.
*''Believe Me'' (2005)
Deathray self-released their second album in 2005. Eric Valentine returned as producer. Again, despite garnering critical acclaim, there was little interest from major labels.
Extended Plays (EPs)
*''White Sleeves'' (2002)
Lineup
*Dana Gumbiner – vocals, keyboard, guitar
*
Greg Brown – guitar, vocals
*
Victor Damiani
Cake is an alternative rock band from Sacramento, California, consisting of singer John McCrea, trumpeter Vince DiFiore, guitarist Xan McCurdy, bassist Daniel McCallum, and drummer Todd Roper. The band has been noted for McCrea's sarcastic lyr ...
– bass
*Todd Roper – drums, vocals
**formerly James Neil
**formerly
Max Hart
We Are Scientists is a New York City-based rock band that formed in Berkeley, California, in 1999. It consists primarily of guitarist and vocalist Keith Murray and bass guitarist Chris Cain, with drummer Keith Carne joining the band in the studi ...
See also
*
Cake
References
External links
Deathray's official web site
{{Authority control
Rock music groups from California
Musical groups established in 1998
Musical groups disestablished in 2007
Musical groups from Sacramento, California