Depswa is a four-piece

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With r ...

band from

Modesto Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton- ...

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 ...

. The band released two studio albums, two EPs, and a compilation before entering an indefinite hiatus in 2011.

History

Formation and EP releases

The beginnings of Depswa came together in 1997 with vocalist Jeremy Penick and bassist Ryan Burchfield, under their original band name "Carcinogen". With this name, the band released their first EP, named Depswa, that eventually will become the band's name. In 1999, Penick and Burchfield had moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and added guitarist Dan Noonan. The band would then rename themselves as "Depswa". The band released their debut EP in 2000 titled ''Faithless'', and by October 2001, had added drummer Gordon Heckaman into the fold. Depswa had generated some significant interest around a number of

major record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produc ...

s. Ultimately they decided to sign with

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

. The band went to work recording their debut album with renowned producer

Howard Benson Howard Benson is an American music producer and multi-instrumentalist. He was nominated for the Producer of the Year Grammy Award in 2007 and 2008. Early life and education Benson was born and raised in a middle-class family in greater Philadel ...

. A second guitarist in James Mills also joined the band at this point.

''Two Angels and a Dream'' (2003–2004)

Depswa released their debut album titled ''

Two Angels and a Dream ''Two Angels and a Dream'' is the debut album by the Californian-based rock group Depswa. It was released on June 3, 2003, via Geffen Records. Album sales were impressive despite the lack of promotion, with over 39,000 copies to date sold in the ...

'' on June 3, 2003. The band was part of

Ozzfest Ozzfest is an annual music festival tour of the United States and sometimes Europe and later Japan, featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Sharon Osbourne and her husband Ozzy Osbourne, both ...

2003, as a second stage act. Also, Their song, "This Time", was featured in

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

' ''

NASCAR Thunder 2004 ''NASCAR Thunder 2004'' is a racing simulator by EA Sports, released on September 16, 2003 and available in separate versions for PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Windows. It features the 2002 champion Tony Stewart on the cover with a scowlin ...

'' in two forms, the original with lyrics, and an instrumental version. "This Time" was also sampled by

Krayzie Bone Anthony Henderson (born June 17, 1973), better known as Krayzie Bone, is an American rapper, singer, producer, and entrepreneur. He is a member of the rap group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Personal life Henderson comes from a fourth generation famil ...

on the track "Don't Know Why" from the album '' Gemini: Good vs. Evil''. As of August 13, 2003, Depswa had sold 9,060 copies of their debut album in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

). At this point, it was rumoured that the band had been dropped off the remaining part of the Ozzfest tour, due to Geffen withdrawing their tour support of the band. Geffen was not in communications with the band's management and had not sent the remainder of the tour support that was needed. The band told Geffen that if they did not receive the backend support they would pull themselves off the tour. Geffen responded saying that they were going to send the funds two days after the band started for home. Upon returning to L.A. Depswa's attorney requested that the label let the band go to pursue other labels that might be more supportive. On December 6, 2003, guitarist James Mills departed Depswa. The band was seeking a replacement guitarist, but nobody was ever hired, and have since continued as a four-piece with Penick playing second guitar and singing.

Inactivity, second studio album, re-releases, and indefinite hiatus (2005–2011)

In January 2005, Depswa revealed via their MySpace

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

that they were under way recording material for their second album. After working with a couple different producers, Depswa eventually decided to re-record much of the material along with several new songs. In May 2007, they entered the final stages of the recording and mixing process. May 13, 2007 was Gordon's last show with Depswa as their drummer, being replaced by Steve White. As of April 2008, they've been working hard on mixing the tracks for their next album and hope to be wrapped up by the end of summer 2008. On March 16, 2010 Depswa released their second studio album ''

Distorted American Dream Depswa is a four-piece alternative metal band from Modesto, California. The band released two studio albums, two EPs, and a compilation before entering an indefinite hiatus in 2011. History Formation and EP releases The beginnings of Depswa cam ...

''. In 2011, Depswa announced they will be going on an indefinite hiatus. On February 17, 2015 the band released a compilation album of unreleased recordings entitled "Lucid Dreams - Demos, B-Sides, Covers and Rarities", along with a re-release of the Faithless EP and the Depswa EP (originally released, as ''Carcinogen''). The band stated that this will be their last release as of now due to them being on an indefinite hiatus since 2011.

Band members

Current * Jeremy Penick – vocals, guitar * Dan Noonan – guitar * Ryan Burchfeild – bass * Steve White – drums, vocals Former * Gordon Heckaman - drums * James Mills – guitar * Jesse Nunn - lead guitar

Discography

;EPs *''Depswa'' (1998) as "Carcinogen" *''Faithless P'' (2000) ;Albums *''

'' (2003) *''Distorted American Dream'' (2010) ;Compilations *''Lucid Dreams - Demos, B-Sides, Covers and Rarities'' (2015)

References

External links

Launch: Depswa

MTV.com: Depswa

VH1.com: Depswa
* {{Authority control American alternative metal musical groups Musical groups established in the 1990s Nu metal musical groups from California