Bitter Grace is a
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
goth rock
Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...
band active since around 1985. Formed by Gustavo Lapis Ahumad in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, the band is known for their live set that includes lighting, smoke and theatrical effects. Plagued with consistent line-up changes over the past two decades, the band still plays throughout Manhattan with the current line-up of Gustavo Lapis Ahumad (vocals/guitar), Pay-Dro (drums), Marcus Pan (bass/backing vocals) and Brandon (guitar).
Bitter Grace has played numerous clubs, but concentrate mostly in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
where they are located. They've taken the stage at
CBGB
CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...
, the Gallery,
Club Rare
Club may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Club'' (magazine)
* Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character
* Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards
* Club music
* "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea''
Brands and enterprises
...
,
Downtime
The term downtime is used to refer to periods when a system is unavailable.
The unavailability is the proportion of a time-span that a system is unavailable or offline.
This is usually a result of the system failing to function because of an un ...
and
Rothko's in recent years.
History
Bitter Grace was formed by Gustavo Lapis Ahumad in 1985 and almost immediately began playing live throughout
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The line-up of the band was constantly evolving and for reasons like this it took over ten years for the first album,
God and the Abyss, to finally be released and distributed by
Middle Pillar Presents. The album itself was touched by numerous hands, with multiple drummers, bassists and guitarists being involved until its mastering and release.
Recent
The current line-up has changed already over the past year with
Thad Jasonis leaving to join
New Vile System in
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. He was replaced by the returning Brandon who played guitar on the recordings of Shimmer prior to leaving the state. This new album, another seven years in the making, is due to be released in the early reaches of 2006. Previously released singles from the album, "Shimmering" and "Slave", have achieved college air play and Internet radio play in the summer of 2005 when they were officially released. The 2005 live shows found Bitter Grace playing throughout Manhattan prior to the release of the new album.
On September 18, 2008, the band announced on their MySpace that ''Shimmer'' will be released early 2009, and they are currently working on the third album entitled ''Critical''.
Evolution
The release of "Slave" and "Shimmering" have shown that Bitter Grace have laced an industrial and EBM style into their previous
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 ...
goth rock style on God and the Abyss. Live sets have started to incorporate more lighting and shadow textures for a highly theatrical affect opposed to previous garage-style shows done in the early years.
Discography
Studio albums
*''
God and the Abyss'' - 1997
*''
Shimmer'' - 2005
*''
The Burning Sun'' - 2012
Further information
Official Bitter Grace SiteBitter Grace on MySpace
{{Authority control
Musical groups from New York City
American gothic rock groups
Musical groups established in 1985
1985 establishments in New York City