Jesters of Destiny is a heavy metal band from

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' ...

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 ...

, which was formed in 1984 by Bruce Duff (bass/vocals, who had been booted from 45 Grave earlier in the year) and guitarist Ray Violet. Evolving from a recording project spearheaded by Violet, who was working as the house engineer for Dawnbreaker studio in San Fernando, CA (previously owned by Seals and Crofts), the band recorded what would be the first two Jesters songs during the project,which was instigated in order to come up with commercial jingles. The songs were "Diggin' That Grave" and "End of Time." The band presented the songs to Metal Blade Records, who included "End of Time" on Metal Massacre V collection. It closed the LP, which include early tracks by Overkill, Fates Warning, Voivod and Metal Church. The band then signed to Metal Blade, but due to the band not being strictly heavy metal, the label created a subsidiary,

Dimension Records Dimension Records was a record label founded in 1962 in New York City by Don Kirshner and Al Nevins, owners of Aldon Music. It concentrated on the girl group sound and showcased songs by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. Their composition "The Lo ...

, which released the band's debut album, ''Fun at the Funeral'', in 1986, and an EP, ''In a Nostalgic Mood'', in 1987, during their first tenure. Following ",,,''Mood,"'' Metal Blade dropped the band. They demo-ed a number of songs for a planned third LP to be titled, ''No Laughing Matter,'' but were unable to land a new recording contract. They broke up in 1988. During their run, a number of lead guitarists and drummers were part of the band, including on drums, David Buzzelli (Doktor Stixx), Louie Schilling, Walin' Jennings Morgan, Dave Kuzma, Blaze; and on guitar, Sickie Wifebeater, Michael Montano and Brian Butler. in 2001, Ektro Records in Finland reissued ''Fun at the Funeral,'' supplemented with bonus tracks which combined live recordings with most of the demos for ''No Laughing Matter''. Ektro owner and Circle bassist Jussi Lehtisalo asked Duff to guest on a Circle EP, ''Earthworm'' (2006)'','' and later a full LP ''Hollywood'' (2009)''.'' In 2011, Duff joined Circle for an artist residency at the Roadburn festival in Tilburg, Netherlands, fronting the band and singing a combination of Circle and Jesters songs. Circle then issued a single of Jesters songs "End of Time" and "God Told Me To" with both Duff and Violet joining on the recording. Duff and Violet reformed the Jesters in 2014 after their debut album was re-released on vinyl by Full Contact, Ektro's vinyl subsidiary. Ektro/Full Contact released their second album, ''The Sorrows That Refuse to Drown'', on April 7, 2017.

Musical style

The band combined heavy metal, pop and

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

. Eduardo Rivadavia of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

described the band's sound as "upbeat" and wrote "CA's Jesters of Destiny confused way too many people to make much of a name for themselves during their brief run through the mid-'80s. If only they'd emerged a decade later, when the convenient label of "

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 ...

" was generously bandied about to everyone from

Jane's Addiction Jane's Addiction is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985. The band consists of vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery. Jane's Addiction was one of the first bands from t ...

Faith No More Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before settling on the current name in July 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist/r ...

, the band might have had better luck."

Discography

;Studio albums *''Fun at the Funeral'' (1986) *''The Sorrows That Refuse to Drown'' (2017) *''Distorting Everything'' (2022) ;EPs *''In a Nostalgic Mood'' (1987)

Musical style

Discography

References

Further reading