Kevin Gruft or Kevin Thrash or Kevin "Thrasher" Gruft (born May 5, 1988) is an American guitarist and music producer from

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

, known for being the former lead guitarist of the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

bands Escape the Fate and LoveHateHero. He released two studio albums with LoveHateHero and three studio albums with Escape The Fate since joining the band in late 2013 until his departure in early 2021. As a music producer and engineer, he has worked with artists such as Machine Gun Kelly,

Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani (; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, fashion designer and actress. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs ...

Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. At age 16, she signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records. Her debut studio album, ''Let Go (Avril Lavigne album), Let Go'' (2002), is the ...

and Blink-182.

Biography

Kevin Gruft began playing guitar at the age of 8. At the age of 17, he joined the band LoveHateHero after a tour in New York, as the band was in search of a guitarist. After 5 years with the band and two studio albums, LoveHateHero disbanded in 2011. That year, he joined The Dead Rabbitts, the side-project of Escape The Fate singer, Craig Mabbitt. In late 2013, brothers

Monte Money Monte Bryan Money is an American guitarist and vocalist from Las Vegas, Nevada. He is the former lead guitarist and backing vocalist of American rock band Escape the Fate. He is currently the lead singer and guitarist for his own band, Beyond Un ...

and Michael Money announced their departure from Escape The Fate to focus on their new project. Craig Mabbitt contacted Kevin to help them on the Ungrateful tour, becoming an official member soon after.

Escape The Fate

In early 2015, the band, along with Gruft, entered the studio with producer Howard Benson to record their fifth album titled " Hate Me". The album would release later that year and chart at No. 58 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

. Gruft played a significant role in writing the album, with the band demoing around 40 songs at his apartment in

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' ...

. As Max Green had recently left the band, Gruft and fellow guitarist TJ Bell ended up playing bass on the album. After the release of the album, the band embarked on a headlining tour with

A Skylit Drive A Skylit Drive is an American post-hardcore band from Lodi, California. The band has released one DVD, one EP and five studio albums: '' Wires...and the Concept of Breathing'' (2008), '' Adelphia'' (2009), '' Identity on Fire'' (2011), ''Rise ...

Sworn In Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to giv ...

Sirens and Sailors Sirens and Sailors is an American metalcore band from Rochester, New York, that formed in 2005. They released two EPs and three albums; their latest release was a single entitled "I'm Not Sorry", which was released on August 2019. The band was ...

and

Myka Relocate Myka Relocate was an American metalcore band formed in Lafayette, Louisiana in 2007, later based in Houston, Texas. The band has released three studio albums,'' Self Portrait as a Frozen Father'', '' Lies to Light the Way'' and '' The Young Sou ...

In 2016, they covered the

My Chemical Romance My Chemical Romance (commonly abbreviated to MCR or My Chem) is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mi ...

song, "Dead!", for a

Rock Sound ''Rock Sound'' is a British magazine that covers rock music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, while also giving coverage to better-known acts. It generally focuses on pop punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, punk, e ...

tribute of ''

The Black Parade ''The Black Parade'' is the third studio album by American rock band My Chemical Romance. Released in Europe on October 20, 2006, through Reprise Records, it was produced by the band with Rob Cavallo, known for having produced multiple albums fo ...

''. On November 3, 2017, the band released the first single, "Empire", from their new album, ''

I Am Human ''I Am Human'' is the sixth studio album by American rock band Escape the Fate. It was released on March 30, 2018. The album's single "Broken Heart" peaked at number 15 on the '' Billboard'' Mainstream Rock Songs chart in July 2018. Track list ...

'', which was set to be released on February 16, 2018, but later postponed to March 30, 2018. The band's single " Broken Heart" peaked at No. 16 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Mainstream Rock Songs chart. On April 16, 2021, the band released

Chemical Warfare Chemical warfare (CW) involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from nuclear warfare, biological warfare and radiological warfare, which together make up CBRN, the military acronym ...

, which he co-produced with

John Feldmann John Feldmann (born June 29, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He serves as the lead singer/guitarist of the band Goldfinger. Early life Feldmann grew up in Saratoga, California. He started writing song ...

, which would mark the last album before his departure to focus on production work.

Discography

With '' LoveHateHero'' * ''White Lies'' (2007) * ''America Underwater'' (2009) With '' The Dead Rabbitts'' * ''Edge of Reality'' (EP) (2012) With '' Escape the Fate'' * '' Hate Me'' (2015) * ''

'' (2018) * ''

'' (2021) With ''The Take Away'' * ''Sad About Nothing'' (Single, 2020) * ''Catch Me'' (Single, 2020)

Producer

Gruft started producing albums at a studio in Hollywood called STRZ Enterprises, producing songs with pop artists including

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

star Zendaya. He co-produced Escape The Fate's sixth album,

, as well as their seventh album,

, with renowned producer

. He currently works with Blink-182 drummer

Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has also performed as a frequent collaborator with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transpla ...

as an engineer at his home studio in

Calabasas, California Calabasas (from Spanish language, Spanish ''calabazas'' "gourds") is a city in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, between the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, Santa Monica and Santa Susana Mountains, Santa Susanna mounta ...

. In this studio, he engineered Machine Gun Kelly's critically acclaimed album '' Tickets To My Downfall'' along with Barker, which would go on to peak at #1 in the

charts. He would engineer Blink-182 comeback song "

Edging Edging may refer to: * Using an edger gardening tool * Edging (climbing), a climbing technique * Edging (orgasm), a form of orgasm control * Edging (forging), an open-die forging process that concentrates material for further processing * "Edging ...

" in 2023, playing with

Mark Hoppus Mark Allan Hoppus (born March 15, 1972) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer best known as the bassist and co-lead vocalist for the rock band Blink-182, being the only constant member and the only one to appear on every album. ...

and Barker on the latest's ‘House of Horrors’ pay-per-view live broadcast. Other credits include working with pop artists

on her song " True Babe", and

on her album''

Love Sux ''Love Sux'' is the seventh studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne, released on February 25, 2022, by DTA and Elektra Records. Her first studio album in three years since '' Head Above Water'' (2019), Lavigne worked on ''Lov ...

'', with whom he played on a performance of " Bite Me" at The Ellen Degeneres Show.

Production discography

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruff, Kevin Living people 1988 births People from Albany, New York Guitarists from New York (state) Escape the Fate members Record producers from New York (state)