O’Death (stylized as o'death) is an American

gothic country Gothic country (sometimes referred to as gothic Americana, Southern Gothic, the Denver sound, or dark country) is a genre of country music rooted in early jazz, gospel, Americana, gothic rock, and post-punk. Its lyrics focus on dark subject ma ...

band from

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. They combine elements of

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

, bluegrass,

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

, gothic and

Americana music Americana (also known as American roots music) is an amalgam of Music of the United States, American music formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the musical ethos of the United States of America, with particul ...

History

All the members of O'Death met between the years of 2000 and 2003 at

SUNY Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a Public college, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by G ...

. With Greg Jamie on guitar and vocals, Gabe Darling on electric guitar, ukulele, piano, and vocals, David Rogers-Berry on drums, Robert Pycior on violin, and Andrew Platt on bass - O'Death put together a very raw, 10-track CD-R, entitled ''Carl Nemelka Family Photographs'', recorded by Joshua Benash (of the bands

Kiss Kiss Kiss Kiss may refer to: Books * Kiss Kiss (book), ''Kiss Kiss'' (book), a collection of short stories by Roald Dahl Music * Kiss Kiss (band), an American indie rock band * Kiss Kiss (Japanese group), a Japanese girl group * Kiss Kiss (Chris Brown so ...

and Vuvuzela) in 2004. In 2005, Gabe Darling switched to banjo and ukulele, the band added bass player Jesse Newman to the permanent lineup, and O'Death played a year-long monthly residency at the now defunct Apocalypse Lounge in NYC. The band built a local fan base around their irreverent take on Americana by playing dive bars in the East Village and house parties around Brooklyn, as they worked on new material for their second self-released LP, ''Head Home.'' In 2006, they took the stage alongside acts such as

Battles A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

Dr. Dog Dr. Dog is an American rock band based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its lineup consists of Toby Leaman (bass), Scott McMicken (lead guitar), Frank McElroy (rhythm guitar), Zach Miller (keyboard), Eric Slick (drums), and Michael Libramento ( ...

Art Brut Art Brut is an English indie rock band. Their debut album, '' Bang Bang Rock & Roll'', was released on 30 May 2005, with its follow up, ''It's a Bit Complicated'', released on 25 June 2007. Named after French painter Jean Dubuffet's definition ...

Langhorne Slim Langhorne Slim is an American singer-songwriter (born Sean Scolnick on August 20, 1980 in Langhorne, Pennsylvania). He attended high school at Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the Conservatory of Music at Purchase ...

, THEUSAISAMONSTER, and Old Time Relijun in New York City, and began touring the United States. The band's nonstop touring caught the attention of the New York-based Ernest Jenning Record Co., who re-released ''Head Home'' in June, 2007. Later that summer, Germany-based label

City Slang City Slang is an independent record label based in Berlin, Germany. History The independent music label City Slang was founded in 1990 as a European outpost for American indie rock. Thirty years later, the imprint represents a diverse roster o ...

released ''Head Home'' in Europe. O'Death continued to tour the US and Europe throughout 2007, putting out a limited edition (500 copies) vinyl version of ''Head Home'' on Ernest Jenning Record Co./City Slang, followed by a 7" single of two new songs, "Low Tide" and "I Think I'm Fine", as well as a cover of Pixies' "Nimrod's Son" as an internet bonus track. ''Head Home'' was nominated for a 2007 Shortlist Prize. On February 5, 2008, Gigantic Music released a new 7", which features the songs "Spider Home" and "Silk Hole". In August 2008, City Slang released O'Death's second LP, ''Broken Hymns,'' across Europe and Australia. The record was released in the United States later that year by

Kemado Records Kemado Records is an American record label based in New York City founded in 2002 by Andrés Santo Domingo and Tom Clapp. In 2006 the label released the ''Invaders (compilation album), Invaders'' compilation, which featured many of the label's b ...

br>.
The album included a new version of the single, "Lowtide", with a video directed by

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

-nominated,

Benh Zeitlin Benjamin Harold Zeitlin (; born October 14, 1982) is an American filmmaker, best known for directing and co-writing the 2012 film ''Beasts of the Southern Wild'', for which he received two Academy Award nominations. Early life Zeitlin was born i ...

. Kemado Records also released a 7" single in 2009 for the song, "Underwater Nightmare", b-sided with a cover of "Mongoloid" by

Devo Devo is an American new wave band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs ( Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a No. 14 ...

, and an original song called, "Prince of Beasts." In this time, O'Death toured with

Murder By Death ''Murder by Death'' is a 1976 American comedy mystery film directed by Robert Moore and written by Neil Simon. The film stars Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, M ...

, and later on with

Les Claypool Leslie Edward Claypool (born September 29, 1963) is an American rock music, rock musician. He is the founder, lead singer, bassist, and primary songwriter of the band Primus (band), Primus. Listed as one of the greatest bassists of all time by ...

, playing main support to both artists. After being on hiatus due to David Rogers-Berry undergoing cancer treatment, they released the album, ''Outside,'' in April, 2011. The first single, "Bugs", from the album was released on 26 January 2011, and the band toured extensively in the US and Europe in support of the record. The band's newest album, ''Out Of Hands We Go'', was released in October 2014 on

Northern Spy Records Northern Spy Records is a record label in Brooklyn, New York that specializes in avant-garde music, noise rock, and experimental jazz. The label was founded by Tom Abbs and Adam Downey in 2010 after working for ESP-Disk. History Northern Spy is ...

. The album was recorded and mixed by Caleb Mulkerin (of Big Blood, Fire on Fire, and Cerberus Shoal) in South Portland, ME.

Discography

Albums

* ''Carl Nemelka Family Photographs'' (Self-released, 2004) * '' Head Home'' (Self-released, 2006; Ernest Jenning Record Co., 2007) * '' Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin'' (

, 2008) * ''

Outside Outside or Outsides may refer to: * Wilderness Books and magazines * ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras * ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine Film, theatre and TV * Outside TV (formerly RSN Television), a television network * '' ...

'' (Ernest Jenning Record Co., 2011) * '' Out of Hands We Go'' (Northern Spy Records, 2014)

EPs and singles

* Carl Nemelka Family Photographs EP (Self-released, 2005) * “Low Tide” / ”I Think I’m Fine” / “Nimrod’s Son” 7” (Ernest Jenning Record Co., 2007) * “Spider Home” / “Silk Hole” 7” ( Gigantic Music, 2008) * "Brother" / "Home" 7" split single with Murder By Death (self-released by Murder By Death, 2009) * '' Underwater Nightmare'' 7” (Kemado Records, 2009)

Videography

Members

*Greg Jamie -

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

*Gabe Darling -

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

, guitar,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

*David Rogers-Berry -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

*Bob Pycior -

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

*Jesse Newman -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

Past members: *Dan Sager -

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

euphonium The euphonium ( ; ; ) is a tenor- and baritone-voiced valved brass instrument. The euphonium is a member of the large family of valved bugles, along with the tuba and flugelhorn, characterised by a wide conical bore. Most instruments have thr ...

keys Key, Keys, The Key or The Keys may refer to: Common uses * Key (cryptography), a piece of information needed to encode or decode a message * Key (instrument), a component of a musical instrument * Key (lock), a device used to operate a lock * ...

*Tristan Palozola -

, auxiliary *Andrew Platt -

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

References

External links

O’Death’s Official Website

O’Death on Myspace

O’Death’s Daytrotter.com session

Live O’Death show on BandsThatJam

City Slang's release of Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin

Interview with drummer David Rogers
in ''Chief Magazine''
Twang Nation's Review of O’ Death's Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odeath American country music groups Gothic country groups Musical groups from Brooklyn Musical groups established in 2003 City Slang artists Northern Spy Records artists