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 even simply just dark country) is a genre of country music rooted in early jazz, gospel, Americana, gothic rock and post-punk. It's lyrics focus on ...

band from

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. They combine elements of

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

, bluegrass, punk,

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and Americana music.

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 Purchase College or SUNY Purchase) is a Public college, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges ...

. 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), a collection of short stories by Roald Dahl Music * Kiss Kiss (band), an American indie rock band * "Kiss Kiss" (Chris Brown song) * "Kiss Kiss" (Kim Hyun-joong song) * "Kiss Kiss" (Ladies' ...

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,

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

Art Brut Art Brut are a Berlin-based English and German 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 Je ...

e, Langhorne Slim, THEUSAISAMONSTER, and

Old Time Relijun Old Time Relijun is a band founded in Olympia, Washington, United States and a longtime member of K Records. Current members consist of Germaine Baca on drums, Aaron Hartman on upright bass, Ben Hartman on saxophones, and Arrington de Dionyso o ...

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 label was founded in 1990 by former tour agent Christof Ellinghaus, exclusively to release The Flaming Lips' '' In A Priest Driven Ambulance (With Silver Sunshine S ...

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 Recordsbr>.
The album included a new version of the single, "Lowtide," with a video directed by Oscar-nominated, Benh Zeitlin. Kemado Records also released a 7" single in 2009 for the song, "Underwater Nightmare," b-sided with a cover of "Mongoloid" by

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock 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 ...

, and an original song called, "Prince of Beasts." In this time, O'Death toured with Murder By Death, and later on with Les Claypool, playing main support to both artists. The band also participated on

Vincent Moon Vincent Moon (real name Mathieu Saura, born 25 August 1979) is an independent filmmaker, photographer, and sound artist from Paris. He was the main director of the Blogotheque's Take Away Shows, a web-based project recording field work music vide ...

's The Take-Away Shows and
Ukulele Session
for the Belgian newspaper Le Soir, recorded b
Noahm
in their studio (New York). 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 a ...

. 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 ''Head Home'' is the second album and label debut from Brooklyn based gothic country band O'Death. The album was self-released in 2006, and remastered and re-released in 2007 when the band signed to the Ernest Jenning Record Co. label. Track li ...

'' (Self-released, 2006; Ernest Jenning Record Co., 2007) * '' Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin'' ( Kemado Records, 2008) * ''

Outside Outside or Outsides may refer to: General * Wilderness * Outside (Alaska), any non-Alaska location, as referred to by Alaskans Books and magazines * ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras * ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine Film, th ...

'' (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 act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, harmonium *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 use ...

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

, 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 usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

*David Rogers-Berry -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

*Bob Pycior -

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

*Jesse Newman -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

Past members: *Dan Sager -

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, 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 vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

, euphonium,

keys Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

*Tristan Palozola -

, auxiliary *Andrew Platt -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

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