40 Below Summer is an American
nu metal band from
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
.
Forming in 1998, the band broke up seven years later in 2005. After two small reunions in 2006 and 2010, they permanently reformed in 2011. Their latest album, ''Transmission Infrared'', was released on iTunes on October 16, 2015.
History
Beginnings (1998–2000)
40 Below Summer came together after drummer and
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
vian native Carlos Aguilar met singer Max Illidge in a band named Alien.
Joey D'Amico met Max Illidge in late 1997, and later joined the duo playing guitar. Pete Savad joined soon after playing bass at first, then moving to guitar with the addition of Jordan Plingos on bass. The self-released ''Side Show Freaks'' (1999) was recorded with these lineups at their rehearsal location in the Music Building, NYC. Savad left the band as they got close to signing their first record deal. Moving Plingos to guitar, the band added Steve Ferreira who was soon replaced by
Puerto Rican-born Hector Graziani on bass. Soon after, ''
Rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...
'' (2000) was self-released.
''Invitation to the Dance'' (2001–2002)
In late 2000, the band's self-released CD ''Side Show Freaks'' found its way to No Name Management (known for acts such as
Slipknot and
Mudvayne
Mudvayne is an American heavy metal band formed in Peoria, Illinois in 1996. Known for their sonic experimentation, face and body paint, masks and uniforms, the band has sold over six million records worldwide, including nearly three millio ...
).
After partnering with No Name, numerous record label showcases on both coasts followed, with up to fifteen prominent labels showing interest in the band.
They eventually signed with
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...
's
London-Sire, although at one point they were close to signing with
Madonna's
Maverick Records
Maverick was an American entertainment company founded in 1992 by Madonna, Frederick DeMann, and Veronica "Ronnie" Dashev, and formerly owned and operated by Warner Music Group. It included a record label (Maverick Records), a film production ...
, another Warner label.
In March 2001, 40 Below Summer travelled to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
to commence recording their major label debut ''
Invitation to the Dance'' with famed heavy metal producer
GGGarth (
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commer ...
, Mudvayne,
Kittie).
Prior to the album's release, the band embarked on a poorly attended tour with
Chimaira
Chimaira () is an American heavy metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in August 1998, the group was a member of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal scene. The band's name is derived from the word Chimera, a monstrous creature in Greek my ...
and
Ill Niño
Ill Niño (stylized as ill niño) is an American metal band formed in Union City, New Jersey, in 1998 by drummer and percussionist Dave Chavarri. They have released seven studio albums, two EPs and one compilation album, totaling in over 1.3 mi ...
that was headlined by
Factory 81.
After several delays, ''Invitation to the Dance'' was eventually released on October 16, 2001 (some sources state September 11, 2001).
Two months after its release, London-Sire went out of business due to a
corporate merger
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspec ...
. This led to the band being briefly signed to parent label
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
during 2002.
Reprise
In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repe ...
/Warner Bros. subsequently re-issued ''Invitation to the Dance'',
although the band elected to leave the label in December 2002. Regarding their departure, Max Illidge stated "The label
ondon-Sirefolded. which essentially meant all our funding was cut. But we couldn't go sign another deal, because Warner Brothers owned London-Sire so Warner Brothers owned our contract. They didn't even know who the fuck we were. They folded a lot of other labels too. For literally like a year they had to sift through probably a thousand different acts that were on all these labels and say 'keep them, dump them'. We were like playing phone tag talking to this guy and that guy for like a year before we finally just said please let us go."
After performing on the
Jägermeister Music Tour
The Jägermeister Music Tour is a hard rock, hardcore punk, and heavy metal music tour that has been held twice a year in the United States since 2002. It is owned by the American importer of Jägermeister, Sidney Frank Importing.
History
Firs ...
with
Drowning Pool
Drowning Pool is an American rock band formed in Dallas, Texas, in 1996. The band was named after the 1975 film '' The Drowning Pool''. Since its formation, the band has consisted of guitarist C.J. Pierce, bassist Stevie Benton, and drummer M ...
,
Coal Chamber
Coal Chamber is an American nu metal band formed by Dez Fafara and Meegs Rascón in Los Angeles, California in 1993. Prior to Coal Chamber, the two had also created the band She's in Pain, in 1992. The original lineup also consisted of bassist ...
and Ill Niño, they started to write material for their second album. While the band started writing almost immediately after the release of their previous album, they threw out some fifteen songs before coming up with 21 that they reduced down to the final ten (plus a bonus track, "The Day I Died").
''The Mourning After'' (2003–2005)
Unsigned at this point,
Razor & Tie Records
Razor & Tie was an American entertainment company that consisted of a record label and a music publishing company. It was established in 1990 by Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld. Based in New York City (with additional offices in Los Angeles an ...
saw the band in February 2003 when they played in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
with
E.Town Concrete
E.Town Concrete, or sometimes called E-Town, is an American hardcore punk band from Elizabeth, New Jersey. They formed in 1995 and shortly thereafter released '' Time 2 Shine'', their first full-length album, in 1999 on the Resurrection A.D. lab ...
. A deal was signed in June just as the band entered the studio. The band would later strike a licensing deal with
Roadrunner Records for the album's
UK release.
Their second album ''
The Mourning After'' was released on October 28, 2003. Two singles were released from the album in "Self-Medicate" and "Taxi Cab Confession". The video for the former received a fair amount of airplay on
MTV2's ''
Headbangers Ball''. The band negotiated a release from their contract in 2004. Illidge stated "We had trouble with Razor & Tie. They really had no experience at the time putting out rock albums. They were known for like kids pop, shit like that. They just didn't know what they were doing, they had no clue. That shit was doomed. We ended up actually getting the rights to ''Mourning After'', and we got a little money out of the deal."
Not long after this Jordan was temporarily replaced by Ty Fury. The band then recruited Ryan Juhrs (formerly of
Flaw) to fill the spot officially and Carlos left soon after.
''The Last Dance'' (2006)
Despite breaking up, 40 Below Summer released ''
The Last Dance'' on October 31, 2006 via Crash Music Inc.
The album features nine demo versions of songs intended for their third LP, as well as a bonus
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
featuring footage of the band's "last" performance at the
Starland Ballroom (September 2005). The album sold 1,095 copies during its first week of release, according to
Nielsen SoundScan.
In October 2006, there was speculation that the band had reunited. This was later dismissed by guitarist Joey D'Amico who stated that the band was just going to do a few shows to promote the release of ''The Last Dance''. However, D'Amico also stated that there was a possibility that 40 Below Summer would record a new album in the future.
The band filmed a
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
for the single "Relapse" with director Frankie Nasso.
The song was originally written by 2005 guitarist Ty Fyhrie (Fury). Ty Fyhrie also played the 2nd guitar parts on "The Last Dance." Ty went on to work with the bands Murder Of Crows,
Dirty Little Rabbits
Dirty Little Rabbits was an American alternative rock band formed in 2007 in Johnston, Iowa. They are often referred to as a side project of Shawn Crahan, a member and founder of heavy metal music, heavy metal band Slipknot (band), Slipknot.
His ...
, FOMOFUIAB and Trapt.
In a radio interview with ''All Knowing Force'', Illidge stated that he expected 40 Below Summer would tour and play 5-10 shows a year. Although his main priority is with his new project
Black Market Hero
40 Below Summer is an American nu metal band from New Jersey.
Forming in 1998, the band broke up seven years later in 2005. After two small reunions in 2006 and 2010, they permanently reformed in 2011. Their latest album, ''Transmission Infrare ...
, he didn't rule out the possibility of the band one day recording another album.
The band did however re-issue their independently released
EP ''
Rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...
'' on July 31, 2007 via Crash Music. In addition to the five songs originally released, seven demo tracks were also included,
as well as all new cover artwork. ''Sideshow Freaks'' was also re-released on July 15, 2008 by ex-
Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch's record label
Driven Music Group.
Break-up (2006–2010)
Ali Nassar replaced Carlos, and after playing two shows under the 40 Below Summer moniker, they decided to rename the project ''Black Market Hero''.
[Apar, Corey " Black Market Hero Biography, ''Allmusic'', Macrovision Corporation] They were soon joined by 2 members of Flaw, drummer Micah Havertape and Ryan Jurhs. In January 2006, Graziani was forced to leave the band due to severe hearing loss he had suffered after years of performing.
Former Confliction bassist Matt Fortin joined in August 2006. In 2008, guitar virtuoso
Angel Vivaldi
Angel Vivaldi (born June 13, 1985) is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer. Voted "third best guitarist" in 2014 by ''Prog-Sphere'', he began his solo career in 2003. Vivaldi has self-released five records, ''Revelations'', ''The Speed ...
replaced Ryan as their permanent lead guitarist and quickly began to write fresh material for a full-length record. Black Market Hero's first single, "Freedom Dealer," was released in summer 2007.
''With Daggers Drawn'' was the newest project consisting of former members of 40 Below Summer. Angel Vivaldi performed live in With Daggers Drawn while actively in Black Market Hero during most of 2009. This was before the addition of Joey D'Amico and Max Illidge at which point he delved further into his solo instrumental career. With Daggers Drawn consisted of Max Illidge, Joey D'Amico, Ed Schiro, Tommy Costello, and Greg Telfeian.
Despite 40 Below Summer's status of being broken up at this time, Max would occasionally reunite the band to play shows at the Starland Ballroom. These shows were done as a way to draw attention to his other projects, as well as projects by friends and significant others of his (all of whom would open these "one-off" shows).
Reformation and Fire at Zero Gravity (2011–2014)
On July 12, 2010, it was announced that 40 Below Summer would play a reunion show on Saturday, October 2, 2010 at Starland Ballroom in
Sayreville, New Jersey
Sayreville is a borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. Sayreville is within the heart of the Raritan Valley region, located on the south banks of the Raritan River, and also located on the Raritan Bay. As of the 2010 United St ...
.
God Forbid
God Forbid is an American heavy metal band formed in East Brunswick, New Jersey in 1996.
History Early career (1999-2004)
Building up a following in the late 1990s by touring with bands such as GWAR, Nile, Cradle of Filth and Candiria, God Fo ...
and With Daggers Drawn played support. 40 Below played "Invitation to the Dance" from cover-to-cover.
On February 27, 2012, it was announced that Max and Joey had parted ways with the project With Daggers Drawn.
Soon after, the other members of the group disbanded to form rock band Pralaya, while Max and Joey returned to focusing on 40 Below Summer.
On April 3, 2012, Max Illidge posted a track list for an upcoming album entitled ''Fire at Zero Gravity'' on the band's Facebook. He also stated that "this album will f**k you sideways". It was announced on June 12, 2012, that Joey D'Amico would play drums instead of Carlos Aguilar. Prior to the release of the album, the band released two songs, "Bottom Feeder" and "My Name Is Vengeance" for free download.
On December 1, 2012, 40 Below Summer was scheduled to perform an album release show at
Starland Ballroom, although it was canceled due to damage to the venue from
Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
.
Fire at Zero Gravity was officially released on April 30, 2013 via Super Massive Music Group. In 2013, Illidge stated "Our goal is to just make music. We have fans. Because you don't need a record label anymore, we can keep making music for a long time."
''Transmission Infrared'' (2015–present)
In February 2015, the band announced on
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
that they were recording a new album.
The production of the album was mostly funded by a
crowdfunding campaign.
On August 31, 2016 the band premiered a music video for the song "Snake Charmer," which is included on ''Transmission Infrared'' and is one of the three songs streamed prior to the album's release.
In September 2017, the band parted ways with bassist Derrick Klybish and recruited Scare Don't Fear and Beyond Visible guitarist Tom McNamara as their new bass player. McNamara played his first shows with the band in October 2017. Derrick Klybish passed away on November 11, 2020.
Musical style and influences
Although the band are frequently labeled a
nu metal band, vocalist Max Illidge (in an interview) insisted otherwise and describes 40 Below Summer as an "aggressive rock band" which "explores a little bit of everything." 40 Below Summer's influences include
Tool
A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...
,
Incubus
An incubus is a demon in male form in folklore that seeks to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. In medieval Europe, union with an incubus was supposed by some to result in t ...
,
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Ch ...
,
Deftones
Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first f ...
,
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
,
Monster Magnet
Monster Magnet is an American rock band. Hailing from Red Bank, New Jersey, the group was founded in 1989 by Dave Wyndorf (vocals and guitar), John McBain (guitar) and Tim Cronin (vocals and drums); they have since gone through several lineup ...
,
Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...
,
Yngwie Malmsteen
Yngwie Johan Malmsteen ( ; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 22 studio albums in a career spanning ov ...
,
Candiria
Candiria are an American progressive metal band from Brooklyn, New York. Formed in 1992, the band was part of the second wave of New York hardcore, but subsequently expanded its performance to also play jazz, hip hop and progressive rock.
The ...
,
Faith No More and
Soundgarden
Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Yama ...
.
Members
;Current
* Max Illidge – vocals (1998-2005, 2006, 2010, 2011-present)
* Joey D'Amico – rhythm guitar (1998-2005, 2006, 2010, 2011-present)
* Anthony Devizio – drums (2012–present)
* David Mondragon – lead guitar (2014–present)
* Tom McNamara – bass guitar (2017–present)
;Former
* Peter Savad – bass guitar (1998) guitar (1998–2000)
* Carlos Aguilar – drums (1998-2005, 2006, 2010)
* Steve Ferreira – bass guitar (2000)
* Jordan Plingos – lead guitar (2000–2004, 2006, 2010, 2011–2014), bass guitar (1998–2000)
* Hector Graziani – bass guitar (2000–2005, 2006, 2010)
* Ty Fury – lead guitar (2004–2005)
* Ryan Jurhs – lead guitar (2005, 2006, 2010)
* Ali Nassar – drums (2005)
* Derrick Klybish – bass guitar (2012–2017, died in 2020)
; Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
* ''Side Show Freaks'' (1999)
* ''
Invitation to the Dance'' (2001)
* ''
The Mourning After'' (2003)
* ''
The Last Dance'' (2006)
* ''Fire at Zero Gravity'' (2013)
* ''Transmission Infrared'' (2015)
EPs
* ''
Rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...
'' (2000)
Videography
References
External links
Official websiteon
archive.org
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:40 Below Summer
American nu metal musical groups
Alternative rock groups from New Jersey
Musical groups established in 1998
Musical groups disestablished in 2006
American alternative metal musical groups
Musical quintets
1998 establishments in New Jersey
Razor & Tie artists
Warner Records artists
Reprise Records artists