Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats (written as Uncle Acid and the deadbeats or simply Uncle Acid) are an English

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

band, formed in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

by Kevin Starrs in 2009. The band has released six studio albums and one live album. Their most recent studio album ''Nell' Ora Blu'', was released in May 2024 – as well as a number of singles. The band appears regularly at festivals around Europe.

Biography

The band's music is heavily influenced by the late 1960s when heavy metal was emerging.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

praised the band's ability to recreate a particular aspect of this era, describing the band as "celebrating the

Summer of Love The Summer of Love was a major social phenomenon that occurred in San Francisco during the summer of 1967. As many as 100,000 people, mostly young people, hippies, beatniks, and 1960s counterculture figures, converged in San Francisco's Haig ...

's soul-chilling autumn: a blasted landscape, post-flower power, resembling Altamont's killing fields, reeking of the

Manson Family The Manson Family (known among its members as the Family) was a Intentional community, commune, gang, and cult led by criminal Charles Manson that was active in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The group at its peak consisted of a ...

murders, and, naturally, sounding like a mish-mash of all of the apocalyptic musical forces that converged upon that era". The band has been described as "the original

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

band jamming in a cell with early

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

and

the Stooges The Stooges or Iggy and the Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, were an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexande ...

". In order to replicate the sound of that era, the band uses vintage instruments and recording equipment. The band’s name was taken from Rusty Day, the singer of

Cactus A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

, who later had a band called Uncle Acid and the Permanent Damage Band. Uncle Acid was originally the otherwise-anonymous frontman, although he has since changed his stage name to K.R. Starrs and now views the band members collectively as being "Uncle Acid". '' Blood Lust'' was the band's breakthrough album, with

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

describing it as "a glorious and idiosyncratic collection that quickly garnered rabid cult status amongst the worldwide doom fraternity" and

Decibel Magazine ''Decibel'' is a monthly heavy metal magazine published by the Philadelphia-based Red Flag Media since September 2004. It is currently the only monthly metal music magazine published in North America. Its sections include Upfront, Features, Revi ...

referring to it as "a groovy, evil delight".

described ''Blood Lust'' as "a mixture of psychedelic rock's harrowing comedown, garage and punk rock's nihilistic ascent, and the earliest manifestations of heavy metal's

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

-laced, nerve-damaging bludgeon". The album garnered substantial acclaim, for which K.R. Starrs remarked, "It kind of took everyone by surprise that the album took off the way it did". With the release of the band's third album, ''

Mind Control Mind control may refer to: Psychology and neurology * Brainwashing, the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques * Brain–computer interface * Hypnosis * Neuroprosthetics, the technology of cont ...

'', more 1970s pop influences were incorporated into the music. A concept album, K.R. Starrs explained that ''Mind Control'' is a "fictional story ... about a cult leader who comes down from the mountain and brainwashes his desert disciples through drugs, love, violence, and intimidation". According to

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the album has received "universal acclaim" with a score of 81 based on seven critics. Justin Norton, writing for ''

'', awarded the album a score of eight out of 10 and described the album as "a perfect union of

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...

riffs, fuzz and

Herschell Gordon Lewis Herschell Gordon Lewis (June 15, 1926 – September 26, 2016) was an American filmmaker, best known for creating the " splatter" subgenre of horror films. He is often called the "Godfather of Gore" (a title also given to Lucio Fulci), though h ...

Band members

Current members *"Uncle Acid" (Kevin R. Starrs) – lead guitar, lead vocals, organ (2009–present), rhythm guitar (2009–2012, 2017–2018) *Vaughn Stokes – rhythm guitar (2018–present), bass (2015–2018), backing vocals (2015–present) *Jon Rice – drums (2018–present) *Justin Smith – bass (2018–present) *George Hudson — guitar (2024–present) Former members *"Kat" – bass (2009–2011) *Dean Millar – bass, backing vocals (2012–2015) *"Red" – drums (2009–2011) *Thomas Mowforth – drums (2012) *Itamar Rubinger – drums (2013–2017) *Yotam Rubinger – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2012–2017) Timeline

Discography

Albums

*'' VOL. 1'' (2010) *'' Blood Lust'' (2011) *''

'' (2013) *'' The Night Creeper'' (2015) *'' Wasteland'' (2018) *'' Nell' Ora Blu'' (2024)

Live albums

*'' Slaughter On First Avenue'' (2023)

Singles

*"White Nights of Murder" / "I'll Cut You Down" – split with Danava (2011) *"Poison Apple" (2013) *"Under the Spell" (2013) *"Mind Crawler" (2013) *"Sharon Tate Experience – Christmas Killer" (2013) *"Down to the Fire" – Track 2 on ''Something in the Water – A Rise Above Compilation'' (2013) *"Runaway Girls" (2014) *"Waiting for Blood" (2015) *"Melody Lane" (2015) *"Pusher Man" / "Remember Tomorrow" (

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

cover) (2016) *"Crystal Spiders" (2017) *"Dead Eyes of London" (2017) *"Stranger Tonight" (2018) *"Shockwave City" (2018) *"Dead Eyes of London" (live version) (2023)

Tours

The band toured internationally during 2013 and 2014, and played at festivals including Roadburn,

Download In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar systems. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...

Hellfest Hellfest (), also known as Hellfest Summer Open Air, is a rock festival focusing on heavy metal music, held annually in June in Clisson, France. Its high attendance makes it the French music festival with the largest turnover. It is also one o ...

Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 53,354 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...

, Bukta Tromsø Open Air Festival, Montreaux Jazz Festival, Øya Festival, Valkhof,

Beacons A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

Reading and Leeds Festivals The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Fest ...

Off Festival OFF Festival is an alternative music festival series held annually since 2006. Until 2009 it was held at Słupna Park in Mysłowice, Poland in August and lasts four days. OFF Festival from 2010 takes place in Katowice in Dolina Trzech Stawow. Th ...

and

Soundwave Soundwave or Sound Wave may refer to: * Sound, a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave * Acoustic wave, the wave which carries sound Festivals * Soundwave (Australian music festival), an annual music festival 2007–2016 * Soundwave Fe ...

. They supported

on 16 dates of their Reunion Tour in Europe in November and December 2013. After touring in New Zealand, Australia and Europe in early 2014, their schedule for 2014 included Maryland Deathfest,

Nova Rock Festival The Nova Rock Festival, also just Nova Rock, is an Austrian rock festival that has existed since 2005 and takes place each year in June. It is located in Burgenland, the easternmost federal state of Austria, near Nickelsdorf and the Hungarian and ...

Eurockéennes The Eurockéennes de Belfort (; ) is one of France's largest rock music festivals. The Eurockéennes, a play on words involving ''rock'' (rock music) and ''européennes'' (Europeans), is a festival based in a nature reserve beside Lac de Malsau ...

, Copenhell and

Pukkelpop Pukkelpop is an annual music festival that takes place near the city of Hasselt, Belgium in mid- to late August. It is held within a large enclosure of fields and woodland—adjacent to a dual carriageway called ''Kempische Steenweg''—in the v ...

festival. Uncle Acid sold out 13 of 15 dates on their first-ever North American tour (supported by Danava) in September 2014. Uncle Acid completed a European tour for their new album Nell’Ora Blu, starting on the 16th Jan 2025 and ending on the 31st Jan 2025. In this tour they visited

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Straight after, they started their North American tour on the 5th Feb 2025 for the album, making their way from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, visiting 13 locations across

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and the USA, ending their journey and tour on the 22nd Feb 2025. In their Europe tour, a new band member joined them on tour name
George Hudson
who was previously a guitarist for rock band Purson. In their North American tour, Uncle Acid (including new member George) were joined by Musicia
Jonathan Hultén

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats English heavy metal musical groups Metal Blade Records artists Musical groups from Cambridge English stoner rock musical groups Musical groups established in 2009