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Biography
Refimprove|date=February 2007Infobox musical artist| name = Death from Above 1979| image =| caption =| background = group_or_band| origin = Toronto , Ontario , Canada | genre = Punk rock , dance-punk , noise rock | years_active = 2001–2006, 2011-present| label = Ache Records|Ache , Sound Virus Records|Sound Virus , Last Gang Records|Last Gang , Vice (magazine)#Record label|Vice Recordings , 679 Recordings|679 | associated_acts = MSTRKRFT , Femme Fatale (Canadian band)|Femme Fatale , nowrap|Black Cat #13, Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains | website = URL| http://www.deathfromabove1979.com/| current_members = Sebastien Grainger Jesse F. Keeler Death from Above 1979 are a Toronto cite web|url= http://twitter.com/sebby_g/status/20416741604 |title=Twitter / SEBASTIEN GRAINGER: any Wikipedia users out th |publisher=Twitter.com |date=2010-08-05 |accessdate=2011-07-15-based Canadian alternative rock / noise rock duo. Their only full-length album, '' You're a Woman, I'm a Machine , was released in late 2004. The band broke up in 2006, but announced a reunion in 2011.
History
Death from Above 1979 members are Jesse F. Keeler on bass guitar|bass , Synthesizer|synths , backing vocals and Sebastien Grainger on vocals , drum s. Without the help of a lead guitarist they played loud, heavy metal music|heavy metal influenced, dance-punk on a bass and drums combination. They were signed to Last Gang Records in Canada, Vice (magazine)#Record label|Vice Recordings in the U.S. and 679 Recordings in the UK.
Although they reportedly met at a Sonic Youth concert, Keeler and Grainger sometimes jokingly claimed to have met in prison, on a pirate ship, or in a gay bar, leading some journalists and fans to believe these hoaxes. They also claimed to have lived in a funeral home at one time. In 2005, the video for "Blood On Our Hands" won a VideoFACT award at the MuchMusic Video Awards . They played "Romantic Rights" on '' Late Night with Conan O'Brien '', with Grainger drumming for the first half of the performance and Late Night's Max Weinberg on the same drum set for the second.
Name change controversy
The band was originally named "Death from Above," a name which appears on their first released recording, a self titled EP. The duo changed their name after a legal dispute with New York City dance music label DFA Records , with the members of Death from Above 1979 denouncing LCD Soundsystem 's James Murphy (electronic musician)|James Murphy in messages on their website. Death from Above had been a working name of Murphy's for some time prior.
The reason for the seemingly arbitrary date of 1979 comes from Sebastien Grainger's birth date. Sebastian responded to being asked why they chose 1979 by saying "1979 is the year of my birth, 1979 is the year of Off the Wall (album)|Off the Wall , 1979 is the year of The Pleasure Principle (Gary Numan album)|The Pleasure Principle , 1979 is the last year of the last cool decade, 1979 is scratched into my arm, 1979 is scratched into my arm, 1979 is scratched into my fucking arm."
He also stated in an interview given to MTV: "I was born that year, and it's never going to be wrong."cite web|url= http://www.mtv.com/news/yhif/death_from_above_1979 |title=News - You Hear It First |publisher=MTV.com |date=2006-03-09 |accessdate=2011-07-15
Breakup
As of August 3, 2006 the band officially disbanded. Jesse F. Keeler posted the following message on the official Death from Above 1979 forum:
cquote|I know its been forever since I wrote anything on here. I'm sure by now most of you assume the band isn't happening anymore since there are no shows, no work on a new album, etc. well. I wanted to let you know that your assumptions are correct. We decided to stop doing the band... Actually we decided that almost a year ago. We finished off our scheduled tour dates because there were good people working for us who relied on us to make a living and buy Christmas presents and pay rent etc. We couldn't just cancel everything and leave them out to dry... Plus I think we wanted to see if we would reconsider after being out on the road. Our label was really hoping that we would change our minds, so they asked us to keep quiet about the decision for at first. Well, it's been quite a while now and we are still very sure the band won't happen again, so I guess it's time to say something.(...)|4=Jesse F. Keeler|5= http://www.deathfromabove1979.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi? act=ST& f=1& t=2041& st=#entry45497 iB::Topic::memodead link|date=July 2011 On MuchMusic's television program The New Music , Keeler further explained why the band split. He claimed it was due to disagreements with bandmate Grainger on many levels, including creative differences, music style, and more.
2011 reunion
On 4 February 2011, Sebastien Grainger officially announced, on the band's website, that the band was reforming.cite web|url= http://deathfromabove1979.com/some-words/ |title=Some Words |publisher=DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 |date= |accessdate=2011-07-15 Along with this blog post, the band's official website was updated.
The band has performed on the following dates:cite web|url= http://deathfromabove1979.com/shows/ |title=SHOWS |publisher=DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 |date=2011-07-09 |accessdate=2011-07-15
March 19, 2011 - SXSW - Austin, TX, USA
April 17, 2011 - 2011 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival|Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival – Indio, CA, USA
May 4, 2011 - London Forum|London HMV Forum - London, England
May 5, 2011 - London Forum|London HMV Forum – London, England
May 6, 2011 - Donaufestival – Krems, Austria
May 27, 2011 - Sasquatch Festival – George, WA, USA
July 7, 2011 - Camp Bisco|Camp Bisco X - Indian Lookout Country Club, Mariaville, NY, USA
July 16, 2011 – Ottawa Bluesfest – Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
July 17, 2011 - Festival d'été de Québec - Québec, Québec, Canada
July 30, 2011 - Osheaga Festival - Montreal, Quebec, Canada
August 4, 2011 - Metro Chicago|Metro - Chicago, IL, USA
August 5–7, 2011 - Lollapalooza - Chicago, IL, USA
August 13 - Summer Sonic - Tokyo, Japan
August 14 - Summer Sonic - Osaka, Japan
August 19, 2011 - Pstereo Festival - Trondheim, Norway
August 20, 2011 - Festival Paredes de Coura - Paredes de Coura, Minho, Portugal
August 26, 2011 - Reading and Leeds Festivals|Leeds Festival - Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
August 28, 2011 - Reading and Leeds Festivals|Reading Festival - Reading, Berkshire, England
September 3, 2011 - FYF Fest Los Angeles, CA, USA
September 18, 2011 - Austin City Limits Music Festival|Austin City Limits - Austin, TX, USA
September 24 - October 3, 2011 - Parklife Festival - Australia
October 6, 2011 - Academy 1 - Manchester, England with support from http://www.meband.com ME
October 7, 2011 - O2 Brixton Academy - London, England with support from http://www.meband.com ME
October 8, 2011 - Nalen - Stockholm, Sweden
October 15, 2011 - Treasure Island Music Festival - San Francisco, California, USA
October 27, 2011 - Sound Academy - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
October 28, 2011 - Sound Academy - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
November 18, 2011 - One Weekend Only - Banff, Alberta, Canada
November 19, 2011 - Edmonton Events Centre - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada *Official after party with a DJ set by Jesse F. Keeler.
November 21, 2011 - The Commodore Ballroom - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
December 3rd, 2011 – Ultra Music Festival - Brazil http://deathfromabove1979.com/shows/
The band has confirmed to play at Edgefest in Toronto on July 14, 2012. http://www.edge.ca/concertsandevents/edgefest.aspx
Discography
Studio album
'' You're a Woman, I'm a Machine (October 26, 2004) ( UK Album Chart|UK #84)
" Black History Month (song)|Black History Month " (June 13, 2005) (UK #48)
Videography
"Romantic Rights"
"Blood on Our Hands"
"Black History Month"
"Black History Month" (Sammy Danger Remix)
"Pull Out"
"Sexy Results" (MSTRKRFT Edition)
Related bands and projects
MSTRKRFT
MSTRKRFT is Jesse F. Keeler's electronic band along with producer Al-P. MSTRKRFT is currently signed to Dim Mak Records, and works out of Toronto. Their debut album was released on July 18, 2006. Two of their remixes can be found on Death from Above's 2005 release Romance Bloody Romance .
Bad Tits
Bad Tits is Sebastien Grainger's band with Joshua Reichmann, formerly of Jewish Legend and Tangiers. The duo began playing shows in early 2010, with Grainger on drums and samplers, Reichmann on guitar and keyboards, and both singing. They released a debut vinyl 7” and digital EP titled Garbage Night on the label Hand Drawn Dracula.
Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains
Sebastien Grainger released an EP with The Mountains titled American Names and later a self-titled LP, in 2008. The band toured for a year and a half, opening for such bands as Metric (band)|Metric , Albert Hammond Jr & Bloc Party in North America and Europe. They were signed with Saddle Creek Records in the USA, Outside Music in Canada and JVC in Japan.
Femme Fatale
Femme Fatale (Canadian band)|Femme Fatale was a band that featured Jesse F. Keeler before Death from Above 1979. It is considered to have a more hardcore sound than Death from Above. Sebastien Grainger played drums for Femme Fatale in live shows, as well. Jesse F. Keeler is planning on releasing a new album in the future, but MSTRKRFT is his top priority.
Black Cat #13
Black Cat #13 was a band that also featured Jesse F. Keeler, and was started in 1998, lasting until 2000, when the band split due to musical differences. The band released all vinyl releases which are very hard to find and are considered collector's items by DFA1979 fans. Unlike Femme Fatale, Sebastien had no role in Black Cat #13, though Al-P produced many of their releases.
Bloc Party
Death From Above 1979 covered the song "Luno" for the Bloc Party remix album Silent Alarm Remixed .
Media
Brazilian electro-rock band CSS (band)|Cansei de Ser Sexy released a single called " Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above ".
"Romantic Rights" was used in the opening credits for the CBC show The Hour (Canadian TV series)|The Hour , the MTV show Human Giant and the video game SSX on Tour .
"Black History Month" is featured in the video game Project Gotham Racing 3 .
"Little Girl" is featured in the video game Major League Baseball 2K7 and '' Tony Hawk's American Wasteland .
"Romantic Rights (Marczech Makuziak Remix)" is featured in the video game Tourist Trophy (video game)|Tourist Trophy .
A remix of "Romantic Rights" is heard in a club on an episode of CSI: NY .
Their song 'Sexy Results' was featured in the game Saint's Row 2 , on K12 FM (in game radio station).
Various Death from Above 1979 songs were featured in the 2006 run of German television show Die Super Nanny .
The Bloody Beetroots released a song called "Fucked From Above 1985" on their album Romborama .
Samples
listen
| filename = DFA79_Romantic_Rights.ogg | title = "Romantic Rights" | description = Sample of "Romantic Rights", from '' You're a Woman, I'm a Machine . | format = Ogg | filename2 = DFA79_Dead_Womb.ogg | title2 = "Dead Womb" | description2 = Sample of "Dead Womb", from Heads Up (Death from Above 1979 EP)|Heads Up . | format2 = Ogg
See also
Portal|Music of Canada
Music of Canada
Canadian rock
List of Canadian musicians
List of bands from Canada
:Category:Canadian musical groups
References
Reflist
External links
http://www.deathfromabove1979.com/ Death from Above 1979 official website
http://www.dfa1979.com/ DFA1979.com - Extensive discography information
myspace|deathfromabove1979
discogs artist
http://joely08.googlepages.com/ Death from Above 1979 Fansite A fansite with MP3s, information, and pics
http://www.mssvision.com/VOD/? vid=2DFANSRR Romantic Rights music video
DEFAULTSORT:Death from Above 1979 Category:Musical groups established in 2002 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2006 Category:Canadian indie rock groups Category:Canadian punk rock groups Category:Rock music duos Category:Musical groups from Toronto Category:Dance-punk musical groups
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