Death From Above 1979 Artistfacts

Death From Above 1979 song list

Death From Above 1979 Artistfacts

2001-2006, 2011-
Sebastien GraingerVocals, drums
Jesse F. KeelerGuitar, bass
The members Death From Above 1979 have said that they met at a Sonic Youth concert, but that may or may not be true. As a joke, the band likes to make up stories about where they met. Some of the places they've told journalists they met include in prison, on a pirate ship, and at a gay bar. The band claims they also lived together in an empty funeral home at one time.
Death From Above bassist Jesse F. Keeler is known for being very reclusive. Keeler lives in the East York area of Toronto with his wife and daughter, but stays out of the public eye whenever possible. He even records in his home studio to avoid being seen around Toronto.
The group released their first EP under the band name Death From Above. They soon discovered that the name belonged to James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem. Apparently, Murphy had been using the name for a side project for quite some time. After a legal dispute with New York label DFA Records, Death From Above was forced to add "1979" to their moniker. In 2017, the band reverted back to their original Death from Above name.
On August 3, 2006, bassist Jesse F. Keeler announced that the band had officially broken up. He claimed they had decided to split nearly a year before but did one last tour so that the people around them could earn enough money to cover Christmas presents for their families. The reason for the split was disputes over musical style and creativity.
Death From Above 1979 vocalist/drummer Sebastien Grainger is the co-owner of a music studio. He part owns Giant Studios in Toronto, Ontario with Jimmy Shaw from the popular Canadian indie rock band Metric.
Sebastien Grainger played drums on the K-OS song "Sunday Morning." He also appears in the song's video, playing the part of a homeless man recruited to play drums in the rapper's band.
Keeler produced and composed tracks for the Mortal Kombat movie reboot.
They've oscillated between the names Death From Above 1979 and Death From Above. Asked by NME for the duo's reasons for dropping the '1979' from their name, Keeler replied: "A couple of years ago we dropped it from our tour posters. No one noticed so we kept doing it."

Grainger added: "The final straw was when I was making the art for our single 'Freeze Me.' I wanted to write the name out in ice, so I went on Amazon and ordered an ice cube tray in the alphabet. It came and there were no numbers. That was that."
It took a while, but they established a rapport in their songwriting that keeps them on the same page. "We're also at a point where we can complete each other's sentences in songwriting," Grainger told Songfacts in 2021. "That wasn't always the case. At the beginning, I just took whatever he gave me and went, 'OK. I'll write on that.' But now we're comfortable enough with one another musically that we can interchange."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

More Songfacts:

Fortunate SonCreedence Clearwater Revival

The Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Fortunate Son" is about how the Vietnam war was being fought by soldiers without the privilege or connections to get out of it. "It's the old saying about rich men making war and poor men having to fight them," John Fogerty said.

Tomorrow PeopleZiggy Marley & the Melody Makers

"Tomorrow People" by Ziggy Marley is the first song by a Marley to crack the US Top 40; the highest Bob got was #51 with "Roots, Rock, Reggae."

YellowColdplay

"Yellow" by Coldplay is a deep, meaningful song, but the title has a rather prosaic origin: it came from the phone directory, known as "the yellow pages."

1901Phoenix

The Phoenix song "1901" is about Paris. Their lead singer Thomas Mars said: "Paris in 1901 was better than it is now. So the song is a fantasy about Paris."