David DeFeis
American heavy metal singer
David DeFeis (born January 4, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter and producer. He is the main composer, leader and sole constant member of the heavy metal band Virgin Steele.
Biography.
DeFeis comes from a theatrical family: his father is a Shakespearian actor who runs the theatre company "The Arena Players Theatre" while his sister Doreen is a gifted opera singer who performs all over Europe.
A big fan of European classical music, at 9–10 years old he was introduced to rock music by hearing the band Stalk, with his brother Damon (on organ and piano) and his sister Danae (on vocals), playing in the basement beneath his room. Damon DeFeis was later in the band Creation with future Kiss drummer Eric Carr, and died in the Gulliver's nightclub fire in 1974.
He began piano lessons at the age of eight. By age eleven, he began his career with Long Island's local heavy metal band Phoenix.
At 16 years old, he met for the first time his future partner Edward Pursino when DeFeis's band at the time, Mountain Ash, was auditioning for a gig at the high school dance. Mountain Ash was mainly a Black Sabbath cover band and, after the performance of the song "War Pigs", Pursino came over and introduced himself to DeFeis.
At the beginning of the 1980s, together with Jack Starr and Joey Ayvazian, he started the first line-up of the band Virgin Steele. They debuted in 1982 with the song "Children of the Storm" included in the compilation "U.S. Metal Vol. II".
In 1985, the guitarist Edward Pursino replaced Starr. Among the years, in their longtime relationship in Virgin Steele, DeFeis and Pursino released a lot of heavy metal classics such as the albums: "Noble Savage", "Invictus", "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I", "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II".
DeFeis collects swords: his collection includes more than 20 items. In studio, sometimes he uses his swords to create particular effects for the Virgin Steele songs, and during the concerts he usually burns a sword on stage.
Voice and musical style.
DeFeis is a classically trained pianist, with a bachelor's degree in composition from S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook. As vocalist, he is self-taught, possessing around four octaves and a four notes: E2-B6. He said he was very much influenced by guitar players like Jimmy Page, Brian May and Eddie Van Halen, because he wanted to do with his voice what they did with their guitars. He is also influenced by rock singers like Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant, David Coverdale, Ronnie James Dio and Ian Gillan.
The major part of the lyrics DeFeis writes are mythological, dealing with subjects from especially Greek, Sumerian and Christian mythology. All of them are based on real life in some form or another.
Metal opera and theatre.
Between the end of the 1990s and the 2000s (decade), he wrote music for actors based on the Oresteia and the Greek myths related by Aeschylus. According with German artists Walter Weyers and Martina Krawulsky, with the name "Klytaimnestra": "The House of Atreus" Metal Opera (musically available on the Virgin Steele's albums "The House of Atreus Act I", "The House of Atreus Act II") was performed on stage in Germany theaters by Landestheater Production.
The premiere of "Klytaimnestra" in Memmingen, June 5, 1999, has been the first ever regular musical theatre show based on heavy metal concepts.
After "Klytaimnestra" success, David DeFeis & Landestheater Production extracted a second metal opera musical, named "The Rebels", from the previous Virgin Steele's albums of the Marriage of Heaven and Hell trilogy ("The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I", "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II", "Invictus").
In 2003, the same team released a third Metal Opera, named "Lilith", based on the material of album "Visions of Eden". "Visions of Eden" was later on published in CD in 2006.
Producer.
DeFeis owns his personal recording studio called: "The Hammer of Zeus" (sometimes also called "The Wrecking Ball Of Thor").
Virgin Steele's albums are produced by DeFeis.
He also produced albums released by other artists such as: "Out of the Darkness" and "No Turning Back" by Jack Starr, "Nightmare Theatre" by Exorcist, "Stay Ugly" by Piledriver, "The Sign of the Jackal" by Damien Thorn, "Sin Will Find You Out" by Original Sin.
References.
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Noble Savage (album)
Noble Savage is the third studio album of the American heavy metal band Virgin Steele, released in 1985 by Cobra Records.
Development.
Before the recording of "Noble Savage", original guitarist Jack Starr resigned from the band and was replaced by Edward Pursino, an old friend of band frontman David DeFeis, whose guitar playing immediately fit very well with Virgin Steele's music and style. Pursino's contribution came also in the form of new musical ideas and compositions, and he is still a mainstay in Virgin Steele's line-up. DeFeis considers this album one of the most important in the history of the band.
"Noble Savage" was the first album where the band was completely satisfied with its music and sound. It is also the first album on which the current musical style of the band is fully manifested, containing grandiose compositions with multi-layered keyboard sound and more sophisticated arrangements. "Noble Savage" has become one of the most popular Virgin Steele albums and it includes the songs "We Rule the Night" and "Noble Savage", which the band still plays in concert.
Reissues.
"Noble Savage" was reissued in 1997 on CD by Noise Records with six bonus tracks. The remastered edition of 2008 by Dockyard 1 added two other extra tracks. In May 2011, the album was reissued once more by Steamhammer Records, a subsidiary of SPV, with the same track list as the 1997 release, but with an added bonus CD containing 13 additional tracks.
References.
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Angels of the Apocalypse
Angels of the Apocalypse is the second full-length album by Timo Tolkki's Finnish metal opera project Avalon, released on May 16, 2014 in Europe and four days later in North America.
It is the second part of the trilogy created by Tolkki, written as a prequel to the previous album "The Land of New Hope".
As with the previous effort, several heavy metal singers were invited to play the characters of the story of the album, with female vocalist Elize Ryd of Amaranthe reprising her role and Floor Jansen (Nightwish, ReVamp) playing the main character. The rest of the cast includes Fabio Lione (Rhapsody of Fire, Angra), David DeFeis (Virgin Steele), Simone Simons (Epica), Caterina Nix (solo Chilean singer who is having her debut album produced by Timo Tolkki) and Zachary Stevens (ex-Savatage, Circle II Circle).
Background and recording.
The album started to be composed in August 2013 in Greece, to where Timo travelled to seek inspiration.
In October 2013, Timo Tolkki launched a news website for the project in which he announced the album, which was provisionally titled "Avalon II". Tolkki also announced he would be working with former Stratovarius bandmates Tuomo Lassila (drums) and Antti Ikonen (keyboards).
In late January, Tolkki revealed the name of the album and the remaining singers. Timo also announced that there will be a contest for guitar and keyboard players, with the winners getting a chance to perform a solo with him in one of the songs.
Once again, the artwork was created by French artist Stanis W. Decker.
Timo stated he created some songs with a specific singer in mind. The title-track will clock around 10:00. He also described the music of the album as "darker and heavier" than its predecessor, which was necessary due to the "Apocalyptic scenes described in the lyrics".
References.
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Virgin Steele
American heavy metal band
Virgin Steele is an American heavy metal band from New York, originally formed in 1981.
The band released a few career highlights albums ("Noble Savage", "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I", "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II" and "Invictus"). In recent years, they have enriched their sound with elements of musical theatre, progressive and symphonic metal, developing and writing projects such as the metal opera "The House of Atreus" (based on "Oresteia" and the Greek myth related to the Atreides) in 1999/2000 and the soundtrack for an imaginary movie "Visions of Eden (A Barbaric Romantic Movie of the Mind)" or "The Lilith Project" (based on the Sumerian legend of Lilith) in 2006.
History.
Origins.
At the beginning of the 1980s, Jack Starr (a guitarist of French origin) was looking for the right elements to form the ultimate heavy metal band. The first to answer his call was drummer Joey Ayvazian and together they started jamming and auditioning singers. Future L.A. Guns bassist Kelly Nickels joined them in 1981. They auditioned around 40 singers before David DeFeis was introduced to Jack by a friend of Joey.
With an interpretation of "No Quarter" by Led Zeppelin, "Child in Time" by Deep Purple and "Catch the Rainbow" by Rainbow, David got the vacant role of singer, bringing with him bassist Joe O'Reilly. At the end of 1981 the first line-up was ready.
The debut album.
Virgin Steele debuted in 1982 with "Children of the Storm" (a song loved by Metallica), included in the compilation "U.S. Metal Vol. II". Later they issued their self-titled first album. Their style was and remains very original, a melding of American heavy metal and Rainbow's epic atmospheres. DeFeis, who also plays piano and keyboards, shows a particular liking for pompous and melodic arrangements, while Starr goes for a harder and more immediate assault. Fan mail was becoming more interesting. Two letters in particular stand out, one from a young band, who were from Seattle. Their name was Queensrÿche. The other, from California, also a band, who called themselves Metallica.
The second album.
The following year (1983) the second album "Guardians of the Flame" was supported by a mini LP called "Wait for the Night" ("A Cry in the Night" in the European version). After the album, Jack Starr started recording his first solo album, "Out of the Darkness". Meanwhile, DeFeis continued the band with Edward Pursino. As stated in the Virgin Steele's website "we never actually asked Edward to join the band, he just came down one day and never left".) After a lawsuit won by Starr over the name "Virgin Steele", he sold it to DeFeis.
"Noble Savage" and "Age of Consent".
Supported by Pursino, whose style better fit DeFeis' songwriting than Starr's had, Virgin Steele new lineup recorded "Noble Savage", which melds classic and epic music. Today, this album is still considered one of the most important manifests of heavy and epic metal worldwide. Between 1985 and 1986, some members of Virgin Steele strongly contributed to an album published under the name Exorcist called "Nightmare Theatre" and to an album published under the name Piledriver called "Stay Ugly". David DeFeis only produced and helped these albums even if some rumors said that he and Pursino were behind these bands.
Finally, the band managed to go to Europe, supporting Manowar on tour and gaining great approval from all quarters because of their live performances. When things started to come together, though, some inexplicable laws seemed to apply and the following album, "Age of Consent", got a very narrow distribution and ended up a complete commercial failure. At this point, Virgin Steele were in their darkest period: their label shut down and Joe O'Reilly decided to leave, forcing the band to stop playing for a while.
During this break, David DeFeis graduated in piano and composition and played live with a semi-improvised band called "Smoke Stark Lightning", featuring some famous musicians like his old mate Jack Starr and drummer Bobby Rondinelli.
The comeback.
In 1993, Rob De Martino was chosen as the new bass player and Virgin Steele came back with "Life Among the Ruins", an album of Whitesnake-influenced hard rock with a strong bluesy vein. The song "Last rose of Summer" is the highlight of the cd. Featuring none of the trademark epic and mythology-based elements of the band, "Life Among the Ruins" is probably the most atypical release in the Virgin Steele discography and disliked by many die-hard classic metal fans. Quite interesting is the fact the American version has got a different cover and a bonus-track called "Snakeskin Voodoo Man" (published as a stand-alone single too) while many video-clips, taken from this album, were included into the home-video "Tale Of The Snakeskin Voodoo Man".
"The Marriage of Heaven and Hell".
One year later, the band returned to the original sound with "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I", an album of epic metal full of melodic and symphonic influences, very progressive oriented. This work (a concept regarding the different side of human nature) includes, among the others, the song "Life Among the Ruins" which is not related to the previous album with the same title.
Virgin Steele went back to Europe supporting Manowar and Uriah Heep and at the beginning of 1996 released "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II", following the concept and the style of the first one. The band appeared also on the compilation "A Tribute to Judas Priest: Legends of Metal – Volume II" playing a raw cover of the song "Screaming for Vengeance". Another Judas Priest cover, "Desert Plains", is included as a bonus track in the "Age of Consent" album reissue.
After another European tour (this time as headliner) in 1996, a new album was released in March 1998: the third and final chapter of the "Marriage" saga, titled "Invictus". This was their heaviest album at the time and also very epic. Lyrically it is a concept album about humanity's rebellion against a pantheon of evil, uncaring gods. The band played at the Wacken Open Air festival in 1997 and in 1998. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell trilogy signs also the debut of drummer Frank Gilchriest. Always in 1998, Virgin Steele headlined a real long new European tour with Mark Reale's Riot and Stigmata IV as supporting acts. This tour included the headliner performance at the biker festival "Motorock" in Cremona (Italy).
Metal opera.
Between the years 1999 and 2000, the band released a metal opera, writing the albums "The House of Atreus Act I" and "The House of Atreus Act II", intended to be played by actors in theaters.
The subject of the metal opera was "Oresteia" and the Greek myths related by Aeschylus, very familiar to David DeFeis, because of his father's theaterical background. On the albums all vocals and orchestrations are managed by David DeFeis himself.
Just before "The House of Atreus Act II", the single "Magick Fire Music" was published, with some metal opera outtakes. Inspired by Virgin Steele's metal opera, the German band Tobias Sammet's Avantasia wrote various albums using the same format. David DeFeis appears as special guest on the track: "The Final Sacrifice" included in the Avantasia's second album. After the show at the Bang Your Head!!! festival in 2000 without a bass player, in 2001 Virgin Steele toured with HammerFall and Freedom Call with the new bass player Josh Block.
The 20th anniversary.
In 2002, the band released two compilations to celebrate the 20th anniversary. "The Book of Burning" consists of a mix of previously unreleased songs and new compositions created by David DeFeis in collaboration with original guitarist Jack Starr. The songs were written at the beginning of the 1990s and previously unofficially appeared in the underground, with Starr at the guitar, with the name "Sacred Demos". The album contained also re-recordings of various songs from the first two albums with Josh Block, and not Jack Starr, supporting Pursino at the second guitar. "Hymns to Victory" instead is a best-of album covering the band's career from "Noble Savage" to their latest album "The House of Atreus Act II".
The way to manage the reissues of the first two albums "Virgin Steele" and "Guardians of the Flame", never published in cd before, created one more time problems between DeFeis and Starr so they decided to truncate any sort of relationship. DeFeis managed the reissues all by himself remastering the original albums and adding new bonus tracks. The EP "A Cry in the Night" was included into the "Guardians of the Flame" CD.
Side projects.
David DeFeis (keyboards and backing vocals) appears as special guest on the first two Immortally Committed albums in the tracks "Epic" and "Council in Hell". He, Edward Pursino, Josh Block and Exorcist's drummer Geoff Fontaine played some live dates with the New York cover band Carnival of Souls. Between the years 2002 and 2005, the band headlined a large number of heavy metal festivals such as the "Agglutination Festival" (2003, Italy), the "Tradate Iron Fest" (2004, Italy), the "Keep It True V Festival" (2004, Germany) and the "Ragnarock Festival" (2005, Netherlands).
"A Barbaric Romantic Movie of the Mind".
David DeFeis also created his own recording studio called "The Hammer of Zeus" (sometimes also called "The Wrecking Ball of Thor"). In September 2006, after 6 years without an all-new studio album, the band released its 11th full-length "Visions of Eden". The album revolves heavily around Gnostic beliefs and critically revisits the traditional Christian mythology with regards to the creation of the Earth and the Biblical accounts of Adam and Eve. An even darker, more melancholic drama than the House of Atreus saga, the story revolves around Lilith, the first wife of Adam and a symbol of female strength and independence. Representing the female side of the true, higher god, she suffers under the lusting, jealous Demiurge who represents the Christian god, and as an emancipated woman who could not get along with the dominant Adam stands in stark contrast to Eve. Adam's second wife is portrayed as a docile, subservient partner created by the demiurge at the request of Adam, who could not cope with an independent woman on equal footing with him.
"Visions of Eden (A Barbaric Romantic Movie of the Mind)" or "The Lilith Project" is based on the Sumerian legend of Lilith and it is intended as the soundtrack for an imaginary movie. The band is looking for a producer to bring this concept album story to screen.
Recent activities.
In 2007, the band played at the Power Prog VIII Festival (Atlanta, Georgia) and at the Evolution Festival (Florence, Italy). David DeFeis and Josh Block appear on the Polish band Crystal Viper EP in the cover of Virgin Steele's song "Blood and Gasoline" from "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I" album. Between 2007 and 2008 the out of print albums "Noble Savage", "Age of Consent", "Life Among the Ruins", "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I" and "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II" were reissued (with bonus tracks) by the German label Dockyard1. There are also rumors that a DVD live album is planned, a three hours show recorded at the Downtown Club (Long Island, NY) in 2002 and an acoustic concert played in 2000 in München should be part of it.
A new Virgin Steele album, entitled "The Black Light Bacchanalia", was released at the end of October 2010 for the new label SPV/Steamhammer while, in 2011, the whole back-catalogue, from "Noble Savage" onwards, will be reissued again with faithfully restored covers and booklets, bonus tracks and liner notes.
The first ever Virgin Steele tribute album "By the Gods: A Noble Tribute to Virgin Steele" was released on October 31, 2015, by Majestic Metal Records. It features a 12-page full-color booklet with exclusive liner notes by Virgin Steele's frontman David DeFeis.
In February 2017, the album Visions of Eden was reissued as a double CD containing a remixed version and a remastered recording of the original mix.
Three years after Nocturnes of Hellfire & Damnation, in 2018 the box-set Seven Devils Moonshine is published containing 3 new albums ("Ghost Harvest – Vintage I – Black Wine for Mourning", "Ghost Harvest – Vintage II – Red Wine for Warning", "Gothic Voodoo Anthems") plus the re-issues of The Book of Burning and Hymns to Victory.
Five years after "Seven Devils Moonshine", the band released their first album since then, and their first single-CD album since "Nocturnes of Hellfire & Damnation", "The Passion of Dionysus", on June 30, 2023.
Style.
Barbaric romantic music.
Virgin Steele play what they call symphonic, romantic and bombastic music with many elements taken from classical music and fantasy/mythological lyrics based on real life events. David DeFeis (all vocals, keyboards, orchestration, synth bass, swords and effects) about Virgin Steele's music: "From a whisper to a scream, barbaric, romantic, bombastic, yet subtle, grandiose, yet earthy. A call, a shout, an invocation to Freedom and the continual awakening to the awareness that every moment of life is lived to its fullest potential. It is a force, a sacred quest which drives Virgin Steele on".
Typically, during Virgin Steele's concerts a sword is burnt on stage. In some special show they used to play a long live set called "Three hour extravaganza". Fans consider "The Burning of Rome (Cry for Pompeii)" and "Emalaith" some of the most representative songs of the band.
Many Virgin Steele songs are mythological, often dealing with subjects from Greek and Christian mythology. Most of their albums are concept albums. The later albums tend to be more epic and mythological while, on the early albums (up until "Life Among the Ruins"), many songs are more real-life based stories of love and sex. According to David DeFeis, all the lyrics he writes are based on real life in some form or another.
Metal opera and theatre.
A metal opera is a mix between rock opera, Broadway style and "heavy metal adapted for theater actors' live performances". According to German artists Walter Weyers and Martina Krawulsky, with the name "Klytaimnestra – The House of Atreus", metal opera (musically available on the Virgin Steele's albums "The House of Atreus Act I", "The House of Atreus Act II") was performed on stage in Germany theaters by Landestheater Production. The result, very different from a heavy metal concert, is a metal based dark Broadway style musical really powerful and energetic with actors only. The premiere of "Klytaimnestra" in Memmingen, June 5, 1999, has been the first ever regular musical theatre show based on heavy metal concepts. After "Klytaimnestra"'s success, David DeFeis & Landestheater Production extracted a second metal opera musical, named "The Rebels", from the previous Marriage of Heaven and Hell trilogy ("The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I", "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II", "Invictus").
In 2003, the same team released a third metal opera, named "Lilith", based on the material of album "Visions of Eden". "Visions of Eden" was later on published in CD in 2006. In a different way to the previous two operas. Regarding the album, David DeFeis declared: "I don't think of it as a Metal Opera. What it really is, is the soundtrack for a major motion picture that has yet to be made! And by the hammer of Zeus, I will make this film one day. I call this work a Barbaric Romantic movie of the mind.".
Band members.
Current members
Former members
Discography.
Compilations.
(*) re-issues included in 2018 box set Seven Devils Moonshine
References.
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To the Moon and Back (Savage Garden song)
1996 single by Savage Garden
"To the Moon and Back" is a song by Australian pop duo Savage Garden, released in Australia on 4 November 1996 as the second single from their self-titled 1997 album. It was the follow-up to their first hit "I Want You" and won the 1997 ARIA Music Award for Song of the Year. The song became the band's first number-one single in their native country, reached number three on the UK Singles Chart, and peaked at number 24 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100.
Background.
In an interview with Apple Music about their debut album, singer Darren Hayes explained the origins of the song.
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />"I was a big science fiction fan - I loved "Blade Runner". I wrote it from that point of view, or the idea of what it means to be human. That idea of yearning to express your emotions and your feelings and for that to be legitimized. There was also someone in my life whose persona was very standoffish and who pushed everyone who loved her away. But I could see underneath that hard shell, there was so much pain and all that stuff that I identified with - mum never loved her much, daddy never kept in touch, these are things actually bothering this person."
Release and chart performances.
After the success of their debut single, "I Want You", there were high expectations for the song as its follow-up. In Australia, it became the duo's first number-one single. In July 1997, following the song's release in the United States, the song entered the top 40 of the "Billboard" Hot 100 for only one week, peaking at number 37 the final week of August 1997. In the United Kingdom, the single was originally released in September 1997 but failed to chart within the top 40, stalling at number 55 for one week.
Subsequently, "Truly Madly Deeply" became an international hit, reaching number one on several music charts, including the "Billboard" Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. While the song did not initially experience success in the US, the success of "Truly Madly Deeply" inspired Savage Garden and Columbia Records to remix "To the Moon and Back" in 1998 and release it again. In the wake of such success, the band decided the song had greater potential to become a hit than its first chartings had borne out, and so instead of mining a fourth single from the album as they had for the Australian market, they decided to mix a shorter edit of "To the Moon and Back" and re-release it internationally in 1998. This time the song peaked at number 24 in the US. In the UK, the single debuted at number three, becoming Savage Garden's biggest hit in the country. This prompted the re-release of their debut single, remixed as "I Want You '98".
Critical reception.
Larry Flick from "Billboard" wrote, "The follow-up to the platinum-selling "I Want You" should keep the momentum of this charming Australian duo building quite nicely. Wisely, this track doesn't attempt to mimic the quirky, almost novelty-driven sound of its predecessor. Instead, it affirms partners Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones' talent for crafting immediately catchy hooks and solid, sing-along choruses. Once again, the music warmly revisits the new-romantic sound of the '80s with its melodramatic blend of satiny synths and jittery guitars." A reviewer from "Music Week" rated the song three out of five, saying that it is not as hook-driven as "I Want You", "but it's still commercial enough to win over ILR and clinch a Top 30 place."
Music videos.
There have been three different music videos for the song. The first, accompanying the Australian release of the song, was directed by Catherine Caines and Chris Bentley, and was shot in black and white. This version features Hayes and Jones performing on what appears to be a space vessel, whilst a female passenger watches.
The second, accompanying the United States and original United Kingdom release of the song, was directed by Nigel Dick, and features Darren and Daniel performing in an apartment in Malibu whilst a female records the performance. It was filmed between 17 and 18 April 1997. This American video features Hayes with long hair.
The third version was filmed in New York and features a sad-looking teenage girl traveling by the metro to meet her friends (apparently other misfits like herself). This video features Hayes with short hair, and is the most well-known of the three versions. A version of the video accompanied by a dance remix of the track was also released, which included some footage of the second video.
Track listings.
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Credits and personnel.
Credits are adapted from the "Savage Garden" album booklet.
Studios
Personnel
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Charts.
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References.
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Savages (band)
English rock band
Savages are an English rock band that formed in 2011 in London. Their debut album, "Silence Yourself" was released on 6 May 2013 via Matador Records. It reached number 19 in the UK Albums Chart in May 2013, and was critically acclaimed. It peaked at number 5 on the Irish and the UK Independent Albums Chart, and at number 13 on the US "Billboard" Independent Albums chart. The band's second album "Adore Life", was released on 22 January 2016. Both albums were nominated for the Mercury Prize, in 2013 and 2016 respectively.
The band has not released new music since 2016 or performed live since 2017.
History.
Savages are a rock band from London. The band's guitarist Gemma Thompson had come up with the name for the band and had been discussing the idea with singer Jehnny Beth for almost a year. Thompson says the band's name was derived from books, such as "Lord of the Flies", that she read when she was younger. The band was eventually formed in October 2011 and they had their first gig in January 2012, supporting rock band British Sea Power. Their manager John Best also manages Sigur Ros. "The Observer" has said of Savages: "it's not exactly sexy, it's not funny and they're not going to be rolling around in mud like the Slits. But it's the closest thing to art that "post-punk"... has offered in a while". The "New Musical Express" described their performances as "frottage-inducingly intense affairs".
The group's first released tracks, a double A-side in June 2012, were "Flying to Berlin" and "Husbands" on the Pop Noire label. "The Guardian" wrote: "Husbands makes us dream of what it must have been like to have been around to hear, in real time, the debut releases by Public Image Ltd, Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division, to feel, as those incredible records hit the shops, that unearthly power and sense of a transmission from a satellite reality." In October, their concert at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York received good reviews. The "Chicago Reader" noted that their set was "influenced by Siouxsie & the Banshees, but with an anthemic quality that makes me think of PJ Harvey and heavy doses of the rhythmic jaggedness and angularity of British postpunk." The group expressed their liking for these bands, and added: "We listened to a lot of different music [...] Our influences are male and female in equal measure."
On 9 December 2012, the BBC announced that the band had been nominated for the Sound of 2013 poll.
The band's first album, "Silence Yourself", was released on 6 May 2013 via Beth's own label Pop Noire and Matador Records.
Savages played on the second day of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in 2013 and were well received by reviewers. In 2014 the band, together with the Japanese art-rock four-piece Bo Ningen, performed "Words To The Blind", a sonic poem where both bands play simultaneously.
On two occasions the band asked local choreographers in London and New York City to perform a dance piece on a 30-minute version of their track ‘Dead Nature’ in the middle of the crowd. In a Pop Matters interview with Guy Mankowski the band discussed how at another of their events at the Ministry of Sound the crowd were placed around the musicians in order to ‘create total immersion and intimacy’.
"Husbands" was featured during the end credits of the 2015 science fiction film "Ex Machina".
In July 2015, Savages, A Dead Forest Index and choreographer/dance artist Fernanda Muñoz-Newsome created two nights of performance as part of "Station to Station: A 30-day Happening" at the Barbican Centre in London. The performances took place in the Barbican Gallery and incorporated music, poetry, dance and the interplay of light and darkness. The performances were recorded and released on vinyl at Station to Station.
In November 2016, the band curated their own program during the tenth Anniversary Edition of Le Guess Who? Festival in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The program included performances by Beak, Tim Hecker, Jessy Lanza, Bo Ningen and Hannah Peel.
The band's second album "Adore Life", was released on 22 January 2016 via Matador Records. The band then went on a world tour in support of the album, wrapping in July 2017 at Presqu'île de Malsaucy in Belfort, France. The band has not performed together or released new material since then, with each member instead focusing on other projects.
Side projects.
Beth released her first solo album "To Love Is to Live" in June 2020. She also actively teamed up with other musicians, such as the Strokes' frontman Julian Casablancas; as duet singer for a Sort Sol and Lydia Lunch cover, "Boy/Girl", Trentemøller; as featured artist in the song "Complicated" and as singer-songwriter for the song "River in Me", and Damon Albarn of Gorillaz; as featured artist, in the second single from album "Humanz", "We Got the Power" and with IDLES for their song "Ne Touche Pas Moi" on their 2020 album Ultra Mono. In 2017, she revealed a collaboration with Primal Scream front man Bobby Gillespie for her upcoming solo works. The two later