About Me
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The story about Death Row Choir is nothing special at all. Still, we feel the need to share it with the world.
You know those nerdy guys in 8th grade who starts a so called "band". They play metallica covers, and play them bad. Well in Malmoe, Sweden, year 2003 there where such a band. It was called Bad Hangover and played Fade To Black at an student arranged event. Afterwards the members felt a sort of euphoria. And it was this feeling that would lead two of them, Carl and Dante, to start a full-time Metallica coverband.
After a phone call to their long time friend Will E they began rehearsing with some other, less important members at Arena 305 in Malmoe. Dante was at this time just playing guitar, so the band did not have a singer. But they found just as much joy in playing instrumental Metallica. It was good times, sitting together in the cafeteria and talking music for hours. More time was probably spent in the caffeteria eating nachos and talking than acutally rehearsing. And after about two years of rehearsing/eating/talking and firing band-memebers they came in contact with a young bass player named Core. Two years younger and about 1 meter shorter than the rest of the band, he completely blew the rest of the members away at his first jam with Nomax. “Oh my God, Enter Sandman with BASS!†He was instantly dubbed a member and the band wich would become Death Row Choir now had all its members in place.
They continued to play Metallica covers, and even recorded a very, very sucky version of One (this recording is unfortunatly still in existence). Sure, there where mistakes, the guitar wasn’t always in tune and the singing not quiet as powerful as the original. But man, the pride of actually having something on a CD was mindblowing!
A short time after that they decided to start writing their own material. Naturally, this did not go so well in the beginning. The band stood in the room, instruments ready, and didn’t quiet know how to go about things. Until Carl got the wonderful idea of letting Will E do a “cool rhythm on the snare drumâ€. Carl then proceeded to follow the rhythm on the guitar. “WOW!†The result was basicly a modified Eye of The Beholder, but who gave a damn about that? Death Row Choir now had its very first intro! Sadly, they never got much further than that, and they dismissed the song as “sucky†about a week later.
So they began doing Metallica covers again, status qoue for DRC. But this couldn’t last forever, could it? Hell no! On May 5 2005 their first gig was booked! The big stage at Arena 305! The band quickly realised that going up and play Metallica covers for half an hour probably wouldn’t wake much enthusiasm in the massive crowd of 200 people. So once again they started to walk the path of writing own material. Luckily, this time it went a little better. Core came up with a nice riff that the other members loved. And soon enough, Death Row Choir had their first song; Riot At Millplace! A problem arised though. They had no singer, and their attempts to find one had failed miserably. So, Dante was ordered to start singing in the band. First he was “kinda skeptical†to the idea, but after only one playthrough of “Riot†the band discovered that it worked quiet nicely.
The song started to come out easier and easier. Song such as the powerballad “Artificial Sleep†and the heavier “I is My Only Friend†was written. And on May 5, DRC did its first, real gig. What a success! That day was easily on of the happiest in this little story, and the members where more motivated than ever to write and play their own music.
So what happened next? Well, the band had a little break in rehearsing in the summer of 2005 due to Carl being forced to spend his entire break in a litte dump called Hunnebostrand. But in the fall the band started to rehearse again, eager to play more gigs. The songwriting was however tough to get started again. But one day Carl came to the rehearsal with a riff that played for his fellow band members. This riff was unlike anything that DRC had worked with before. So, the other members called it “emoâ€, “sucky†and “gayâ€. But after several rehearsals of feeding their ears with it, it was deemed worthy of doing something with. And after a surprisingly short time, they had written a seven minute song that completely stood out from the previous material. It was called Pain, and that song became a turning point in the musical direction of the band. They started to write music that was more complex, progressive and modern sounding. The change wasn’t completely smooth, and some creative differenses arised, but after a while everyone was satisfied with the direction.
There’s not much to say about the year 2006. DRC continued to write material and gig, and the members continued to develop musicaly. And now, four years after they formed, DRC has released it’ first demo. We also want to say thanks to our small but important fanbase who have stood by us and come to our shows! Your support has been very important and as much as we hope that new people will discover us, we also hope that you’ll stay with us!
