About Me
Out of a sort of "forced necessity", The Kiss of Death was formed in the winter of 2001. Vocalist Jon Gula and guitarist Jeff Hydro started throwing around the idea of starting a new band; a band that didn't really resemble their former band, Turmoil, but still stayed true to the music they grew up with & the music they were currently listening to. Enter the unlikely third party: The Get Up Kids, or more precisely, James Dewees. The combination of a boring winter night, a good band actually playing in Allentown, Pa., and an old friend proved to be just the inspiration the two needed to get the ball rolling. James mentioned that Coalesce was getting back together to do a little reunion tour and that "you guys should get something together and play some of the shows."After kicking the idea around for a while (and some drunken karaoke), they agreed they would do it. With that said, James was on the phone with the booking agent, said something about "the new Turmoil band," and The Kiss of Death had their first show booked with Coalesce, Burnt by the Sun, & the Esoteric at the TLA in Philadelphia, Pa. Not a bad first show, now the only thing you need is an actual band, oh yeah, and some songs. Drummer Mike Bowen (ex-Lickgoldensky & ex-Turmoil) was recruited first. He said the bass player from his old band, Surrounded, would definitely be interested in playing. So with bass player Jimmy Dorward on deck, the last piece needed was a second guitarist. The first and last call was to John Gardner, an old acquaintance from the early 90's hardcore band Outcome, who was also currently playing with Tribunal Records metal-core band Sever the Fallen. When told who was in & what direction it was going to go, he was immediately in. January 2002 finally brought everyone together for rehearsal and 3 songs were written, but getting everything down was tough due to Mike leaving for over a month on tour with Lickgoldensky. With only a handful of rehearsals, the TLA show went off relatively smooth (minus a few "technical difficulties"). The next few months brought a couple more shows but scheduling conflicts with Lickgoldensky restricted the band. In July 2002, Mike announced he was taking the drum tech job with Hatebreed and going on Ozzfest for 2 months. A replacement was found immediately in current drummer Chris Frey, who also shares time in the riff-machine known as Dragon Green. With a new drummer comes new ideas and a new style, so the band polished up 2 new songs that went in a little different direction; a little more groove & a little less hardcore. The fall of 2002 got the band into the studio to get the drum tracks down for the first 5 songs. It would take until January 2003 to get the rest of the recording done, sandwiched around everyone's work schedule and shows with Bad Luck 13, Today is the Day, Bloodlet, & Goatwhore. The band finally had the 5 song demo ready in March 2003 & started distributing it through their website, at shows, and through some independent record stores. The following months brought shows with Bongzilla, Dysrhythmia, Scissorfight, and the Dukes of Nothing & word of their massive live sound began to spread. The release of the self-titled 5-song e.p. on Tribunal/Superhero Records (slated for a January 27th, 2004 release) will have the band playing many shows in the upcoming months.
