Band Bio:
“The artist is the creator of beautiful things. Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty.â€
- Wilde, Oscar.
Dorian’s Gray exists to reveal beauty, truth, and art. Their lyrics are often sexually liberating, at other times satirical, and often designed to expose religious hypocrisy. While their music is not designed for any grand socio-political purpose, the artists are not afraid to speak out for what they believe in. With passionate lyrics, gut-wrenching vocals, pulsing synths, devastating bass-lines, and blood-spattering beats, the beauty that is Dorian’s Gray is music for the elect, to whom beautiful things mean only beauty. Dorian’s Gray is a group of artistic individuals working together to create something beautiful through their musical talents. The result is a sound that is entirely their own, somewhere in the gray area between industrial rock, electro, EBM (Electronic Body Music), and trip hop.
"All art is at once surface and symbol"
- Wilde, Oscar.
Dorian’s Gray represents the shadow of Dorian Gray, a man whose soul is not reflected by his body, but by a portrait of his very soul. With the upcoming release of their double album, A Picture of Sin and The Sin Itself, Dorian’s Gray creates a picture of life’s shadows, sorrows, its trials and tribulations, with some hint of its pleasures, and beauty
"All art is quite useless."
- Wilde, Oscar (The Picture of Dorian Gray)
About the Artists:
Bryce was born in British Columbia, but was often moved around due to his father’s career as an RCMP officer. Bryce spent most of his early life in small towns in Manitoba, and much of his later life in Winnipeg. Raised as a Roman Catholic and growing up in a middle-class family, his blasphemous and grossly sexual lyrics, as well as his crunchy, heart-stopping industrial beats, are pleasantly shocking; he is an artist unlike any other to have come out of central Canada.
When he joined the artist, Nevion, Dorian’s Gray took shape. With similar ambition, talent, and style, Nevion and Bryce formed a symbiotic relationship that makes their group dynamics unlike any other. The duo shares equal responsibilities, including lyrics, vocals, and production. Now the duo is unstoppably producing songs at an impossible rate and consuming all of their limited hard drive space.
Although both members share equal responsibilities, Bryce’s skills are primarily in creating the heavy, pumping beats that course, like veins, through the double album, while Nevion is known for her smooth and enchanting piano scores that haunt much of the music, as well as her complex rhythms that drive through the songs, although Nevion doesn’t shy away from beat creation either, nor does Bryce steer clear from creating the musical scores.
Without a great deal of musical training (aside from a few short years learning piano and the French horn), Bryce has had to adapt his music to a new playing field. To make up for the lack of live instruments in Dorian’s Gray , Bryce often builds over-driven synths that have a unique, pulsing, pseudo-guitar sound, which gives Dorian’s Gray an original flare.
Bryce’s inspirations come from a variety of musicians, including shock rocker, Marilyn Manson, industrial guru, Rob Zombie , as well as Bush X , The Tea Party , The Prodigy , Nine Inch Nails , and CombiChrist . In his music, he creates a sound that is an eclectic blend of genre and tone, often infusing pulsing electronic rhythms with banging industrial beats and heartfelt lyrics.
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, raised there and in Kenora, Ontario, Nevion’s musical, vocal and all-round artistic talents far surpass her tender age of twenty. The female half of electro-industrial EBM Dorian’s Gray , Nevion takes immense pleasure in toying with the endless possibilities their music suggests. Nevion’s past involvement in numerous choirs combined with her dabbling with a few instruments has played a big part in determining her role in Dorian’s Gray . Lending her talents to a good portion of the vocal work and synths production, Nevion has definitely left her mark and proved to be a crucial part of Dorian’s Gray .
Dorian’s Gray is currently cultivating their two part album A Picture of Sin and The Sin Itself for an ambitious first release. Smearing together their transparently sexual and blatantly blasphemous tendencies with their lavishly harsh yet sensual inclinations they’ve infused this scandalous display with a sound that’s all its own. With such creative influences as Marilyn Manson , Nine Inch Nails , Björk and Peaches they blend their distinct styles to create, perhaps, the most unique groove sprung from Winnipeg to date.
Formed out of the mutual desire to hear the music their artistic souls desired, Dorian’s Gray has come exceptionally far in their short years boasting well over 40 completed songs. Their powerfully thought-provoking lyrics combined with a steady stream of stirring synths and throbbing beats reach from the speakers to rip off the ear and make violently passionate love to it.