The Birth Of Tragedy was founded by 27-year-old vocalist-guitarist Danny Nicholson, and 27-year-old guitarist Chuck Abramoff.
Nicholson and Abramoff met on the Brooklyn music scene more than a decade ago. They bumped shoulders frequently in the late 1990's as leaders of rival groups West End Line and Resonance, respectively. After graduating high school together they kept in touch, and finally started playing music together in 1999 in the ambient noise/thrash group Wilt, which was formed by Sut Wangkangchanamus in 1993. It was Wangkangchanamus who developed the metaphor of the Tainted Ivory, which would heavily affect Nicholson and Abramoff in later years. Wangkangchanamus, sadly, was driven from the musical life as he became increasingly unable to handle the philosophical and musical revelations he uncovered through his work with the Metaphor of The Tainted Ivory.
Nicholson and Abramoff finally joined forces in NYC in 1999 in a late incarnation of Wilt, playing several memorable shows before the band imploded. However, neither of them ever forgot the musical connection they had forged during their short time together.
"Wilt wasn't the right situation, but we knew that the right situation would come along eventually," says Danny Nicholson. "It just took longer than we expected." After his 1999 independent release, "Realer Than Real," Nicholson continued working the Brooklyn/NYC club scene as a solo act as the new millenium began, while Abramoff focused on his songwriting and other side projects. And although the two hail from Brooklyn NY, they mightn't have formed had they stayed there. Nicholson, despodent and out-of-touch with his Muse, fled Brooklyn in August 2004. "I hopped trains, slept in cornfields, played banjoes and fiddles...anything to get that fire back," he says. "And all the while, I was looking for a place to settle down and regroup. I needed the right combination of a laid-back town with a very vital, tight-knit music scene." He found this haven a few months later in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He quickly refound his songwriting touch and spent the next year-and-a-half concocting several of the songs that make up The Birth's present-day setlist.
But still things weren't right. "I played with a few guitarists here," Nicholson says, "but I couldn't recreate the spark I had with Chuck." A few phone calls were made, Abramoff took a bus out West to see for himself, and then in Febrauary 2006 he took the plunge completely, pulling up his roots and relocating to Minneapolis just as Nicholson had done 18 months before.
They fell into a rigorous schedule of rehearsing and recording, the fruits of which are evident on the first single, "Coming Home." "From the day we started, we knew it was gonna be a prolific partnership," Abramoff muses. Nicholson nods in agreement. "We just wrote a bunch of new tunes and got them tighter and tighter," he says. "And here we are."
Next up from TBOT is "Magnetic," the new single. Itfeatures a blistering guest appearance from ex-KarmaCycle drummer Mike "Papi" Argano, a longtime cohort of the band. "We're really proud of the new record [Magnetic]," Dan Nicholson says. "Hopefully we'll be taking all these songs on the road sooner rather than later." In the meantime, they'll continue writing and recording new material, just as they have been since joining forces in the Twin Cities.
"Minneapolis is a great town with a great music scene," Abramoff notes. "Brooklyn will always be our hometown, no doubt about it, but..." Abramoff pauses while taking a drag off his cigarette.
"But we're glad to be in Minneapolis!" Nicholson interjects. "Life is funny sometimes. Even though we met in New York, who knows how things might've played out? We mightn't have gotten it together. We're just thankful we've made it this far, we've come through a lot of rough stuff, and we're grateful to be still standing and we're looking forward to sharing our music and ideas with more and more people. That's all you can do." --written by Wukash M.
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