Million Dead

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Million Dead
General information
origin London , England
Genre (s) Post-hardcore , hardcore punk
founding 2000
resolution 2005
Website http://archive.milliondead.org/
Last occupation
Frank Turner
Julia Ruzicka
Ben Dawson
Tom Fowler (from 2004)
former members
Cameron Dean (until 2004)
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
I Gave My Eyes to Stevie Wonder
  UK 72 05/29/2004 (1 week)
Living the dream
  UK 60 04/02/2005 (1 week)

Million Dead was an English hardcore punk and post hardcore band from London that was active between 2001 and 2005.

history

The band was formed in mid-2001 and consisted of guitarist Cameron Dean and bassist Julia Ruzicka, both from Australia who had moved to England to form a band. Both wrote the first songs before drummer Ben Dawson joined the band. Dawson had previously worked at a record store where Dean had been his manager. A friend of Dawson's, Frank Turner , joined the band as a singer . Both were active together in different bands from the age of eleven. The band name refers to the song The Apollo Program Was a Hoax by the Swedish band Refused . A first demo was recorded in September that year, followed by appearances in Great Britain .

In the next year, other appearances followed along with Cave In , The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster , The Icarus Line and Alec Empire . In late 2002 the group signed a contract with Integrity Records . Together with the label and Xtramile Recordings , the first single Smiling at Strangers on Trains was released in February 2003 . This was mainly supported by the radio presenters John Peel , Mike Davies , Mary Anne Hobbs and Steve Lamacq . There followed appearances together with Pitchshifter on his farewell tour. The band also performed in the Astoria in London .

In April 2003, the group went to Mighty Atom Studios to record their debut album, A Song to Ruin , which was released in September. The release was preceded by the single Breaking the Back . The group also became a member of the Kerrang! Awards nominated for best newcomer. The release was followed by a tour of the UK with Jarcrew and Minus . After joint appearances with Funeral for a Friend , the single I Am the Party was released towards the end of the year , which was often played, especially by MTV Two .

In 2004 the band performed in Austin , Texas on the South by Southwest . After the single I Gave My Eyes to Stevie Wonder was released on Xtramile Recordings , appearances followed in April and May. In June, Cameron Dean left the band to get married and was replaced by guitarist Tom Fowler. After appearing at various British festivals in the summer and releasing A Song to Ruin in Japan , Australia and Italy , work on the second album began in October. The phonogram was recorded in November and December at Battery Studios with producer Mark Williams . The release of Harmony No Harmony took place in May of 2005. A total of three singles were released from the album. The album was released in March with the release of the single Living the Dream and After the Rush Hour . The writing and recording of the album had taken a total of around eight weeks. After a UK tour with Fighting with Wire , No Hope in New Jersey and The Sound Explosion , concerts with Days of Worth and Engerica followed in April and May to promote the album. In July, further appearances together with Finch followed. After performing at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the summer, the band split up after a farewell tour of Great Britain. The last performance took place on September 23, 2005 in Southampton . The breakup of the band was previously announced on September 11, 2005 on the official website. The DVD , which was announced in a blog on the official website in August 2005 , was never released. The members had given irreconcilable differences as the reason for the dissolution. After the breakup, the members turned to other band projects.

style

According to Allmusic's Jon O'Brien , the band hailed from the same post-hardcore scene as Funeral for a Friend and Hell Is for Heroes . The group was influenced by At the Drive-In . Lauri Wessel from Ox-Fanzine wrote in an interview with Frank Turner that Million Dead processed highly political issues in the songs. Turner stated that he can no longer stand by the lyrics completely after the band split up. He has developed from an anarchist to a pro- capitalist libertarian .

In his review of A Song to Ruin , cedrics_mic from ultimate-guitar.com wrote that the electric guitar had a " fuzzy " sound and that not only power chords were played in the songs . The last song stands out due to its length of 15 minutes from the other songs, which are only three minutes long on average. Large parts of the song are experimental and improvised . The bass improvisation Relentless recall the Blues -Improvisation in Take The Veil of The Mars Volta . Not every song is political, for example MacGyver deals with death. The singing varies between clear and screamo singing. ' AngryGoldfish, also from ultimate-guitar.com, stated in their review of Harmony No Harmony that Million Dead is a unique hardcore punk band. The album sounds technically more demanding than its predecessor. The lyrics are poetic and political. The songs would be about topics like Walt Disney , newspapers, or how Turner writes the songs. The singing is not the best, but it fits the band similar to The Strokes . The music is energetic, unique and comparable to Biffy Clyro .

Discography

Albums

  • A Song to Ruin (2003)
  • Harmony No Harmony (2005)

Singles

  • Smiling at Strangers on Trains (2003)
  • I Am the Party (2003)
  • I Gave My Eyes to Stevie Wonder (2004)
  • Living the Dream (2005)
  • After the Rush Hour (2005)
  • To Whom It May Concern (2005)

Demos

  • First Demo (2001)
  • Second Demo (2002)

swell

  1. chartarchive.org: Million Dead in the UK charts
  2. a b c Jon O'Brien: Million Dead. Allmusic , accessed November 28, 2015 .
  3. a b c d Biography. archive.milliondead.org, accessed November 28, 2015 .
  4. a b c d e Biography. punknews.org, accessed November 28, 2015 .
  5. Lauri Wessel: FRANK TURNER . Enfant terrible. In: Ox-Fanzine . 87 (December / January, 2009/2010) - ( ox-fanzine.de [accessed on November 28, 2015]).
  6. cedrics_mic: A Song To Ruin Review. ultimate-guitar.com, accessed November 28, 2015 .
  7. Angry Goldfish: Harmony No Harmony Review. ultimate-guitar.com, accessed November 28, 2015 .