Death In Vegas
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Death in Vegas is a United Kingdom band, currently consisting of Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes. The band's style is that of pop rock with a techno, weird dub, psychedelic and industrial sound combination that some call dance-rock.
The band, originally called Dead Elvis, was formed in 1994, and consisted of Fearless and Steve Helier. Objections from the estate of Elvis Presley forced the band into changing name to the current one; Dead Elvis was instead used as the name of their debut album.
After the release of Dead Elvis, Helier left the band, and was replaced by Holmes.
Death in Vegas' songs have been used elsewhere. The track Dirge featured in a Levi jeans advert, and the song Hands Around My Throat has been used in a 2004 commercial for Sony Ericsson And in The Animatrix. Another song, Girls, is featured on the Lost in Translation soundtrack.
Death in Vegas had signed to the Concrete Records label in 1994, but parted company from Concrete ten years later, after the release of their third album, Scorpio Rising. Fearless and Holmes have since decided to create their own label, Drone Records. The duo were to have produced rock band Oasis's sixth album, but other commitments meant they had to pull out.
Discography
Death in Vegas have produced four studio albums.
- Dead Elvis
- 1. All That Glitters
- 2. Opium Suffle
- 3. GBH
- 4. Twist & Crawl
- 5. Dirt
- 6. Rocco
- 7. Rekkit
- 8. I Spy
- 9. Amber
- 10. Rematerialised
- 11. 68 Balcony
- 12. Sly
- The Contino Sessions (September 1999)
- 1. Dirge
- 2. Soul Auctioneer
- 3. Death Threat
- 4. Flying
- 5. Aisha
- 6. Lever Street
- 7. Aladdin's Story
- 8. Broken Little Sister
- 9. Neptune City
- In this album, Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie collaborates in the song Soul Auctioneer, while on Aisha, Iggy Pop sings; Jim Reid draws Broken Little Sister near to the sound of his band, Jesus and Mary Chain.
- Scorpio Rising (June 2003)
- 1. Leather
- 2. Girls
- 3. Hands Around My Throat
- 4. 23 Lies
- 5. Scorpio Rising
- 6. Killing Smile
- 7. Natja
- 8. So You Say You Lost Your Baby
- 9. Driving Horses
- 10. Help Yourself
- Like The Contino Sessions, this album (named after Kenneth Anger’s classic film about gay Nazi bikers) features guest vocalists: Oasis’s Liam Gallagher (Scorpio Rising), Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval (Killing Smile and Help Yourself), former The Jam frontman Paul Weller (So You Say You Lost Your Baby) and Adult.'s Nicola Kuperus (Hands Around My Throat) lend their voices.
- Satan's Circus (October 2004)
- 1 Ein fur die Damen
- 2 Zugaga
- 3 Heil Xanax
- 4 Black lead
- 5 Sons of rother
- 6 Candy McKenzie
- 7 Reigen
- 8 Kontroll
- 9 Anita Berber
- 10 Head
- 11 Come on over to our side softly softly
- Satan's Circus is markedly different from the rock-influenced Contino Sessions and Scorpio Rising. It features a more electronic sound, with drum machines, synthesisers and programmed rhythms replacing live bass, guitar and drums. German krautrock has a significant influence - the melody of Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express is featured in the track Zugaga.
- This led some fans to be disappointed, while others saw this as a return to the hypnotic instrumentals of Dead Elvis (unlike the previous two albums, Satan's Circus did not feature any guest vocalists). The album was also released as a limited edition double pack including a live CD, recorded on the Scorpio Rising tour at the Brixton Academy, London.
In addition to the above, they have also released a compilation album, as part of the Back to Mine series of albums.
- Back to Mine Vol. 16 (February 2004)
- 1. The Upsetters - Cloak and Dagger
- 2. Fad Gadget - Back to Nature
- 3. Gene Clark and the Godsin Brothers - Only Colombe
- 4. Nina Simone - My Sweet Lord
- 5. Songs: Ohia - Soul
- 6. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Nashville Blues
- 7. Dillard & Clark - Polly
- 8. Sam Gopal -The Sky Is Burning
- 9. Bo Diddley - Elephant Man
- 10. Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane
- 11. Au Pairs - Headache for Michelle
- 12. Piero Piccioni - Psychedelic Mood
- 13. Joy Division – Decades
- 14. Mmm – Donna
External links
- Death in Vegas' official website (http://www.continorooms.com/)