| Million Dead |
Million
Dead
|
| Background information |
| Origin |
London, United Kingdom |
| Genre(s) |
Hardcore punk |
| Years active |
2001 - 2005 |
| Label(s) |
Xtra
Mile Recordings |
Associated
acts |
Frank Turner, Abjure, Pale Horse |
| Website |
http://www.milliondead.com |
| Former members |
Cameron Dean
Julia Ruzicka
Ben Dawson
Frank
Turner
Tom Fowler |
Million Dead were a London-based punk rock band.
They toured extensively in the UK during their existence, and made
brief inroads into the USA and mainland Europe
|
Contents
- 1 History
- 2 Final
Line-Up
- 3 Former
members
- 4 Discography
- 5 Singles
And EPs
- 6 Music
videos
- 7 See
also
- 8 External
links
|
History
Million Dead came together in London in mid-2001. Cameron Dean (guitar) and Julia Ruzicka (bass) had both come to
England from Australia
with forming a band in mind. They met and started writing, before
roping in Ben Dawson (drums),
who had been Cameron's underling in a record store. Ben then called up
his old friend Frank Turner who'd been the singer in various
bands with him since age 11. The name was chosen from a line in "The
Apollo Programme Was a Hoax", a song by Swedish Punk band Refused, and in
September of that year they recorded their first demo and began gigging
around the UK.
Over the next year support slots were begged and stolen with Cave In, The Eighties
Matchbox B-Line Disaster, The
Icarus Line and Alec Empire. In late 2002 they came into
contact with Integrity Records, and by signing up with them and
Xtramile Recordings, they put out their first single, Smiling
At Strangers On Trains in February 2003 (for which the
video was rarely shown uncut due to scenes of a man wearing a gimp
mask, and a homeless man urinating through a letterbox as well as on
Dean). This saw support from John Peel, Mike
Davies, Mary Anne Hobbs and Steve
Lamacq, and was soon followed by a support slot with Pitchshifter
on their farewell tour (featuring a gig at the London Astoria which the
band have since described several times as their worst ever
performance).
April 2003 saw them in Mighty Atom Studios recording their
debut album, A Song To Ruin.
This was released in September, hot on the heels of second single Breaking
The Back and a nomination as "Best Newcomer" in the Kerrang!
Awards. More touring with Funeral for a Friend ensued and
they rounded off the year with their first headline tour and third
single, I Am The Party, which was A-listed by MTV2. In December 2003 they went out on
their first headline tour of the UK in support of their 'A Song To
Ruin' album with Jarcrew
and Minus
in tow.
In 2004 they appeared in Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest
Festival, and then went out on the road in support of the single I
Gave My Eyes To Stevie Wonder, released on May 17th. Original
guitarist Cameron left the band to get married, and was replaced by Tom Fowler
(ex-Abjure, Pale Horse). After a number of summer
festival dates where the band premiered a lot of new material, at the
end of 2004,
the band retreated into the studio to write and record their second
album. Written and recorded in around eight weeks, Harmony
No Harmony was finally released in May 2005, preceded by the
singles Living The Dream in March 2005 and After
The Rush Hour just in advance of the album. The band hit the
road for more UK headlining dates, taking the likes of Fighting
With Wire, No Hope In New Jersey and The
Sound Explosion along for the ride. They went out again immediately
after this in April and May to coincide with the release of "Harmony
No Harmony", with Days Of Worth and Engerica
supporting.
During July 2005, they went out on the road again, this time
supporting Finch on several dates of a
UK-wide tour, and announced that a new single would be launched in
September 2005 to coincide with their next UK headline tour. At the
Nottingham gig, the lead singer mentioned he was "currently homeless"
and asked the crowd to donate T-Shirts. In August 2005, via a blog on
their official website, it was announced that a DVD was in the works,
to be titled Schminstrument and released in the
autumn. In spite of posts on the messageboard on the band's (now
offline) official website, it now seems unlikely this will ever surface.
On September 12th 2005, it was announced via the band's
official website that Million Dead were to call it a day at the
conclusion of their September tour, as "irreconcilable
differences within the band mean that it would be impossible to
continue, and anyway, we’d rather leave a good-looking corpse. Our
reasons are personal and assured.". They played their last
ever date at Southampton's Joiners on September 23rd
2005.
Singer Frank Turner quickly reappeared as an
acoustic solo artist and has put out an EP called Campfire
Punk Rock, an album called Sleep is for the Week
and split vinyl with Jonah Matranga. Guitarist Tom Fowler
and bassist Julia Ruzicka have started The Quiet Kill (also featuring Rich
from also-defunct UK band Cars As Weapons - famed for working with Walter
Schreifels). Drummer Ben Dawson is currently drumming for Palehorse, with the possibility of a band
with Turner and Million Dead's technician (entitled GUNT).
Final Line-Up
- Frank Turner - Vocals
- Julia Ruzicka - Bass
- Tom Fowler - Guitar
- Ben Dawson - Drums
Former members
- Cameron Dean- Guitar (2001-2004)
Discography
- A Song to Ruin
(2003)
- Harmony No Harmony
(2005)
Singles And EPs
- Million Dead (First Demo) (September 2001)
- Million Dead (Second Demo) (June 2002)
- Smiling At Strangers On Trains (February
2003)
- Breaking The Back (August 2003)
- I Am The Party (November 2003)
- I Gave My Eyes To Stevie Wonder (all tracks
previously unreleased) (May 2004)
- Living The Dream (March 2005)
- After The Rush Hour (Download-only single)
(May 2005)
- To Whom It May Concern (Download-only single)
(September 2005)
Music videos
- Smiling At Strangers On Trains from A
Song To Ruin
- Breaking The Back from A
Song To Ruin
- I Am The Party from A
Song To Ruin
- I Gave My Eyes To Stevie Wonder from I
Gave My Eyes to Stevie Wonder [Single]
- Living The Dream from Harmony
No Harmony
- After The Rush Hour from Harmony
No Harmony
- To Whom It May Concern from Harmony
No Harmony
These videos and others can be downloaded at milliondead.org
See also
- List of bands from England
- Frank Turner
External links
