Influences:
Deadsy is an American Industrial Rock band from Los Angeles formed in 1995 by Elijah Blue Allman, the son of Gregg Allman and Cher, under the stage name Phillips Exeter Blue I. Blue considers Deadsy an "art project" rather than a band, due to their 1980s-influenced sound, which incorporates elements of Dark Wave, Synth-Pop, Goth Rock and New Wave Music, as well as their visual image, intended to evoke the idea of a Brotherhood of Funny Hats, although it was perceived as resembling a Students' Secret Society.
Deadsy's Self-Titled Album, recorded and planned for release as their debut in 1996, led to the band being Screwed by the Network, and was ultimately not released, so their debut album ultimately ended up being Commencement, which was followed four years later by their second album, Phantasmagore, after which the band would split for ten years, reuniting in 2017.
Band Members:
Current:
- Elijah Blue Allman – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, programming (1995–2007, 2017–present)note
- Alec Puro – drums, programming (1995–2007, 2017–present)note
- Carlton Bost – lead guitar, Z-Tar (1999–2007, 2017–present)note
- Craig Riker – bass (1998–2002, 2020–present)note
Former:
- Andy Trench – bass (1997)
- Jay Gordon – bass (1997–1999)
- Ashburn Miller – bass (2002–2007)
- Jens Funke – bass (2007)
- Renn Hawkey – keyboards, synthesizer (1995–2007, 2017–2023)note
Albums:
- Deadsy (recorded 1996; never released)
- Commencement (2002)
- Phantasmgore (2006)
Music Videos:
- "The Key to Gramercy Park
" (2002)note - "Brand New Love" (2002)
Deadsy provides examples of the following tropes:
- Bowdlerise: There is no unedited version of "The Key to Gramercy Park" — one lyric is rendered as "Maybe there we can <bleep> by the heavenly stars" on every release of the album.
- Brotherhood of Funny Hats: Their public image was intended to resemble one, with each band member representing one element or "entity" that drives human society. Each entity is also represented by their own color and unique appearance. Many of the multi-color ideas were influenced directly from the 1955 film This Island Earth. Blue represented International Klein Blue and academia, Puro represented green and leisure, Hawkey represented yellow and science and medicine, Bost represented grey and war, and Riker represented red and horror. The band members also carry a white plastic chain accessory.
- The Cameo: Jonathan Davis is the Special Guest on "Sleepy Hollow", off their unreleased Self-Titled Album.
- Cover Version: Deadsy has recorded notable covers of "Anti-Pop", originally by Kommunity FK, "Fox on the Run", originally by The Sweet, "Brand New Love", originally by Sentridoh, "Tom Sawyer" by Rush and "Paint It Black", originally by The Rolling Stones.
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Critical Dissonance: Commencement was ranked at number 21 on Business Insider's list of "37 albums that music critics really hate, but normal people love", citing a Metacritic score of 56/100 and a user score of 8.9/10, a 33% discrepancy between the band's critical and audience reception. Basically, general music fans really liked the band, but critics generally hated the band, with Entertainment Weekly harshly describing the band's New Wave Music-influenced sound as "a dying Flock of Seagulls". - Ear Worm: Many remember "The Key to Gramercy Park" for its lyric "face, white, revenge of the Hittites".
- Genre Mashup: Deadsy is an Industrial Rock band that incorporates elements of Dark Wave, Synth-Pop, Goth Rock and New Wave into their sound. Metacritic described their music as "'80s-esque goth/electro-pop". Blue cited Gary Numan, Type O Negative, and Black Sabbath as influencing the sound of Commencement, which fellow musician Wayne Static of the Industrial Metal band Static-X described as cross between Type O Negative and note Orgy.
- Mainstream Obscurity: Although Deadsy is sometimes mentioned in articles about Elijah Blue Allman, the band itself remains fairly obscure in the mainstream, and Blue is best known as being the son of two famous musicians, rather than for his own musical talent. Besides his work with Deadsy, Blue was also a touring guitarist for his mother when he was 13, nearly became a touring member of Nine Inch Nails, played guitar and bass on Thirty Seconds to Mars's debut album, and has also provided guest vocals on recordings by Orgy, Coal Chamber and Sugar Ray.
- Missing Episode: Their Self Titled Album was never released and remains unavailable on streaming services.
- Nightmare Fuel: "Itsy Bitsy Titsy Girl." Despite the humorous title, the song is quite disturbing, since it's sung from the perspective of an obvious pedophile. As the song progresses, the music and vocals become more and more distorted, adding to the creepiness.
- Public Medium Ignorance: Deadsy got miscategorized as a Nu Metal band due to touring with some of the genre's biggest bands, and working with Korn singer Jonathan Davis (see The Cameo, above). However, other than having downtuned guitars, they didn't have anything in common musically with Nu Metal, and are usually just seen as an Industrial Rock band.
- One reviewer also miscategorized Deadsy as a Progressive Rock band, although outside of their cover of "Tom Sawyer", they don't have much to do with Prog either.
- One reviewer
- Screwed by the Network: Deadsy's Self-Titled Album was planned for release in 1996 by Sire Records. Several promotional compact discs and compact cassettes of the album, as well as a CD-single for "The Elements", were sent out to members of the press and radio stations, but the release was pulled less than a month before its release date by Elektra Records. Sire Records eventually secured a new distribution deal through Warner Music Group, but it was again shelved. Eventually, the band basically said "screw it" and remixed and/or re-recorded five of the nine songs from their Self-Titled Album for their official debut album, Commencement: "Lake Waramaug," "The Elements," "Flowing Glower," "Future Years," and "Cruella." However, Commencement would also end up being Screwed by the Network, as it was also delayed, due to their label having no idea how to market the band's '80s-influenced sound and surreal image. Promo copies were pressed by Sire in 1998 and '99 with different track listings, including tracks that were left off the album, before DreamWorks Records and Jonathan Davis's short-lived Elementree Records picked up the album in the final version that actually got released. However, Commencement flopped. Being inappropriately placed on a lot of tours with Nu Metal bands despite not being a Nu Metal band probably didn't help the band reach an audience. They would be Vindicated by History, though.
- Sequel Displacement: Commencement is the second album Deadsy recorded, but the first album of theirs to actually be released.
- Students' Secret Society: The band's appearance was once described as a "monied prep school secret society crossed with [a] teenage fascist group".
- Uncommon Time: "Tom Sawyer" (a cover of the Rush song) is in 7/8.
- Viewers Are Geniuses: Deadsy's lyrics and imagery focus on many subjects in either sexual, religious, magical or popular culture contexts. There are references to esoterica, secret societies, The Urantia Book, The Holy Mountain, Dune and 101 Dalmatians. The band has said that they wanted their music to sound like the musical equivalent of a David Lynch film.
- Vindicated by History: Deadsy's Self Titled Album was never released and Commencement was a critical and commercial failure. Retrospectively, though, the band has been seen in a much more positive light. As noted in Critical Dissonance, Commencement has a 33% higher user score on Metacritic (8.9 out of 10) than the critical score (56 out of 100).
- What Could Have Been: The 1999 promo of Commencement pressed by Sire included a different track listing, including songs that were left off the album, including a cover of The Sweet's "Fox on the Run" and the Hidden Track "Itsy Bitsy Titsy Girl".
