Downthesun

Downthesun was a six-piece nu metal band from Kansas City, Missouri/Des Moines, Iowa.

Downthesun
OriginKansas City, Missouri/Des Moines, Iowa, USA
GenresNu metal, alternative metal[1]
Years active1994–2003
LabelsLondon-Sire
Roadrunner
MembersAnthony "Satone" Stevens
Aaron Peltz
Lance "Kuk" Collier
Nathan Church
Danny Spain
Bruce Swink
Past membersNeil Godfrey

History

The band was formed by bassist Lance "Kuk" Collier and keyboardist Church who were in a local Kansas City band that opened for Slipknot. This put them in touch with Slipknot's Shawn "Clown" Crahan. The band went through several line-up and name changes before becoming downthesun. The line up that recorded the album with producer GGGarth Richardson (Rage Against Machine, Mudvayne, etc.) in June 2001 was: Aaron Peltz (vocals), Satone (vocals), Neil Godfrey (guitar), Lance Collier (bass), Church (keyboards, samples, vocals), Danny Spain (drums). In 2001 the band signed to Slipknot's Maggot Recordings label.[2]

After recording the guitar tracks for their self-titled debut, Godfrey left the band to join first Motograter, and then Lo-Pro with former Ultraspank singer Pete Murray. The band then recruited Bruce Swink to handle the guitar for the band's live shows. Although listed on the album liner notes, Swink did not play on the album. downthesun was briefly signed to London/Sire records before the label folded, leaving the band unsigned for a brief period of time.

They were signed to Roadrunner Records[3] and released their self-titled debut album in 2002.[1] Before the album's release, they shot a video for the song "Medicated", which was aired on MTV2's "Extreme Rock" and Fuse's "Uranium" shows, and can be viewed on YouTube. Early 2003, however, saw the band, for reasons unknown, experience a mass exodus of band members, as Aaron Peltz, Satone, Danny Spain, and Bruce Swink all left the band. Kuk and Church soldiered on, however, finding replacements for the departed members, and recording a few demos and playing live shows around the midwest before calling it a day in late 2003.

Style

AllMusic compared the band to Slipknot, stating they "make the same kind of ugly alternative metal spliced with the visceral approach of death metal."[1] In 2002, Kuk remarked "We're ugly, we're fat and we go against everything that rock stardom is supposed to stand for: we are the truth."[3]

Discography

Title: Downthesun
Date: October 1, 2002
Label: Roadrunner Records

  • Track listing:
  1. "Medicated" – (3:50)
  2. "We All Die" – (3:23)
  3. "Enslaved" – (3:34)
  4. "Lucas Toole" – (4:34)
  5. "Zero" – (0:30)
  6. "Pure American Filth" – (3:26)
  7. "Pitiful" – (2:11)
  8. "Scapegoat" – (2:57)
  9. "Listen" – (4:52)
  10. "Eye Confide" – (4:34)
  11. "Jars" – (3:37)
  12. "Revelations" – (15:30)

Demo/Unreleased Tracks
  1. "Down"
  2. "Lost" *
  3. "Six" *
  • Featured on the Japanese import of downthesun.

Members
  • Anthony "Satone" Stevens – vocals (1999–2003)
  • Aaron Peltz – vocals (1999–2003)
  • Lance "Kuk" Collier – bass (1999–2003)
  • Nathan Church – Keyboards, Samples, Vocals, (1999–2003)
  • Danny Spain – drums (1999–2003)
  • Bruce Swink – guitar (2001–2003)


Timeline

Ex-Members
  • Neil Godfrey – guitar (1999–2001)

Trivia
  • The song "Lucas Toole" was written about the late-70's serial killing duo of Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole.
  • The band's name is said to come from the Wicca ritual Drawing Down The Sun. Band's founding member Kuk commented it and the band's first name "The Six" on downthesun's myspace website: "Whether it's bit of astrology or numerology, there's meaning to downthesun. Our name means we draw down the energy of the sun to create our own circle of magic. Take, the number six, for instance. Six is the sun and nine is the moon. There are six of us in this band: three charged positive and three-charged negative. To have complete truth, you have to have both."
gollark: Does Islam *say* that or is that just convention accreted around it?
gollark: A virtualized network running atop existing networks.
gollark: Well, you could implement that as an overlay network if you thought it was good?
gollark: Routing is handled according to normal IP. RFC 1149 is merely a transport.
gollark: There are some store and forward protocols which are sort of that.

References
  1. Torreano, Bradley "Downthesun Biography", Allmusic, retrieved 2011-12-10
  2. D'Angelo, Joe (2001) "Slipknot's Maggot Label Signs First Act; Members Moonlight With Others", MTV, December 7, 2001, retrieved 2011-12-10
  3. http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/downthesun-officially-sign-with-roadrunner-records/
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