the Devil Himself - Bio Text for Press Kits and Promotion

As anyone who has been even sort of following me out here or on my Facebook page knows, I have been working on the text for something of a bio for a local Bay Area band, the Devil Himself. In the wee hours of the morning (ok...sometime after midnight....), I completed the revisions requested and sent off to Dave, their lead singer. Here is his partial response via email, which I received this morning:

"WOW FUCKIN WOW!! Dude I seriously don't know what to write in response to that!!?? You are very talented my friend, the guys are gonna poop themselves."

I made sure to get approval from him to post, so I would like to share what I wrote for the band with all of you, as well as to stress that everyone should check them out. The best page to visit for them is their ReverbNation page, located at www.reverbnation.com/thedevilhimself; it includes all of their information and upcoming shows, including a big one for them: CD Release show for their latest offering, the Way Souls Sway. This show will be on March 7th in Santa Cruz at Coasters (Boardwalk Bowl) with several other bands. Check out the details here.

So......without further delay.....the following is the full text for the bio I created for them. I am pretty proud of it and would love to hear what everyone else thinks.........

the Devil Himself
It begins with a low rumble, almost immediately discountable as nothing more than distant thunder. A trembling vibration which builds, akin to that which must have accompanied Dante in his explorations of the many levels of Hell. It grows, adding layer upon layer of sonic menace, building, surging, flowing. As it peaks, muted colors explode forth, licking the senses with fire, with passion, with longing. The ground seethes and pulsates around your feet as you realize there is no escape. All of your pride, your desire, your love, your hate spill out of your soul and surge back to embrace you as a lover. And when it finally releases you, as you tremble through the glowing afterward.....it begins again.

This is the Devil Himself.....

Formed in 2006 by Dave Christensen (Lead Vocals/Guitar), Jason Goldberg (Vocals/Drums), and Dan Burnham (Vocals/Guitar), the Devil Himself has fought the good fight in the Bay Area music scene, losing some comrades-in-arms and gaining new ones to continue driving forth their unique sound into the utterly corruptible minds of today’s youth, finally rounding out their gloriously dark and thoughtful sound with the addition of Shane Hunington (Vocals/Bass Guitar). It came to dark fruition in 2007 with the band’s first release, Pushing the Panic Button, a collection of deep, flowing, poetry given life, speaking to love and betrayal, lust and despair, of the struggle to keep that tiny light at the end of our darkest personal tunnels in sight. Evocative and insightful, Pushing the Panic Button spoke to its audience on much more than just an aural level; it was emotion and art swirled into one and thrust down their throats, lovingly. It is the human experience, the evolution – or de-evolution, if you will – of all our hopes and dreams.

A year later, See No Evil – a three-song EP – featuring the instantly memorable “30 Lives”, was mercifully released by the Devil Himself in an attempt to slake the thirsts of their growing audience. The songs exhibited on See No Evil bear evidence to the true power of the Devil Himself, turning the most basic of human emotions into powerful examples of true art, commenting on the hypocrisy so evident in our lives, in those we elect to office, in our friends, in our lovers, in ourselves and yet – through it all – moving upward and out of despair into the realization that only we as individuals can make the changes we need in our lives, that we hold the key to our own power, that above all else hope cannot be denied.

2009 is the year for the Devil Himself to truly come into their own. This is not a band to be brushed off; they demand much more from their audience. With the release of the Way Souls Sway, the Devil Himself will prove to all they are much more than simply one of the best rock bands to emerge from The Bay Area. No, that is not enough for them. The journey about to be undertaken will see the world shudder and ripped open, all pretenses, all masks, all lies torn to shreds.....

There is no escaping the Devil Himself.....

Updates

Today marks two full weeks and three days that I have been unemployed. It feels so much longer than that. In that space of time I have prepped as best I can by investing in a new suit (with shirts and ties), a haircut, and making sure I shave pretty regularly, all just in case. I have done pretty extensive job searches and have submitted my resume or applied on-line to over two dozen jobs. I have had at least one nibble from a recruiter, but it did not amount to anything solid; still need to follow-up with her on other possibilities.

In the past several weeks, I have also read daily news articles on how much worse this country's economic downturn is getting. Since I was laid off on February 4th, I think it can be safely estimated that over 100K jobs have been lost. That is just in two weeks, man. Unemployment is estimated to get up to 13 or 14% before anything even thinks about changing....and I can't even get a call through to EDD to find out what is up with my own unemployment check. There was actually a news story discussing that very thing - how EDD is so overwhelmed with people coming to file claims and check on their statuses, that they actually do not have anyone available to answer their phones. How ridiculous is that? The EDD is in need of hiring people and can't! I am perhaps a little luckier than some. I am still expecting my final pay, my severance package, and my entitled bonus check from my former employer. Add to this that we had the foresight to file our taxes early and had already had our refunds deposited in early February in addition to the fact I actually get a child support check from my daughter's mother bi-weekly......we will survive for a bit before things get too desperate. I am doing my best to keep a stiff upper lip and weather through all of this, but it is a little disconcerting when the main stories every day are detailing how much we as a country are, well, to put it bluntly, FUBAR'd (for those of you who do not know what FUBAR means, go here). I guess one could say I have a case of the Mondays today. It just seems so utterly hopeless sometimes and I just don't understand how everything could have come to this.

I am doing the best I can and I know it has only been a couple of weeks. Most companies do not even get around to looking at resumes for several weeks after submission (and half of those get tossed, I am sure). Keeping my fingers and toes crossed and continuing to do the only thing I can by searching, searching, and more searching.....

Note: Oh! And to add to the general feeling of despair this country is being forced into: The "stimulus" package recently passed will probably not even help the majority of CA homeowners underwater on their mortgages because the amounts are so totally out of whack with the reality of the CA - especially The Bay Area - housing market. PLUS, any and all tax breaks that have been written into it will pretty much be wiped out by the fact that we live in what is essentially a bankrupt state which will be raising taxes to rebuild themselves, effectively negating any possible hope of tax benefits we might have seen from the Federal Government. All this and unemployment too! Yay!