Death From Above 1979

"We wanted our band to be like an elephant in your living room," says Jesse F. Keeler, one half of Death from Above 1979. "That's why we gave ourselves trunks." Of course there have been two-piece bands before. The two-piece is indelibly engrained in the lexicon of rock: the Righteous Brothers, Simon and Garfunkel, the Chemical Brothers, the White Stripes. It is fair to say, however, that none before have managed to make as much noise with as little instrumentation as Death from Above 1979. Death from Above 1979 is comprised of two friends who met in prison, Jesse F.Keeler and Sebastien Grainger, who now live in a funeral parlor in Toronto. To hear them on record, it is hard to believe that the only instruments being played are bass and drums. It's a bit like Queen writing "no one played synthesizers" in the liner notes of their early albums. With Death from Above 1979, no one played guitars. "We don't need them, and besides, why would we want to put anyone else on the payroll?" So from where does this almost militant attitude toward the guitar come? Clearly, Death from Above 1979 is a band that rocks--really, re... more...