Gitane DeMone | |
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Background information | |
Born | San Francisco, California, U.S. | May 16, 1958
Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
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Years active | 1981–present |
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Website | gitanedemone |
Gitane DeMone (also spelled Demone) [1] is an American singer, musician and visual artist. Her career spans more than 30 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s as the keyboardist and backing vocalist of the influential death rock band Christian Death. In addition to her work with Christian Death, Demone was previously a member of Pompeii 99, worked with Dreadful Shadows, and has had a solo career which has included three studio albums: Am I Wrong?, Stars of Trash and The Reflecting Shadow.
In high school, she discovered the works of Billie Holiday, and played and sang with local bands at parties. After high school, she became a writer and illustrator. [2]
In 1981, DeMone placed an ad in The Recycler met Valor Kand, and began Pompeii 99. [2] Kand was fascinated by Nostradamus and took the band name from a prophecy. Kand and DeMone found drummer David Glass through auditions, also working with members Marc Doten and Polly Klemmer.[ citation needed ]
Pompeii 99 gained an audience in the Los Angeles club scene, and in 1981, formed a record label, Nostradamus, to release their debut album Look at Yourself. In 1982, they followed this with an EP, Ignorance Is the Control. Pompeii 99 were scheduled to open for Christian Death on a European tour, but when that band's lineup collapsed, lead singer Rozz Williams decided along with Kand, DeMone and Glass to combine the two bands into a new version of Christian Death. [3] [4] [5]
The new lineup of Christian Death, including DeMone, went on to record two new albums, 1984's Catastrophe Ballet (with bassist Constance Smith) and 1985's Ashes (with bassist Randy Wilde). [3]
In mid-1985, after Williams left, Kand took over leadership of the band, working as lead vocalist and songwriter. With bassist Johann Schumann and guitarist/keyboardist Barry Galvin, the band recorded an EP for the Italian label Supporti Fonografici titled The Wind Kissed Pictures, credited to "The Sin and Sacrifice of Christian Death". The EP was later reissued in Germany and the U.S., credited only to Christian Death. [3]
The band's first post-Williams album was 1986's Atrocities, a concept album about the aftereffects of World War II on the European psyche. This was followed by 1987's The Scriptures, recorded by a revamped lineup of Kand, DeMone, Glass, guitarist James Beam and bassist Kota. During this period, the band found their biggest successes on the UK Independent Chart with the 1987–89 singles "Sick of Love", "Church of No Return" and "Zero Sex" and the 1988 album Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ . Following the release of the "Zero Sex" single, Demone split from both Kand and Christian Death in 1989. [3]
In 1989, DeMone relocated to Amsterdam and began a solo career, combining her background in punk, death rock and gothic rock with a passion for jazz and legendary female vocalists, most notably Billie Holiday. She maintained a rubber-clad S&M visual image, and the fetish theme carried through into her lyrics. [2]
DeMone's first two solo releases, the "A Heavenly Melancholy" maxi-single (1992, Torso Dance) and Lullabies for a Troubled World EP (1993, Cult Music), were collected, along with some 1993 live tracks, as the 1993 Cleopatra Records compilation Facets in Blue. [6] She also issued two live albums during this period: Love for Sale (1993, Cult Music) and With Love & Dementia (Live in Cannes 1994) (1995, Hypnobeat).
She renewed her friendship with former Christian Death band member Williams, and the pair toured together and recorded the album Dream Home Heartache in 1995, which included both cover versions and their own material. DeMone then paired up with Mark Ickx to produce a studio album Never Felt So Alive, released in 1994; it was reissued under the title Demonix in 1996 by Cleopatra.
In 1996, DeMone recorded her first studio album Am I Wrong?, released by Apollyon in 1998. The following year she released a second studio album Stars of Trash (Andromeda), composed by DeMone and recorded with the assistance of the band Dreadful Shadows. [7]
In 2008, a two-disc DVD by DeMone titled Life After Death was released by Cult Epics, featuring footage from throughout her career, including a live performance with Williams. From 2008 to 2011, DeMone was involved in a project called the Crystelles with daughter Zara Kand, [8] and also performed with the experimental noise band +DOG+.
In 2013, she collaborated with Loopool and Syphilis Sauna under the name Hedone Tears, self-releasing a digital single, "Moonlit Paradise". [9] "Moonlit Paradise", backed by an untitled track, was released again in 2015 as the Hedone Tears 7" single (Mystic Moon Records), under her own name. [10]
As the Gitane DeMone Quartet, DeMone currently records and performs backed by other musicians including Rikk Agnew, Paul Roessler (The Screamers, etc.) and Deb Venom.
A published writer, DeMone's other artistic activities also include composing poetry and painting. [11]
Besides being partners in Pompeii 99, DeMone and Kand were married in 1983. They had a son and daughter together. DeMone became engaged to fellow former Christian Death member Rikk Agnew on May 3, 2013. [11]
Atrocities is the fourth studio album by American rock band Christian Death, released in 1986 through record label Normal.
"Gloomy Sunday", also known as the "Hungarian Suicide Song", is a popular song composed by Hungarian pianist and composer Rezső Seress and published in 1933.
Christian Death is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles County, California, in 1979 by Rozz Williams. With major line-up changes over the years, Christian Death has retained "a relentlessly confrontational stand against organized religion and conventional morality".
The Adolescents are an American punk rock band formed in Fullerton, California in 1979. Part of the hardcore punk movement in southern California in the early 1980s, they were one of the main punk acts to emerge from Orange County, along with their peers in Agent Orange and Social Distortion. Founding bassist Steve Soto was the sole constant member of the band since its inception until his 2018 death, with singer Tony Reflex being in the group for all but one album.
Rozz Williams was an American singer and songwriter known for his work with the bands Christian Death, Shadow Project, and the industrial project Premature Ejaculation. Christian Death is cited by some as a pioneer of the American gothic rock scene as well as deathrock, and is considered to be one of the most influential figures of the scene. However, Williams disliked the "goth" label and actively worked to shed it during the 1980s and 1990s by focusing on punk rock, hard rock, cabaret, and spoken word music. Williams was also involved with his groups Daucus Karota, Heltir, EXP, Bloodflag, and his own version of Christian Death, along with recording a handful of solo albums. In addition to music, Williams was also an avid painter, poet, and collage artist.
Eva Ortiz, better known as Eva O, is a music artist most notable for her previous works in Christian Death and a band she formed with her then-husband Rozz Williams called Shadow Project. Regarded as a veteran and "one of the most striking figures of the American Gothic scene," Eva O has had a significant influence on the emerging death rock movement, which garnered her the "Queen of Darkness" title from the press and audience. She is known for her heavy guitar playing style and dramatic, authoritative vocals.
Shadow Project was a rock band formed in 1987 featuring former members of Los Angeles deathrock groups Christian Death and Super Heroines. After recording two LPs the group experienced a three-year hiatus, reconvening for a third and final album. Shadow Project definitively folded after vocalist Rozz Williams committed suicide on April 1, 1998. The band briefly returned in 2019 under the moniker "Shadow Project 1334" for 13 shows only, vowing to never perform again together after that.
Karim George Chmielinski, known professionally as Casey Chaos, is an American musician, best known as the lead singer of Amen. His music has encompassed a number of styles, including hardcore punk, death rock and nu metal.
Pompeii 99 was an American post-punk band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. They released one single and one album before the core members of the band joined Rozz Williams for a new version of Christian Death in 1983, and eventually continued with the Christian Death name after all the original members had left the group. Aside from Kand, the main songwriter during this period was Cram Netod, who later went on to perform with Double Naught Spy Car.
Only Theatre of Pain is the debut studio album by the American rock band Christian Death, released on March 24, 1982, by the Frontier record label.
Catastrophe Ballet is the second studio album by American rock band Christian Death. It was released in 1984, through record label Contempo.
Richard Francis "Rikk" Agnew Jr. is an American musician with a career spanning more than 40 years. A multi-instrumentalist, he has previously been a member of some of the most influential bands of the Orange County hardcore punk genre, as well as the influential deathrock band Christian Death. During his years with the Adolescents, Agnew became known as one of the best guitarists in the Southern California hardcore punk scene.
Valor Kand is a singer, guitarist and songwriter best known for his involvement with Christian Death, an American death rock and gothic rock band.
The Scriptures was Christian Death's fifth album and is seen as an essay on comparative world religions. The liner notes state that the work is "a translation of world beliefs by Valor." The album, like Atrocities, is split into two acts, though later reissues would omit these subtitles. The first 10,000 versions of the original LP record came with a free seven inch single containing two songs: "Jezebel's Tribulation" and "Wraeththu". Some CD reissues of the album feature these songs as bonus tracks. The completion of recording on The Scriptures would see David Glass leave the group and like previous members Barry Galvin and Johann Schumann, would go on to play in Mephisto Walz.
Dreadful Shadows is a German rock band formed in 1993 in Berlin. Initially part of the gothic rock and dark wave movement, the band had developed considerably by the time of the release of their debut album, incorporating metal elements and modern electronics, causing the band to be considered part of the gothic metal genre. Dreadful Shadows disbanded in 2000 to work on separate projects.
Dream Home Heartache is an experimental dark cabaret collaboration album featuring American musicians Rozz Williams and Gitane Demone, both former members of Christian Death. It was released in late 1995 by Triple X Records after being recorded between March 28 and April 5, 1995 in the Netherlands. Williams and Demone toured Europe and North America in support of the album, provoking a riot in Mexico City when fans were unable to enter the sold-out venue. The album is named after the Roxy Music song "In Every Dream Home a Heartache", a cover of which is the first and last track. The album features synthesisers, pianos and accordions, with cabaret-influenced vocals.
Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ is the sixth album by American deathrock band Christian Death. It was released on 18 October 1988.
The Wind Kissed Pictures is an EP by American deathrock band Christian Death, and is the debut release featuring Valor Kand on vocals. It was released in 1985 through Nostradamus Records and has spawned one single, "Believers of the Unpure". On the album, the band's title is made longer, calling themselves For Sin and Sacrifice Must We Die a Christian Death. Allmusic gave the album two stars out of five. However, they claimed it to be "some of the finest post-Rozz Williams work Christian Death would produce."
Paris Anthony Sadonis is a Los Angeles-based keyboardist, painter, performance artist and musician.
Deathwish is an EP by American deathrock band Christian Death. It consists of demos recorded by the band in 1981, prior to the release of Christian Death's debut album Only Theatre of Pain, but was not released until 1984 by French record label l'Invitation au Suicide.