James Murphy | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | James Franklin Murphy |
Born | Portsmouth, Virginia, U.S. | July 30, 1967
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 1987–present |
Formerly of | Death, Testament, Obituary, Cancer, Disincarnate |
Website | facebook |
James Franklin Murphy (born July 30, 1967) is an American guitarist. He is best known for his work in metal bands Cancer, Obituary, Death [1] and Testament. [2] He founded Disincarnate, [3] an early death metal band.
He was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2001 but recovered. In October 2011, Murphy stated that the tumor had returned but that it was non-cancerous and that it was being treated pharmacologically. [4] He is working on a tribute album to Death founder Chuck Schuldiner who died from pneumonia, caused by complications of his treatment for a brain tumor. He also produced Deron Miller's band World Under Blood. He also completed production of the industrial death metal band Dååth's second album, The Hinderers , which was released on Roadrunner Records, and Lazarus A.D.'s first album The Onslaught , and its follow-up Black Rivers Flow released on Metal Blade Records,(Lazarus A.D. recorded a demo under the name Lazarus before adding the A.D., it was not released making The Onslaught the bands debut album) and many other productions and mixes on various record labels. He has also performed as a touring guitarist for Agent Steel in Europe and the UK in 1987, and was briefly in Hallows Eve in 1989.
In addition to playing guitar, Murphy operates a recording studio, SafeHouse Production, where he has mixed and produced albums for other bands. He has also contributed lessons to Guitar Player magazine .
Murphy has used Caparison guitars since he was able to play guitar again after his treatment. During his years with Testament he played modified Fender Stratocasters with Floyd Rose bridges and Ibanez guitars, primarily the S series models, as well as B.C. Rich guitars during the Obituary and Death period, especially Warlock models. With Disincarnate, he used a Gibson Flying V, loaded with an EMG 85 in the bridge position, through a Marshall 8100. He is a longtime endorsee of EMG pickups, and mainly uses the 85 and 89 models, although on Testament's The Gathering his Ibanez were fitted with Dimarzio Steve's Special and Air Norton. For amplification he is currently using Framus Cobra series amplifiers, although previously he used Mesa amps through Mesa 4x12 cabinets with Testament.
Guest appearances
Tactical is the debut studio album by American melodic death metal band World Under Blood. Recorded at HIV + Cocksplitter and Keene Machine Studios in Los Angeles, California with Logan Mader and Michael Keene, it was produced by the band's frontman Deron Miller and guest musician James Murphy. The album was released on July 26, 2011, by Nuclear Blast Records.
Death was an American death metal band formed in Altamonte Springs, Florida, in 1983 by guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, drummer/vocalist Kam Lee and guitarist Rick Rozz. Death is considered to be among the most influential bands in heavy metal music and a pioneering force in death metal. The band's 1987 debut album, Scream Bloody Gore, has been widely regarded as one of the first death metal records, alongside the first records from Possessed and Necrophagia.
Charles Michael Schuldiner was an American musician. He founded the pioneering death metal band Death in 1983, in which he was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter and only continuous member until his death in 2001. His obituary in the January 5, 2002, issue of Kerrang! described him as "one of the most significant figures in the history of metal." Schuldiner was ranked No. 10 in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists in 2009 and No. 20 in March 2004 Guitar World's "The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists". In 1987, Schuldiner founded the publishing company Mutilation Music, affiliated with performance rights organization BMI. Schuldiner died in 2001 of a brain tumor.
Steve Di Giorgio is an American bass guitarist. He is known for his work with numerous heavy metal bands such as Sadus, Death, Testament, Megadeth, Sebastian Bach, Iced Earth, Autopsy, Obituary, Control Denied, Dragonlord and Charred Walls of the Damned, and he has performed on over 50 albums as a guest, session or full-time band musician.
Testament is an American heavy metal band from Berkeley, California. Formed in 1983 under the name Legacy, the band's current lineup comprises rhythm guitarist Eric Peterson, lead vocalist Chuck Billy, lead guitarist Alex Skolnick, bassist Steve Di Giorgio and drummer Chris Dovas. Testament has experienced many lineup changes over the years, with Peterson being the only remaining original member, though they have since reunited with Skolnick, who had been out of the band from 1992 to 2005. Billy has been a member of Testament since 1986, when he replaced original singer Steve "Zetro" Souza, who had left to replace Paul Baloff in Exodus. Peterson and Billy are the only members to appear on all of Testament's studio albums. The band has released thirteen studio albums, four live albums, five compilation albums, thirteen singles and three DVDs. They are estimated to have sold over 1.4 million albums in the United States since the beginning of the SoundScan era, and over 14 million copies worldwide as of 2016.
Charles Billy is an American singer who is best known as the lead vocalist for thrash metal band Testament.
Deron John Miller is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band CKY, which he co-founded in 1998. Other bands Miller fronts include the progressive metal band Foreign Objects, the melodic death metal band World Under Blood, the death metal band Malevolent Creation, and the alternative metal band 96 Bitter Beings.
Jeff Loomis is an American musician, best known for his role as lead guitarist in the progressive metal band Nevermore during its existence from 1991 to 2011, as well as brief tenures in its precursor, Sanctuary. In 2014, he joined Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy, and in 2021 he joined Graham Bonnet's Alcatrazz as well. He left Arch Enemy in 2023. As a solo artist he has released two albums and one EP.
Steve Smyth is an American musician who is currently the guitarist for metal band One Machine. He has previously played guitar with many metal bands including Vicious Rumors, Testament, Nevermore and Forbidden.
Foreign Objects was an American heavy metal band from West Chester, Pennsylvania. Formed in 1995, the band is centered on vocalist and guitarist Deron Miller, who is the only constant member. During its initial tenure, the band released one extended play (EP), The Undiscovered Numbers & Colors in 1995, before founding members Miller and Jess Margera (drums) went on to form CKY.
Cancer are a British extreme metal band formed in Ironbridge, Shropshire, in 1988. Over the course of their career, they have released six full-length albums, including one for the major label East West, and broke up twice. The band reformed once again in 2013.
Dreams of the Carrion Kind is an album released by American death metal guitarist James Murphy, under the band name Disincarnate. It was released in 1993.
Considered Dead is the debut studio album by Canadian death metal band Gorguts. It was released on October 8, 1991, by Roadrunner Records, whom the band signed with after the release of their 1991 demo ...And Then Comes Lividity. The album features guest vocals by Chris Barnes of Cannibal Corpse on three tracks, as well as a guest guitar solo by James Murphy, who has performed with Death, Obituary, and Testament. The following year, the band took part in the "Blood, Guts and Gore" U.S. tour along with Cannibal Corpse and Atheist.
Loudblast is a French death/thrash metal band from Villeneuve-d'Ascq that pioneered the genres in France, and one of the most important French metal bands of the 1990s.
This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal music in the year 1993.
The Hinderers is Dååth's second studio album produced by Dååth and James Murphy, and released by Roadrunner Records. It contains guest solos by James Murphy and James Malone. Two music videos were produced, one each for the songs "Subterfuge" and "Festival Mass Soulform".
John Michael West is an American vocalist, best known as the lead vocalist of Artension and the former lead vocalist of Royal Hunt.
Emil Werstler is an American guitarist and musician based in Nashville, Tennessee who is perhaps best known for his work in metal and gypsy jazz. In 2004, Werstler became lead guitarist for the metal band Dååth, whose second album The Hinderers peaked at No. 49 on the Top Heatseekers chart in 2007. In 2009 Dååth released The Concealers on Roadrunner which reached No. 35 on Top Heatseekers and was placed as No. 3 on a list of the "top twenty metal albums of 2009" by Metal Sucks. In 2010 Werstler released the instrumental metal album Avalanche of Worms as a collaboration with Eyal Levi with the album receiving a largely positive response for its musicianship and experimental nature.
The Concealers is the third studio album by American metal band Dååth.
Florida death metal is a regional scene and stylistic subdivision of death metal. Some of the most significantly pioneering and best-selling death metal acts emerged in Florida, especially in the Tampa Bay area. As a result, Tampa is unofficially known by many death metal fans as the "capital of death metal." The scene coalesced in the mid-1980s through early 1990s around the output of bands such as Death, Nasty Savage, Deicide, Monstrosity, Morbid Angel, Atheist, Obituary, and others. The producer Scott Burns and the studio Morrisound Recording were also instrumental in developing and popularizing the Florida scene. Some bands which originated outside of Florida, such as Malevolent Creation and Cannibal Corpse, relocated to the state in order to participate in this burgeoning scene. The Florida bands featured a more technical approach to the evolving death metal sound, a style which spread beyond the confines of the state, and some were instrumental in creating the progressive death metal subgenre. The death metal genre as a whole, including the Florida scene, declined in popularity in the second half of the 1990s, but many bands within the Florida scene persisted and the scene resurged in popularity in subsequent decades. Although the scene attracted more media attention, it continued to be underground due to its extreme nature.