Julie Christmas

Last updated
Julie Christmas
Made Out Of Babies2.jpg
Julie Christmas performing with Made Out of Babies in 2008 at New York's Knitting Factory.
Background information
Born (1975-12-25) December 25, 1975 (age 48)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Genres Post-metal, noise rock, post-hardcore, sludge metal, post-rock
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Vocals
Labels Neurot, Rising Pulse, The End, Indie

Julie Christmas (born December 25, 1975) is an American musician from Brooklyn, New York. Christmas is her legal middle name; she was named so after the fact that she was born on Christmas day. [1] She is the former lead singer of defunct Brooklyn-based noise rock band Made Out of Babies [2] and the former lead singer of defunct post-metal supergroup Battle of Mice. [3] In 2010, she released a critically acclaimed solo album titled The Bad Wife , and in 2016, she became a featured member on the Swedish post-metal band Cult of Luna's album Mariner .

Contents

History

Julie Christmas spent the majority of the 2000s as the lead vocalist for the noise rock band Made Out of Babies and the short-lived post-metal supergroup Battle of Mice, the latter of which featured members of The Book of Knots, Fugees, Neurosis and Red Sparowes. She sang on three studio albums with Made Out of Babies — Trophy (2005), Coward (2006) and The Ruiner (2008) — before the band went inactive for a few years and announced that it had officially broken up in 2012. Battle of Mice released one studio album — A Day of Nights (2006) — and a few EPs with Christmas before disbanding in 2009.

Julie Christmas provided vocals to the song "Generation of Ghosts" by Mouth of the Architect on their 2008 release Quietly . [3]

Christmas is involved with Spylacopa, an experimental musical project headed by Candiria guitarist John LaMacchia, along with Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan and Jeff Caxide of Isis. Spylacopa released a self-titled EP in 2008 followed by a studio album in 2015.

Julie Christmas released her debut solo album titled The Bad Wife in late 2010 through Rising Pulse Records. The album's lead single "July 31" was used in the final credits of the 2009 Cuba Gooding Jr. film Wrong Turn at Tahoe . [1] Christmas said she used her solo career to creatively separate herself from her heavier main projects at the time. She said: "When we started working on The Bad Wife, I was involved in a few different projects that were rough, angry and involved a lot of screaming. I won't ever be able to separate myself from this kind of performance and I don't want to. I do know that, in day-to-day life, I get overwhelmed with emotion about things that have nothing to do with anger, just like everyone else. The project started as a way to show the importance of other feelings, like love." [1] The album was critically acclaimed upon release. Iann Robinson of CraveOnline gave the album a nine-out-of-ten rating and said, "The Bad Wife is one of the best albums to come out this year, hands down." [4] Christopher R. Weingarten of Spin praised the album and said, "Whether Christmas is headbanging or drowning, The Bad Wife is remarkably intimate, with the singer letting her voice crack, squeak, and gasp for air, finding the more revealing notes in between the notes." [5]

At the time of The Bad Wife's release, Christmas was also said to be working on a book titled The Scribbles and Scrapes of Amy Anyone: (A Multiple Personality Autobiography), featuring illustrations from Nix Turner, who is known for her work on Emily the Strange. The book was to be accompanied by a musical album to be played while reading the book that would signal the reader when to turn the page. [6] [7]

In 2012, Christmas appeared on the record From Beyond Love by Strings of Consciousness. [3] In 2015, she appeared as a guest on Pigs' album Wronger. [8]

Christmas appeared as a featured guest on the Swedish post-metal band Cult of Luna's entire seventh studio album titled Mariner , released on April 8, 2016. [9] Like the rest of the band's discography, Mariner is a concept album, which touches on themes of exploring outer space. [9]

Christmas performed her first show in six years on March 6, 2023, at New York City's Saint Vitus Bar. Her backing band included Cult of Luna guitarist Johannes Persson. [10] Christmas also played the Dutch metal Roadburn Festival in April 2023 after originally being scheduled for the canceled 2020 edition. [11]

Discography

Solo

Made Out of Babies

Battle of Mice

Spylacopa

Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas

Guest appearances

YearArtistAlbumTrack
2008 Mouth of the Architect Quietly [3] "Generation of Ghosts"
2012 Strings of Consciousness From Beyond Love [3] "The Drone from Beyond Love"
2015PigsWronger [8] "Bug Boy"

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neurosis (band)</span> American post-metal band

Neurosis is an American post-metal band from Oakland, California. It was formed in 1985 by guitarist Scott Kelly, bassist Dave Edwardson, and drummer Jason Roeder, initially as a hardcore punk band. Chad Salter joined as a second guitarist and appeared on the band's 1987 debut Pain of Mind and then Steve Von Till replaced him in 1989. The following year, the lineup further expanded to include a keyboardist and a visual artist. Beginning with their third album Souls at Zero (1992), Neurosis transformed their hardcore sound by incorporating diverse influences including doom metal and industrial music, becoming a major force in the emergence of the post-metal and sludge metal genres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Gabriel Fischer</span> Swiss musician

Thomas Gabriel Fischer, also known by the stage names Tom Warrior and Satanic Slaughter, is a Swiss musician. He led the extreme metal groups Hellhammer and Celtic Frost, and today is the frontman of the band Triptykon.

Candiria is an American band from Brooklyn, New York, mixing progressive metal, metalcore, jazz fusion and hip hop. They are part of the precursors of the mathcore genre with bands like Deadguy or Lethargy. Formed in 1992, the band was part of the second wave of New York hardcore, but subsequently expanded its performance to also play jazz, hip hop and progressive rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cult of Luna</span> Swedish post-metal band

Cult of Luna is a Swedish post-metal band from Umeå founded in 1998. Their style of music is similar to contemporary bands Neurosis and Isis. Cult of Luna was signed to Earache Records in the early 2000s and released five albums, including the commercially successful albums Salvation (2004) and Somewhere Along the Highway (2006). After an extended period of inactivity, Cult of Luna returned with its Indie Recordings debut Vertikal (2013) and companion EP Vertikal II (2013), both drawing inspiration from Fritz Lang's 1927 film, Metropolis. In 2016 the band released their space-themed collaborative album, Mariner, featuring American vocalist Julie Christmas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yob (band)</span> American doom metal band

Yob is an American doom metal band from Eugene, Oregon, composed of singer/guitarist Michael Scheidt, bassist Aaron Rieseberg and drummer Dave French. Their most recent studio album Our Raw Heart was released in June 2018.

Vincent Signorelli is a drummer from New York City. He has toured in clubs throughout the world, primarily with Unsane, NYC's infamous noise rock trio. He has played primarily with Swans, Unsane, and Foetus. Additionally, he has done session work with Lubricated Goat, Of Cabbages and Kings, and the slo-core band Idaho. Concurrent with his involvement in Unsane, Signorelli runs a tattoo shop in New York called True Blue located in Queens on Fresh Pond Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Sparowes</span> American post-rock band

Red Sparowes is an American, Los Angeles-based post-rock band, comprising current and former members of Isis, Marriages, The Nocturnes, Halifax Pier, Angel Hair and Pleasure Forever. Their sound is characteristic of soundscape-influenced experimental rock, with an otherwise uncommon extensive use of a pedal steel guitar.

Neurot Recordings is an American independent record label founded by members of avant-garde metal band Neurosis in 1999. Gradually expanding, it has showcased a variety of artists including a number of sludge metal, post-rock, and noise bands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Made Out of Babies</span> American sludge metal band

Made Out of Babies was a sludge metal band from Brooklyn, New York formed in 2004 that disbanded in 2012.

<i>Trophy</i> (Made Out of Babies album) 2005 studio album by Made Out of Babies

Trophy is the debut album by American noise-rock/post-metal band Made Out of Babies. It was released through Neurot Recordings on June 28, 2005. The album was produced, engineered, and mixed by Joel Hamilton at Atomic Recordings in Brooklyn and Leopard Studios in New Paltz with mastering by Doug Henderson.

Battle of Mice was an American post-metal supergroup consisting of Julie Christmas, Josh Graham, Joel Hamilton, Tony Maimone, and Joe Tomino. The band's name was derived from a saying by Alexander the Great pertaining to a military invasion of Crete.

<i>A Day of Nights</i> 2006 studio album by Battle of Mice

A Day of Nights is the only studio album by American post-metal band Battle of Mice. It was released on October 6, 2006 through Neurot Recordings label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roadburn Festival</span> Dutch experimental music festival

Roadburn Festival is an annual music festival held each April in Tilburg, Netherlands. It was founded by Walter Hoeijmakers and Jurgen van den Brand in 1999, who ran a stoner rock blog of the same name.

U.S. Christmas is a psychedelic rock band from Marion, North Carolina, founded in 2002. After Neurosis guitarist/vocalist Scott Kelly heard their debut album Salt The Wound, he signed the band to Neurot Recordings, the label he owns with fellow Neurosis members. Their sound features elements of Americana, sludge metal, psychedelic rock, space rock and folk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Ruth Rundle</span> American singer

Emma Ruth Rundle is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and visual artist based in Portland, Oregon. Formerly of the Nocturnes and Marriages, she has released five solo albums and is a member of Red Sparowes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Full of Hell (band)</span> American grindcore band

Full of Hell is an American grindcore band from Ocean City, Maryland, and Central Pennsylvania, that formed in 2009. They are currently signed to Relapse Records and have released five studio albums – Roots of Earth Are Consuming My Home (2011), Rudiments of Mutilation (2013), Trumpeting Ecstasy (2017), Weeping Choir (2019), and Garden of Burning Apparitions (2021) – as well as several EPs and splits. In addition to studio albums, they've released five collaboration albums – Full of Hell & Merzbow (2014) with Japanese noise artist Merzbow, One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache (2016) and Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light (2017) with sludge metal band the Body, Suffocating Hallucination with doom metal band Primitive Man in March 2023 and When No Birds Sang with shoegaze band Nothing in December 2023.

<i>Mariner</i> (album) 2016 studio album by Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas

Mariner is a collaborative studio album between the Swedish post-metal band Cult of Luna and the American vocalist Julie Christmas, formerly of the bands Made Out of Babies and Battle of Mice. Serving as Cult of Luna's seventh studio album and the first time Christmas has appeared on the entirety of a full-length album since her 2010 solo debut The Bad Wife, Mariner was released on April 8, 2016 through Indie Recordings. Contrasting the industrial city themes of Cult of Luna's last studio efforts, Vertikal and Vertikal II from 2013, Mariner focuses its concept on space exploration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bad Wolves</span> American heavy metal band

Bad Wolves is an American heavy metal band formed in 2017. Initially finding fame from their first single, a cover of the Cranberries' 1994 hit "Zombie", the band proceeded to find further success with a number of songs topping the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart, including "Remember When", "Killing Me Slowly", and "Sober". The band has released three studio albums, Disobey (2018), N.A.T.I.O.N. (2019) and Dear Monsters (2021). In January 2021, original lead vocalist Tommy Vext left the band and was replaced by Daniel "DL" Laskiewicz. Tensions ensued between Vext and the band, resulting in legal proceedings including Better Noise Music.

<i>A Dawn to Fear</i> 2019 studio album by Cult of Luna

A Dawn to Fear is the eighth studio album by Swedish post-metal band Cult of Luna. It is the band's first studio album since Vertikal (2013) and first new material since Mariner (2016), their collaborative album with Julie Christmas. The album was released on September 20, 2019 through Metal Blade Records. Due to its length, most physical editions are released in two CDs.

<i>The Long Road North</i> 2022 studio album by Cult of Luna

The Long Road North is the eighth studio album by Swedish post-metal band Cult of Luna. The album was released on 11 February 2022 through Metal Blade Records. It peaked at No. 14 on the German albums chart.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Sciarretto, Amy (July 29, 2010). "Julie Christmas, 'The Bad Wife' — New Album". Noisecreep . AOL . Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  2. ↑ Signal to noise. Signal to Noise. 2008. p. 109.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Julie Christmas – Credits". AllMusic . All Media Network . Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  4. ↑ Robinson, Iann (November 8, 2010). "Julie Christmas: The Bad Wife". CraveOnline . Retrieved February 3, 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. ↑ Weingarten, Christopher R. (November 9, 2010). "Julie Christmas, 'The Bad Wife' (Rising Pulse)". Spin . Spin Media . Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  6. ↑ Rosenburg, Axl (June 24, 2010). "Julie Christmas is a bad wife". MetalSucks . Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Julie Christmas to release debut solo album". Lambgoat. June 24, 2010. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  8. 1 2 Lipez, Zachary (July 9, 2015). "Listen to 'The Life In Pink' by Pigs Immediately". Noisey . Vice . Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 Hartmann, Graham (February 1, 2016). "Cult of Luna Team With Julie Christmas For New Album 'Mariner'". Loudwire . Townsquare Media . Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  10. ↑ "JULIE CHRISTMAS announces first show in 6 years". Revolver. 2023-01-25. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  11. ↑ "Roadburn announces first names for 2023 including Deafheaven, Julie Christmas and David Eugene Edwards. – Roadburn Festival" . Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  12. ↑ "Artists". Coextinction Recordings. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.