Beowülf
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the '70's and early '80's hard rock band, see Beowulf (Los Angeles band).
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 Paul Yamada, Mike Jensen, Dale Henderson, Miguel Alvarado
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| Background information | ||
| Origin | Venice, California, USA | |
| Genre(s) | Hardcore punk Heavy Metal Thrash Metal Crossover Thrash |
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| Years active | 1983-1998, 2003-Present | |
| Label(s) | Suicidal Records Caroline Records Restless Records I Scream Records |
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| Associated acts |
Black Sheep, Neighborhood Watch, Suicidal Tendencies, No Mercy, Excel | |
| Members | ||
| Dale Henderson Stephan Mark Anthony Kevin Sullivan Rich Rowan |
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| Former members | ||
| Mike Jensen Clint Schuyler Buckit Gimmi Paul Yamada Dug Mug Swanson Roger DeGiacomi Miguel Alvarado Denish Chaudhuri |
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Beowülf is a crossover thrash metal band from Venice Beach, California who defined the "Venice Scene" in the '80's with bands like Suicidal Tendencies, Neighborhood Watch, No Mercy and Excel, who all played a mix of skate punk, hardcore, heavy metal and thrash.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] The "Black Sheep" years
The band started in 1981 as Black Sheep with Dale Henderson on vocals and guitar, former Neighborhood Watch guitar player Mike Jensen on guitar, Paul Tsutomu Yamada on bass and Mike Jensen's cousin, Roger DeGiacomi, on drums. The band played many parties, bars and clubs in Venice in '81 and '82 before DeGiacomi became the band manager and was replaced by Miguel Alvarado on drums in 1983, changing the name of the band to Beowülf or BW7 (The "7" being an inversed "F") as they wrote it in Venice "graffiti slang".
[edit] The Suicidal & Caroline Years
In '85, they were signed to Mike Muir's Suicidal Records and recorded two tracks, "Taste the Steel" and "Unicorn", for the legendary Welcome to Venice compilation. In 1986, they also recorded their first self-titled LP, which was released on Suicidal Records and featured their trademark sound that was a cross between Suicidal Tendencies and Motorhead, Dale's vocals sounding a lot like Lemmy's.
This record had them noticed by Caroline Records, where they followed Suicidal Tendencies and Excel. They recorded their second album, Lost my head... but I'm back on the right track, which was released in 1988 on Caroline which featured the same line-up and was in the same vein as their first.
[edit] The Restless Years & Decline
Around the beginning of the '90's, conflicts arose between the band members and everyone went their separate ways. Dale kept the Beowülf name and hired Clint Schuyler to play guitar, Kevin Sullivan to play bass and Rich Rowan to play drums and he recorded Un-Sentimental, which was released in 1993 on Restless Records with that line-up.
Un-Sentimental was way less appreciated than the band's first two efforts, notably because of the fact that there was only one original member in the band and the sound had changed a bit, drifting more to bluesy rock and going away from the hardcore thrash of their beginning.
Following that, Dale fired all his band again before recording the band's second album on Restless and hired Buckit to play guitar, Dug Mug Swanson to play bass and Denish Chaudhuri to play drums. They released 2 Cents in 1995 and this one didn't fare better than Un-Sentimental.
[edit] The Kool-Whip years
Unfortunately, on that same year, original bass player Paul Yamada died of a drug overdose and that had a huge effect on Dale, who decided he was over with Beowülf. He concentrated on another project, the band Kool-Whip. He called back Rowan and Sullivan (from the Un-Sentimental line-up) and added Gimmi on second guitar and the new band had a more hard rock sound. They played clubs and released the album The Now, which was nominated for best rock album at the 2002 L.A. Music Awards.
[edit] Reunion
Even with Kool-Whip's success, Dale got a hint of nostalgia and wanted to play the old Beowülf songs so he just changed the name of the band back to Beowülf and started touring again playing the Beowülf stuff, keeping the same personel. They also re-released the first two LP's as one CD called The Re-Releases in 2004 on I Scream Records with one new track recorded in 2004.
After that, they started working on a new record, their second for I Scream, in 2005 while relentlessly touring Europe. Titled Westminister & 5th, the new album should be released in 2007.
[edit] Personnel
[edit] Current members
- Dale Henderson - Vocals, guitar (1981 - present)
- Stephan Mark Anthony - Guitar (2006 - present)
- Rich Rowan- Drums (1991-1994, 2000 - present)
- Kevin Sullivan - Bass (1991-1994, 2000 - present)
[edit] Former members
Guitarists
- Mike Jensen - Guitar (1981-1991)
- Clint Schuyler - Guitar (1991-1994)
- Buckit - Guitar (1994-2000)
- Gimmi - Guitar (2001-2006)
Bassists
- Paul Tsutomu Yamada - Bass (1981-1991)
- Dug Mug Swanson - Bass (1994-2000)
Drummers
- Roger DeGiacomi - Drums (1981-1983)
- Miguel Alvarado - Drums (1983-1991)
- Denish Chaudhuri - Drums (1994-2000)
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums and EPs
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1986 | Beowülf | Debut release on Suicidal Records. |
| 1988 | Lost My Head... but I'm back on the right track | First album on Caroline Records |
| 1993 | Un-Sentimental | First album on Restless with only Dale as original member |
| 1995 | 2 Cents | Second album on Restless and last studio album to date |
| 2004 | The Re-Releases | Re-release of the first two albums on one CD on I-Scream Records |
| 2007? | Westminister & 5th | First studio album since the reunion |
[edit] Compilations
- Welcome to Venice (1985)
- Farewell to Venice (2006)
- Welcome 2 Venice (2007)
[edit] External links
Categories: Articles lacking sources from December 2006 | All articles lacking sources | American heavy metal musical groups | Bands with only one constant member | Hardcore punk groups | American musical groups | Los Angeles musical groups | Rock music groups | Punk rock groups | Reunited musical groups | California musical groups
