Destroyer (band)

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Destroyer
Dan Bejar
Background information
Origin	Vancouver, BC Canada
Genre(s)	Chamber pop Indie pop
Years active	1995 - Present
Label(s)	Tinker Granted Passage Cassettes Merge
Associated acts	The New Pornographers Swan Lake
Members
Dan Bejar

Daniel Bejar (pronounced beːhaɹ) (b. 1972), a native of the Canadian city of Vancouver, started Destroyer in 1995. His first album was the lo-fi We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge. Dan was joined by John Collins on City of Daughters after which he managed to put together a band. In 2000 the band broke up and Bejar took an extended vacation in Spain. He returned to Vancouver to release Thief. Interpreted by many critics as an indictment of the music industry, this album brought Destroyer significant recognition. After its release Bejar focused solely on his music. It was about this time he started contributing to The New Pornographers. After the 2001 release of Streethawk: A Seduction on Misra Records, Destroyer picked up something of a cult following. Having the band Frog Eyes play back up for several shows inspired Notorious Lightning & Other Works, a reworking of six tracks from the previous album Your Blues with Frog Eyes once again as back up.

Bejar is also a guitarist and vocalist for the Vancouver indie band, The New Pornographers and has recently collaborated with members of Frog Eyes and Wolf Parade to create a new supergroup known as Swan Lake.

Destroyer's unique style is almost impossible to categorize. Bejar calls it "European Blues". It is often compared to David Bowie, but admitted influences are Pavement and other indie and shoegaze bands. Bejar's lyric stylings are also of important note. Their cryptic poetry has vexed some and intrigued others. Bejar openly borrows phrases from other artists and a variety of other sources, even political rhetoric (ex: Ronald Reagan's "Evil Empire"). Your Blues presented a new direction in Destroyer's style by introducing orchestral elements as well as a heavy reliance on midi instruments. The name "Destroyer" implies what effect Bejar intends to have on music—an iconoclastic reinvention.

[edit] "The band"

Over the more than 10 years that Dan Bejar has been performing and recording as Destroyer, there have been numerous lineup changes and shifts within “the band”. This ever-evolving shuffle of musicians has led some to consider Destroyer as a solo project, but Dan has always insisted that he sees Destroyer as a band, with full contributions from his collaborators. Admittedly he’s just never been very good at the logistics of keeping a band together. All that is about to change as Bejar assures us that the current line-up of Destroyer that emerged from the recording sessions for Destroyer's Rubies shall be the definitive and permanent line up for the band from this point forward. Many members here have performed with Bejar in one form or another before, some on previous Destroyer albums. The glue that holds all of this together are Dan’s longtime collaborators, the production team of JC/DC (John Collins and Dave Carswell).

[edit] Discography

Year	Title	Label
1996	We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge	Tinker
1997	Ideas for Songs	Granted Passage Cassettes
1998	City of Daughters	Endearing/Triple Crown Audio
2000	Thief	Catsup Plate/Triple Crown Audio/Cave Canem
2001	Streethawk: A Seduction	Misra/Talitres
2002	This Night	Merge/Talitres
2004	Your Blues	Merge/Talitres/Acuarela
2005	Notorious Lightning & Other Works (EP)	Merge
2006	Destroyer's Rubies	Merge