Specimen-X

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Specimen-X

Specimen-X Promo Picture 2000
Origin Boston, MA, USA
Years active 1995 – 2001
Genres Hard Rock, Metal,
Labels Roddog Records
Members Sean Gallagher
Jim Dillon
Brad Horion
Paul Murray
John Malcolm
Website(s) Specimen-X.com

Specimen-X was a Boston-based hard rock band that was one of the first bands to establish an international presence via the Internet. Formed in 1995, Specimen-X was one of the first bands in the world to establish its own web domain (specimenx.com in 1995) and to release albums in the MP3 format (1997), embracing these digital media vehicles in their infancy and pioneering them as a way to spread their music and reach fans. The band disbanded in early 2001. Specimen-X was renowned for the intensity of its live performances, diversity in songwriting, and lyrics and performances themed around the perils of technology and social commentary. The band's website can still be accessed through the new domain Specimen-X.com

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] 1995

The band was founded in late 1995 by guitarist/primary songwriter Jim Dillon and vocalist Sean Gallagher, who were close friends and had played in Boston area bands Xenophobia and Prototype together.

Jim and Sean enlisted bassist John Chaput, who they had formerly played with in Prototype, and sought out Ryan 'Sully' Sullivan, a veteran of the band Goatmilk, for lead guitar. Ryan introduced drummer Paul Murray to the band: this group would form Specimen-X's first lineup.

[edit] 1996 - 1997

The band took shape combining far-ranging influences from jazz and bluesto heavy metal, crafting a signature "melodic hard rock" sound that was viewed by many to be ahead of its day. Following a number of local performances and growing publiclity, the band decided to record a demo tape for distribution to Boston clubs. The demo furthered its fan base, and after 2 years of songwriting and development as a group, the band decided to go into the studio to record an album. For a short time, the band had added keyboardist Ed Kelley, who left due to creative differences before the recording of the album, and eventually moved to Toronto, Canada.

[edit] 1998

1998 saw founding member John Chaput increasingly focus his energy on Feedback, a pop-band side project; meanwhile, second guitarist Ryan Sullivan left the band as he headed to college at the University of Virginia. These events led to the formation of a new line-up.

Long-time friend Dave Green, who had briefly played with Jim and Sean as a substitute in Xenophobia in 1994, replaced John on bass. However, Dave's tenure was short-lived, as he departed the band when his band Merkin re-formed. Specimen-X soon welcomed another long-time friend, Scott Harrington, the original bass player for Xenophobia. In addition, Specimen-X evolved its sound with the addition of keyboardist Terry O'Brien.

[edit] 1999

After integrating Terry on keyboard and Scott on bass, Specimen-X soon played Aerosmith's Mama Kin Music Hall, making a part of Boston music history, playing it on the last night that it was officially known by that name. Later in January they performed on Misty's Kitchen, a cable television show that has featured interviews with Fear Factory, Type O Negative, Sevendust, Anthrax, Vision of Disorder and many other acts.

With recordings of the new material in demand, Specimen-X went into the studio and recorded a new full-length album in January in Providence, Rhode Island with Dave Lyne of Post Hollywood Recording. The album was being prepared for duplication and production when the band landed distributution with Roddog Records, an independent label in based in Germany and the United States. Meanwhile, the album was released digitally in its entirety and songs from The Final Hour raced up themp3.com metal charts along with signed international artists, receiving hundreds of downloads each week. From December 1998 through March 1999, many of Specimen-X's singles from The Final Hour out-charted songs from acts such as King's X, Iced Earth, Fates Warning, and Lacuna Coil, as many rock acts were just beginning to embrace the format.

February 1999 was a period of relative rest after the grueling recording sessions, with the band gigging heavily. "THE FINAL HOUR" officially arrived on May 26, 1999. Two days later, the band played "the show of the year" - The Feelers Festival - at the 4,000-seat Worcester Palladium (along with Anthrophobia, Eastcide, 7th Rail Crew, Officer Down, Shed, Infuse, Split, Last Man Standing and many more). Frank Phobia from Anthrophobia even joined the band onstage to sing in a cover of "Epic" by Faith No More.

The CD landed in Boston-area record chains and impressive reviews, and the band began to work on new material with a heavier, more progressive edge.

As Specimen-X geared up for the August 14th CD Release Party show at The Middle East, the band's traffic on mp3.com exploded. Songs such as "Exodus" and "Every Picture Tells a Lie" clung to Top-3 positions on the charts amongst thousands of other selections - and remained there for more than two weeks. The band's activity peaked at nearly 300 unique downloads of Specimen-X songs in a single day, charting at #1 in Progressive Metal with "Exodus" and #2 in Hardcore Metal with "Every Picture Tells a Lie". Indeed, this was the early days of mp3 downloading on the web - and Specimen-X was among the pioneers.

Meanwhile,Roddog Records secured limited international distribution for the album in Europe, and the summer of 1999 wound down with the band destroying a keyboard and the Plymouth Metalfest, as the band received airplay on Boston's WBCN and WAAF. In September, the band parted ways with its youngest member, keyboardist Terry O'Brien, who left to attend college in Wisconsin. In the fall of 1999, Specimen-X kicked into high-gear, playing a number of high-profile shows. Specimen-X headlined a WAAF-sponsored event on the South Shore, played downstairs at The Middle East, and playedBridgewater State College, opening for local rock legends Sam Black Church.

[edit] 2000

In early 2000, bass player Scott Harrington decided to leave the band after just over a year, to pursue other interests. Dave Green rejoined Specimen-X for another temporary stint, as the band searched for a new bassist. In January, the band auditioned and began transitioning a second guitarist into the lineup - John Malcolm. With John expanding the band's sound to a dual-guitar assault, Specimen-X worked toward preparing for March 4th's Big Noise Record Label Showcase in Providence, Rhode Island. Specimen-X had been selected to perform for a number of record label executives and music industry heavy-weights, opening up the night with an incendiary set and leaving a strong impression that garnered solid evaluations.

In April, the Specimen-X lineup was again finally complete with the addition of Brad Horion (formerly of TSW) on bass. Soon after Brad joined the band, Specimen-X entered the voting for one of three slots in Massachusetts Communication College's Battle of the Bands 2000. Out of 75 participating musical acts and thousands of votes cast over the period of more than a month, Specimen-X leveraged the strength of their large and supportive online fan base and received the most votes of any band, earning a slot in the show slated to take place at The Roxy Theater in downtown Boston

Monday, April 10th kicked off an especially notable week for Specimen-X. They played Bill's Bar on Lansdowne Street in Boston with NOK and Controlled Aggression, playing to a packed house. Tommy Lee (along with his band Methods of Mayhem, who were playing next door), Godsmack, and a number of others were in attendance at what turned into an all-night metal party celebrating the Boston scene.

At the end of the week, the band played the aforementioned MassComm Battle of the Bands 2000 along with 7th Rail Crew, Psychotic Larry and Coven 13. With the most audience votes at the Roxy, Specimen-X took home first place - winning a music video production, 3 song recording and gift certificate after a memorable performance in duct tape suits.

Specimen-X spent May and June of 2000 in the recording studio, laying down tracks for the new 3-song demo which was released in July 2000 - the band's best production yet.

In summer 2000, mp3.com's Life Out of Bounds compilation CD was released, featuring Specimen-X's "Every Picture Tells a Lie". The band was one of 15 metal artists world-wide selected to have a track featured on the multimedia disc, to be distributed bundled with 3,000,000 consumer computer products and mp3.com customers - placing the bands music in the hands of hundreds of thousands of listeners.

The band spent July of 2000 in pre-production for the professionally produced "Megiddo" music video, slated for release in September. August saw Specimen-X playing a number of shows (including a headling date at Bill's Bar in Boston) and completing the video shoot in a 12-hour warehouse filming session amidst back-to-back gigs.

Specimen-X played a number of shows in the summer and fall, including headlining dates downtairs at The Middle East and Bill's Bar in Boston - as well as beginning to make Jarrod's Place in Attleboro a regular venue for the band. Throughout the fall, Specimen-X was gearing up for what they'd soon announce - a European tour, on the heels of the release of the Megiddo video.

In November 2000, Specimen-X departed for the Specimen-X European Tour 2000, primarily consisting of dates in Germany, with the band playing everything from small and large clubs to military posts. The very well-received tour was sponsored by Roddog Records and ran from November 9-20.

[edit] 2001

In 2001, again with more shows and opportunity on the horizon than ever - the band chose the unlikely course of dissolving the group at it's peak, exiting the world not with a whimper, but a bang.

[edit] Post-Specimen-X

Following the dissolution of the band, guitarist Jim Dillon and bassist Brad Horion formed metal act All You'll See, while drummer Paul Murray would provide the backbone of many Boston-area acts, most notably, The Coaster Thieves. Brad would go on to play with Breedinground, Changing Skin, and Klone, and is currently the bass player for Diecast, a metalcore band with a massive international following and a recording contract on Century Media Records. Jim has showcased his talents in Bastard Hat and currently,Seventh Rising, while also attracting attention through The James Dillon Project.

[edit] Discography

Album Released Format Notes
"Demo" 1996 Cassette Tape Recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder
"Don't Look Back" 1997 Cassette Tape First studio recording, Self Released
"The Final Hour" 1999 CD First major release, Self Released in the USA, Distributed by Roddog Records in Europe
"Ascension to Power" 2000 CD 3 Song EP, Self Released in the USA, Distributed by Roddog Records in Europe
"The End is Now" 2001 CD 4 Song EP featuring a cover of the Helmet song Unsung, Self Released in the USA, Distributed by Roddog Records in Europe
"Specimen-X: The Ultimate DVD" 2006 DVD Includes all of the band's releases, music videos, home videos and a ton of bonus material, Currently available from Specimen-X.com

[edit] Music Videos

Song Director Released Notes
"Megiddo" Jeacline Hedlund & Dave Gutt 2000 Released in conjunction with the "Ascension to Power" EP, 2 different edits were available for download on the band's website.
"Inner Strength" Dave Gutt 2001 The plot of this video has the band taking over the airwaves with a pirated broadcast, the video was never officially released or distributed.
"TSW" Dave Gutt 2006 A photo montage that was produced and integrated into the band's final performance, the video was never distributed.

[edit] Band Members

Year Band Recordings
Vocals Guitar Drums Bass Guitar Keyboards
1995 -1997 Sean Gallagher Jim Dillon Paul Murray John Chaput Ryan 'Sully' Sullivan Demo, Dont't Look Back
1998 - 1999 Sean Gallagher Jim Dillon Paul Murray Scott Harrington Terry O'Brien The Final Hour
2000 Sean Gallagher Jim Dillon Paul Murray Brad Horion John Samuelian (aka John Malcolm) Ascension to Power
2001 Sean Gallagher Jim Dillon Paul Murray Brad Horion The End is Now

[edit] Temporary live members

[edit] 1996 - 1997

  • Ed Kelley - Played keyboards for a short time with the band but left before the recording of Don't Look Back

[edit] 1998 and 2000

  • Dave Green - Played bass for a short time in 1998 before returning to his previous band Merkin. He returned in 2000 to fill in while the band searched for a full-time replacement.

[edit] External links

Specimen-X
Members
Jim Dillon - Sean Gallagher - Brad Horion - John Malcolm - Paul Murray
John Chaput - Dave Green - Scott Harrington - Ed Kelley - Terry O'Brien - Ryan 'Sully' Sullivan
Albums
4-Track Demo - Don't Look Back - The Final Hour - Ascension to Power - The End is Now
Related Projects
All You'll See - Breedinground - Seventh Rising
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/p/e/Specimen-X_8ca0.html"