Beowülf
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| Beowülf | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Venice, California, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Hardcore punk Heavy metal Thrash metal Crossover thrash |
| Years active | 1981-1995, 2000-present |
| Label(s) | Suicidal Records Caroline Records Restless Records I Scream Records |
| 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 formed Venice Beach, California in 1981 by frontman Dale Henderson. The group never gained a large mainstream success, but is considered one of the first bands that defined the "Venice Scene" in the 1980s, along with Suicidal Tendencies, Neighborhood Watch, No Mercy, Excel and Uncle Slam, who all played a mix of skate punk, hardcore, heavy metal and thrash.
So far, Beowülf has released five studio albums. They split up in 1995, but reformed in 2000. The band has had numerous line-up changes and Henderson has been the only constant member. Their classic line-up is Henderson (vocals), Mike Jensen (guitar), Paul Yamada (bass) and Miguel Alvarado (drums).
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early years (1981-1984)
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 1981-1982 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 BWF (The F being inverted) as they wrote it in Venice "graffiti slang".
[edit] The "classic" line-up-era (1985-1989)
In 1985, 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 Motörhead, 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] Later years (1990-1995)
Around the beginning of the 1990s, 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 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.
In 1994 Dale fired all his band again before recording the band's fourth album in Seattle for Restless Records and hired Buckit to play guitar, childhood friend and former EVOL bassist Dug Mug Swanson and Denish Chaudhuri to play drums. They released 2 Cents in 1995, toured Europe, Japan and had a song in the cult film Tank Girl. Tank-Girl director Rachel Talalay also did the band's video for the song "2 Cents".
[edit] Post-break up (1996-1999)
Unfortunately in 1995, 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 (2000-present)
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 personnel. 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.
They started working on a new record, their second for I Scream, in 2005 while relentlessly touring Europe. Titled Westminister & 5th, it was released in April 2007 and featured Henderson, Rowan and Sullivan with Stefan Crapia on guitar.
[edit] Personnel
[edit] Current members
- Dale Henderson - Vocals, guitar (1981 - present)
- Stephan Mark Anthony - Guitar (2006 - present)
- Rich Rowan- Drums (1991-1994, 2000 - present)
- Sean Otero - Bass (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) (deceased)
- 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 album. |
| 1988 | Lost My Head... But I'm Back on the Right Track | Last album recorded with the classic line-up. |
| 1993 | Un-Sentimental | First album on Restless and also with Dale as the only constant member. |
| 1995 | 2 Cents | Second album on Restless and last studio album before disbanding. |
| 2007 | Westminister & 5th | First studio album since the reunion. |
[edit] Compilations
- Welcome to Venice (1985)
- The Re-Releases (2004)
- Farewell to Venice (2006)
- Welcome 2 Venice (2007)
[edit] External links
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