| Dead Brain Cells | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Genres | Thrash metal, speed metal |
| Years active | 1986–1993, 2002–present |
| Labels | Combat Records |
| Associated acts | North End Metal All-Stars, Terratomb, Hellacaust |
| Members | |
| Eddie Shahini Phil Dakin Jeff St. Louis J. Quinn Graham Ferguson |
|
| Past members | |
| Gerry Ouellette | |
Dead Brain Cells are a Canadian thrash metal band from the late 1980s. Called DBC for short, the band started in 1985 in Montreal as a small project named "Final Chapter" by guitar players Eddie Shahini and Gerry Ouellette, who put an ad in a magazine looking for a drummer. Former Genetic Control singer Mike "Zabo" Price answer the ad and tried to covince Shahini and Ouellette to join his band, then decided to work with them, writing lyrics for the songs they had composed but Zabo soon left. In 1986, former Vomit and the Zits singer Dave Javex Ray-O-Vac (David Leone) and former Unruled and Vomit and the Zits drummer Jeff Saint-Louis, joined with Shahini and Ouellette and guitar player Phil Dakin, who switched to bass. The project grew into a serious band which took the name Dead Brain Cells among three suggestions by Leone, the others being "The Mental Pukes" and "The Retarded Assholes".
The band was not satisfied with Leone and replaced him by former Unruled singer Cory Lowe after a few shows. They were not satisfied with Lowe either, so they fired him too and Dakin decided he would sing and play bass at the same time. The band released two albums and toured twice in the United States. Their first album, Dead Brain Cells was released in 1987. It was followed by a concept album, Universe in 1989.
The Dead Brain Cells song The Genesis Explosion was featured in a Canadian television commercial for Microcell Telecommunications in 2005. The commercial depicts an older woman using her cell phone to win a radio call-in show.
The band's guitarist, Gerry Ouellette, died on November 12, 1994. The three surviving members of DBC continue to perform occasionally in Canada with Jason Quinn replacing Ouellette on Guitar and Graham Ferguson as part-time drummer.