Full Devil Jacket was an American nu metal band that started as the Voodoo Hippies when Josh Brown, Mike Reaves, Kevin Bebout, and Keith Foster all met at Josh Brown’s brother’s tattoo shop in Jackson, Tennessee. Jonathan Montoya was the last addition to the band as the second guitarist.
Before being signed to Island/Def Jam Records, they changed the name to Full Devil Jacket. There are two stories on how the band got its name. One is that the band was named after a song written by lead singer Josh Brown, called “Full Devil Jacket.” Another story is that the band simply pulled the name from a magazine article.
While signed to Def Jam Records, the band had a successful career, releasing one EP titled "A Waxbox To Put Your Frankenstein Head In..." (October 1999).[1] Their self-titled LP Full Devil Jacket (March 2000)[1] quickly went gold. While together, the band toured with Creed, Nickelback, Type O Negative, played at Woodstock 99, and was featured on the Tattoo the Earth tour with Mudvayne, Slipknot, Sepultura, Slayer, and Coal Chamber with Metallica headlining one show.
While on tour with Creed, Josh Brown suffered a drug overdose. Brown had to be resuscitated by his girlfriend. He then decided to quit the band. The album remains unreleased and unfinished to this day. Some of the songs that the band was working on were “Shelter,” “All Apologies,” “Superdysfunctional Hero,” and “Bottle.”
After the departure of Brown, Michael Reaves also decided to leave the band. Full Devil Jacket then reformed with a new lead singer (Ben Hatch; then later on Jamie Martin) and a new second guitarist, Dave White, and recorded an unreleased EP under their new name of WaxBox before the band dissolved altogether. This incarnation of the band decided to work on some of the same songs that they did with Brown. The EP included “Shelter,” “All Apologies,” “Superdysfunctional Hero,” and “Sober.”
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The band announced a one-time reunion concert on June 19, 2010 in Jackson, Tennessee to benefit the James Michael Reaves Medical Expense Fund. The band reportedly decided to reunite and start playing live again as well as record new material for release in 2011.
Josh Brown and Jonathan Montoya also formed a new band called A New Rebel (formerly named Anti Dream Machine) with David Fraizer of Outspoken, Jarred Mankin of Bobaflex and Jason Null of Saving Abel.
In 2000, Brown nearly died of a heroin overdose. While recovering in rehab and working on their second album, he converted to Christianity and left the band, retreating to Jackson, Tennessee.
After several years, Josh Brown re-entered the music scene with his new project Day of Fire which was signed to Essential Records until 2007. Their self-titled debut won a Dove Award for Rock Album of the Year and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album. Day of Fire released their second album titled Cut & Move on Sony's RED Distribution/Essential Records in 2006. Following two years of going unsigned, DoF signed with Razor and Tie Records, and released their third album titled Losing All in January 2010. In June 2010, the band announced they would be taking an indefinite hiatus.
After working with some local Jackson, Tennessee projects such as One Less Reason, Montoya formed his current project Supernova Syndicate. As history would repeat itself, the band recorded a debut CD that was never released. They are currently back in the studio and working on their debut album again.
Montoya also filled in as a guitar player for the band Saliva on their European tour. He was eventually invited to be a full-time member of the band. On August 30, 2010 he was released from Saliva.
After Full Devil Jacket, Reaves toured Europe with a band called Travisty and briefly worked with the pop singer Jasmine Cain. He also wrote and recorded with Randy Lovelace around Jackson, Tennessee. Reaves lived in Dyersburg, Tennessee and was with a band named 3 Legged Dog. He died from prostate cancer on July 25, 2011 at the age of 52.[2]
After Full Devil Jacket and WaxBox, Keith Foster played drums for Danny Archer in the band Love Over Gravity around Jackson, TN and Nashville, TN. Along with guitarist Greg Scallions (brother of Fuel frontman Brett Scallions) and bass player Brad Singleton, they recorded eight songs with record producer Michael Wagener (Ozzy, Metallica, Skid Row, etc.). The songs were never officially released, but can be found online.
Bebout is currently working for Epiphone as Kramer Project Manager. He is thanked by Jonathan in Saliva's latest CD liner notes for endorsing the band with custom Kramer guitars. He also plays bass in the Nashville based Humorcore band called Holy Crap!.