Downthesun

Downthesun was a six-piece nu metal band from Kansas City, Missouri.

History

The band was formed by bassist Lance "Kuk" Collier and samples operator Nathan Church who were in the band Canvas (Kansas City) with Derek "D-rock" Strait and Paul "Pauly-C" Schwerdtfeger together that opened for Slipknot in mid-1999.^[1] This put them in touch with Slipknot's Shawn "Clown" Crahan. After deciding to replace the original Canvas members, drummer (d-rock) and guitarist (Pauly-C) ,,, they auditioned several players, The band went through several line up and name changes before becoming Downthesun. The line up that recorded the album in June 2001 was: Lance Collier-bass, Aaron Peltz-vocals,Anthony "Satone" Stevens- Vocals, Nathan Church-Electronics&Vocals,Neil Godfrey-Guitar, Danny Spain-Drums. In 2001 the band signed to Slipknot's Maggot Recordings label.^[2]

After recording the guitar tracks for their self-titled debut, Godfrey left the band to join first Motograter, and then Lo-Pro with former Ultraspank singer Pete Murray. The band then recruited Bruce Swink to handle the guitar for the band's live shows. Although listed on the album liner notes, Swink did not play on the album. Downthesun was briefly signed to London/Sire records before the label folded, leaving the band unsigned for a brief period of time.

They were signed to Roadrunner Records and released their self-titled debut album in 2002.^[1] Before the album's release, they shot a video for the song "Medicated", which was aired on MTV2's "Extreme Rock" and Fuse's "Uranium" shows, and can be viewed on YouTube.com. Early 2003, however, saw the band, for reasons unknown, experience a mass exodus of band members, as Aaron Peltz, Satone, Danny Spain, and Bruce Swink all left the band. Kuk and Church soldiered on, however, finding replacements for the departed members, and recording a few demos and playing live shows around the midwest before calling it a day in late 2003.

In 2010, downthesun got back together to record new music.^[3] However, a post by bassist Lance "Kuk" Collier revealed that due to his rehab and lack of interest from the other members, the reunion was off.

Discography

Title: Downthesun
Date: October 1, 2002
Label: Roadrunner Records

• Track listing:

1. "Medicated" – (3:50)
2. "We All Die" – (3:23)
3. "Enslaved" – (3:34)
4. "Lucas Toole" – (4:34)
5. "Zero" – (0:30)
6. "Pure American Filth" – (3:26)
7. "Pitful" – (2:11)
8. "Scapegoat" – (2:57)
9. "Listen" – (4:52)
10. "Eye Confide" – (4:34)
11. "Jars" – (3:37)
12. "Revelations" – (15:30)

Demo/Unreleased Tracks

1. "Lost" – (3:33)
2. "Six" – (4:15)
3. "Consuming Me"
4. "Fade Away"

Members

• Anthony "Satone" Stevens – vocals (1999–2003)
• Aaron Peltz – vocals (1999–2003)
• Lance "Kuk" Collier – bass (1999–2003)
• Nathan Church – Keyboards, Vocals, Guitar (1999–2003)
• Danny Spain – drums (1999–2003)
• Bruce Swink – guitar (2001–2003)

Ex-Members

• Neil Godfrey – guitar (1999–2001)

Trivia

• The song "Lucas Toole" was written about the late-70's serial killing duo of Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole.
• The band's name is said to come from the Wicca ritual Drawing Down The Sun. Band's founding member Kuk commented it and the band's first name "The Six" on downthesun's myspace website: “Whether it's bit of astrology or numerology, there's meaning to downthesun. Our name means we draw down the energy of the sun to create our own circle of magic. Take, the number six, for instance. Six is the sun and nine is the moon. There are six of us in this band: three charged positive and three-charged negative. To have complete truth, you have to have both.”"

References

External links

• downthesun – MySpace Page
• downthesun – Roadrunner Page
• downthesun – Yahoo Group