The Deadlines

The Deadlines were a rock band that formed in 1998 and disbanded in 2002. Their musical style started as horror punk and later evolved toward glam rock. They were signed to Tooth & Nail Records.

History

Shaun Sundholm founded the Deadlines in 1998 with drummer Jeremy Abbott as the evolution of their punk rock band, The Oblivious Kids, who had also been known as The Chosen Few and The Pinheads, among other names. The band originally started in 1996 under the aforementioned monikers and settled as the Pinheads in late 1996; Jared Beddingfield had joined the band as their bass guitarist. After two shows, the Pinheads broke up. Jeremy and Shaun kept playing together and eventually changed their name to the Oblivious Kids when they added Brian Jones on bass. The band recorded a four-song demo cassette and played a handful of shows. Around 1998, the band began taking on a darker, more horror-punk / rock n' roll sound akin to Murder City Devils, The Damned or The Misfits. Because their sound had changed significantly, the band members decided to change the band's name to The Deadlines.

During their years as a horror punk band, the members of The Deadlines used stage names rather than their given names. The first lineup consisted of Sundholm, whose then-stage name was Shaun Coffin, on vocals and guitar; Jeremy Abbott, who went by Jerry Attrick, on drums; and Brian "Spencer Spooks" Jones bass. The newly re-christened Deadlines began playing shows in the Portland, Oregon, area and soon caught the eye of a local start-up record label, Royal Star Music, and Astoria, Oregon, native Sam Waisanen. Not long after, Sam joined the band as Sammy Lugosi; and they were in a makeshift basement studio, recording their first album for the fledgling label. After the release the band began playing more and more shows, attracting the attention of fellow Astorian, Brent Salo, who quickly signed on to play keyboards under the guise of The Creature From the Brent Lagoon. Not three months later and the band was scheduled to play the growing Christian indie festival TomFest and were attracting the attention of several more well established independent record labels.

After their performance at TomFest, audience members expressed that they wanted the band to be signed, chanting "Somebody sign these guys!". Almost immediately, they were offered a recording contract by Tooth & Nail Records and became the first, and (as of 2006) only horror punk band in the label's history. Two months later, the band recorded their debut album for Tooth & Nail, The Death and Life of..., at the Robert Lang Studios, which had become well known in the 1990s as the place where Nirvana had made their last studio album. Soon after recording their first album, Jones left the band and was replaced by Thomas Demise. The album had not yet been released when Jones left, so Demise was listed as the band's bassist on the full-length; Jones was given credit (as Spencer Spooks) in the album's liner notes. Meanwhile, the band started touring more and more of the United States.

The band's lyrics mixed topics regarding death, gore and general horror movie fare with a basis in Christian themes. In live performances and photos, the band members wore old suits and pale makeup, intending to appear that they had recently escaped from coffins. The band's live shows featured blood spitting, fire breathing, and knife wielding extras, which set them apart from other bands in the Pacific Northwest.

Death and life of....

After releasing The Deadlines' song "Go, Go to the Graveyard" on one of their compilations, Tooth & Nail released The Deadlines' next album, The Death & Life Of..., in March 2000. Tooth & Nail was planning for some controversy regarding the album, and they released it with different album covers for the Christian and secular markets. (Earlier, Tooth & Nail had taken the same approach when releasing Training for Utopia's first full-length, Plastic Soul Impalement.) The album met with some additional controversy in Christian circles, due to its lyrics that dwelt on death, vampires, and drug use, among other topics. The band eventually agreed to included a card inside the "Christian market" CD case that explained the lyrics to each song.

Following the release of the album, The Deadlines hired 2nd guitarist Carlos Colón (aka Carlos Cadaver) to take over the lead guitar as Shaun Coffin assumed full time vocal duties. The tour that followed would consist of over the top theatrics including spitting blood, lighting their equipment on fire, and on occasion Sundholm's brother juggling knives.

Fashion Over Function

The Deadlines underwent a major overhaul in October 2000 after their three-month United States tour with The Huntingtons and Squad Five-O, when Sammy Lugosi, Brent Salo (aka The Creature), Carlos Cadaver and Thomas Demise left the band. Carlos Cadaver moved back to Los Angeles, and then Waisanen, Salo, and Demise went on to start a new project, The Red Sect. After a period of disillusionment, lead singer Shaun, began writing new songs, although in a completely different vein, and once again called on Jerry Attrick to help him flesh the new tunes out. Playing through the new material with Attrick led to the maturation of the new songs from a '60s garage rock to more glam '70s sound. Not wanting to discontinue a still relatively new band, Sundholm and Abbott recruited several new members, namely Joshua Griffith (also known as Shorty Valentine), who had played in Tragedy Ann, and Tim Eurich, of The Killaways. The new incarnation of The Deadlines decided to completely drop the horror schtick, instead favoring a more straightforward sound that blended blues-based rock 'n' roll with glam rock and punk influences. The Deadlines immediately started work on their new album, which was originally called Out on the Streets and was released in November 2001 with the title Fashion Over Function. Soon after, Abbott left the band to start a family and was replaced by Travis Waldie; The Deadlines also added Gerrit Lovesick, who had played with Eurich and Griffith in The Killaways.

The Deadlines started 2002 with an album release party, and they were gaining attention and appearing on the covers on local alternative newspapers. At the same time, sales for the second album were not as high as expected; Tooth & Nail was growing more distant, afraid of upsetting the label's Christian market fan-base, and tried to deal the band to several labels both independent and major. Nothing came of the wheeling and dealing and the stress began to wear on Sundholm, who at that point was the only original member left in the band. Tooth & Nail refused to let the Deadlines change their name. In February 2002, Tooth & Nail dropped The Deadlines after they failed to find a new home for the band. The Deadlines continued to tour for several more months but announced in July 2002 that they were disbanding.

Breakup and other projects

Soon after, practically overlapping The Deadlines break up, most of the members (minus Waldie) started a new project called The Bang!, which had a sound similar to The Deadlines' work in Fashion Over Function but with a more raw rock and roll sound. The BANG! included new drummer Linus and was no longer signed to Tooth & Nail. The BANG! recorded a never-released three-song demo while on tour in California; but they disbanded by mid-September 2002, announcing on their website, "The Bang! is officially over. Thanks for your interest; stay tuned for whatever's next."^[1]

Thomas Demise, Sam Waisanen, Jeremy Abbott, Brenton Salo all currently still reside in the Pacific Northwest, Carlos Colon has since been living in Los Angeles, CA. and currently works for Death Waltz Recording Company.

Discography

• The Deadlines (1999, Royal Star Music)
• The Death and Life Of... (2000, Tooth & Nail Records)
• Split 10" with Squad Five-O ([2000]), Tooth & Nail Records *rumoured but never fulfilled.
• Fashion Over Function (2001, Tooth & Nail Records)

References

External links

• The Deadlines myspace page
• Archives of their official website - on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine
• Christian Music Archive listing
• Interview with Art for the Ears
• The Bullies myspace page (feat. Thomas Demise)
• Odeum Design / Photography (feat. work by Brent Salo)