HOME

 

www.deckard.info

     
  BAND BIOG
 

Deckard were formed when the three remaining members of Baby Chaos were joined by Gen Mathews (Jesus Jones). The four piece recorded some brilliant demos and were quickly signed by Reprise Records in the USA .

The band spent six months recording and mixing their debut album in Los Angeles with producer Nic k Launay (Girls Vs. Boys, Silverchair, Semisonic, American Hi-Fi, Nick Cave).

Then president of Reprise, Howie Klein, was crazy about the band and the album and promised it would be a priority release. Chris said “The musical tastes in America were changing and our Beautiful Rock album “Stereodreamscene” was cut adrift amongst such acts as Limp Bizkit and Korn”. Sadly the timing was poor and the frustrated band negotiated their release from the Reprise contract.

Although after the Reprise deal ended, Chris drifted into a deal with Dreamworks Records as part of an obscure dark pop experiment, he vowed to continue to make music with his friends:

“It is this bond that has kept us together, they are without doubt the most damn decent human beings and I revel in watching there interaction, not only with each other and myself, but with everyone they come into contact with.”

Deckard continued to write a record and after sometime had completed more than enough tracks for a new album. On this occasion it was self recorded and self produced, with Chris using his recording experience to produce a fantastic sounding collection of songs.

The best of these songs were chosen for the album “Dreams of Dynamite and Divinity”, which was self released in early 2004 to wide critical acclaim. Deckard have renewed purpose and will continue to record and release their own brand of beautiful rock.

Original drummer Davy Greenwood had left after concerns over his health had forced him to reassess his lifestyle. During a seven week coast to coast tour supporting Elastica, Davy was flown home after collapsing on stage at the end of a gig in Philadelphia .

After Davy’s departure at the end of the first week of the tour, a call was made back to the UK where the brother of our guitar tech, Gen Matthews , was drafted in to help us complete the tour. On the way to meet him at the airport in Chicago the tour bus blew up and the band were stranded at a half built service station. A full 24 hours later a replacement bus arrived, which was so old it must have been one of the first ever busses in America to be converted into a sleeper bus.

The band finally got together with Gen and only had time for one rehearsal before opening for Elastica at the Metro in Chicago . The rest of the tour was a great success, but didn’t pass without further incident with the band going through two further tour busses and surviving an earthquake in L.A.

After Davy’s departure, the band were delighted that Gen Matthews agreed to become a permanent member of the band. Davy Greenwood is A1 okay and remains a valued friend.

“Love Your Self Abuse”, the second album from Baby Chaos, was about to be released in the UK , however their A&R man picked this time to leave the company. This ultimately resulted in them attempting to drop the band.

However a few months earlier an A&R person at Atlantic Records in New York had ordered a CD by The Fall. She listened to it and realised straight away that the music wasn’t The Fall, although the CD said it was. She loved the music, but had no idea who it was. When she was sent “Love Your Self Abuse” she finally discovered that the band was Baby Chaos.

She immediately contacted her bosses and arranged for the bands deal to be transferred to Atlantic . “Love Your Self Abuse” was re-packaged and released across the USA . Once again however, the people responsible for signing the band left the label before the album was released. So despite excellent reviews and feedback they found themselves without a strong ally at the label and the deal ended.

The band continued to tour in the UK and had several very successful tours in France before working on the demos which would led to them being signed by Reprise Records.

 

In addition to production work for Deckard, Chris Gordon has also completed albums for Terra Diablo, Endrick Brothers, Dead Fly Buchowski and Eva.

Deckard are:

Chris Gordon – Vocals / Guitar
Grant McFarlane – Guitar / Vocals
Bobby Dunn – Bass
Gen Matthews – Drums