{"id":18581,"date":"2019-09-16T01:00:39","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T05:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=18581"},"modified":"2019-09-15T20:32:50","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T00:32:50","slug":"atlanta-metal-band-rachaels-deads-long-lost-demo-unearthed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=18581","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Metal Band, Rachael’s Dead’s Long Lost Demo Unearthed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Who the hell is Rachael’s Dead<\/strong> you ask?\u00a0 Well, it was a metal band that consisted three guys and yours truly on bass guitar with a name stolen from a Slik Toxik song (hey, Kevin.)\u00a0 I was a principal lyricist in the band along with writing some songs and for two years, we were a band that had huge dreams and a hard working ethic.\u00a0 There was just one problem… we weren’t very good.<\/p>\n

Rachael’s Dead was a metal band around the time metal music was on it’s way out on the Greyhound Bus to never never land.\u00a0 This time period of 1992 – 1994 was a pretty awesome time to be in a band here in Atlanta.\u00a0 Atlanta boasted one of most diverse music cities.\u00a0 The sleaze rock sound of Smartass, the raw garage rock of Rockin’ Bones, the jazzy\/bosa nova of The Jody Grind and Cicada Sings, and the metal of bands like Necrotic Dawn, Blackness, Rumblefish, and the legendary rap\/metal band Stuck Mojo.<\/p>\n

Two years seems like a very short time to be in a band but so much happened in those two years that it sometimes feels as if we were together for 10 years.\u00a0 We were kids on the scene and a lot of these bands took us under their wings and showed us the ropes.<\/p>\n

Taxi Haskell of Smartass taught us the value of actually engaging your fans after a show and becoming one with them.\u00a0 Stuck Mojo taught us that even if you were one of the biggest bands in town, you could still be down to earth, caring, and willing to help out new bands.\u00a0 Hell, even Lajon Witherspoon of Rumblefish (who’s now in Sevendust) introduced himself to my parents and bought them drinks once.<\/p>\n

In Rachael’s Dead short lived tenure as a metal band on the scene, we managed to record ONE demo tape.\u00a0 It was recorded on a four track recorder… but three of the tracks were fucked up so we could only use one track.\u00a0 We plugged in a microphone, suspended it from a ceiling beam in the storage shed we rehearsed, hit record and just tore through the songs.<\/p>\n

This was the demo that landed us some great gigs including opening slots for Stuck Mojo, Piece Dogs, and even a slot at the legendary Masquerade.\u00a0 That crappy little demo did it’s job but, to my regret, when I left the band I never took one with me.\u00a0 Now, at the age of 46, I was feeling nostalgic and I was dying to hear this tape after all these years.\u00a0 I reached out to my old guitarist and surprisingly he had one.\u00a0 He digitized it to MP3s and sent them to me.<\/p>\n

When I listened to this thing I just smiled.\u00a0 It sounds so rough and amateurish which adds to the whole magic behind it.\u00a0 This was long before PCs, Pro T00ls, Logic, or any of that shit.\u00a0 This was a raw as fuck, in mic recording of a metal band in a steel storage shed.\u00a0 I just smiled to myself as I listened to it.\u00a0 I ended up uploading it to Bandcamp and decided to share it.\u00a0 My my shock, some younger metal heads raved about it and told me how much they loved it and where they could get a cassette.\u00a0 Funny, we had a hard time giving these fuckers away and now it seems that a younger generation digs what we were doing.\u00a0 Life is funny like that.<\/p>\n

So here it is.\u00a0 The Rachael’s Dead demo tape.\u00a0 Love it or hate it, it is what it is.\u00a0 It’s a document of a young band that had big dreams, played hard, and worked hard.\u00a0 Rachael’s Dead paved the way for me to become the musician I am today and for that, I will always be grateful.<\/p>\n