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Fan Base: Hollywood Undead
Member Since: 4/21/2012
Posts: 20,463
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The streets of Hollywood are paved with dreams.
Most of those dreams are broken, others are buried, and some are simply burned. On their new album, American Tragedy, Hollywood Undead dissect those very same dreams with a volatile and vibrant hip hop swagger, a magnificent metallic crunch, and a danceableindustrial soul. At the heart of the band's second release for A&M/Octone, these six musicians—Johnny 3 Tears, J-Dog, Charlie Scene, Da Kurlzz, Funny Man, and Danny—rhyme and rock from sharply hilarious jabs about vacuous clubs to unbridled, poignant musingson losing faith and struggling with addiction. Due out April 5, 2011, American Tragedy peeks at the death ofthe American dream from the rooftop of the hottest party in the world. This second offering from Hollywood Undead is a sanctuary for the disillusioned masses that made the band a Gold-selling sensation. It's a middle finger to thesafe, burdensome "norm." It's the future of heavy pop…
Biography
The band originated in 2005 from a song titled "The Kids" that Jorel Decker (J-Dog) and Aron Erlichman (Deuce) posted on the band's MySpace profile to positive reviews, leading them to form the group Hollywood Undead with their friends "Shady" Jeff Philips, George Ragan (Johnny 3 Tears), Jordon Terrell (Charlie Scene), Dylan Alvarez (Funny Man), and Matthew St. Claire (Da Kurlzz). In an interview with Shave magazine, J-Dog explained that when forming the band "Whoever was in the room at the time and played an instrument was in the band." Shady Jeff later left the group reasons currently unknown to the public.
The band only took one year working on their debut album, Swan Songs. The other two years were spent looking for a company that wouldn't try to censor the album. They first signed a record contract with MySpace Records in 2005 but they left the label after the label tried to censor their first album. They then signed a contract with A&M/Octone Records and their first album, Swan Songs was released on September 2, 2008 and reached No.22 on the Billboard 200 in its first week of release, selling 21,000 copies; which was later on released in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2009 with two bonus tracks. On June 23,2009,Hollywood Undead released Swan Songs B-Sides EP through iTunes.
The band released a CD/DVD set entitled Desperate Measures on November10, 2009. The set includes a CD of previously unreleased sixnewsongs,three ofwhich are cover songs, as well a previously unreleased remix of "Everywhere I Go", and six live recordings of songs from Swan Songs, and a DVD of a full live performance by the band. In December 2009, the band won Best Crunk/Rock Rap Artist at the Rock on Request Awards. In its first week of release, Desperate Measures reached #29 on the Billboard 200. It also peaked at #10 on the Billboard's Rock Albums chart, #8 on the Alternative Albums chart, #5 on the Hard Rock albums chart, and #15 on the Digital Albums chart.
In early 2010, the band announced that singer Deuce, had left the band due to musical differences. Hints of Deuce's departure were noticed when he did not take part in the Vatos Locos tour. After a couple weeks on tour,the band asked long-time friend, Daniel Murillo, to fill in for Deuce's role. This was not too long after Murillo had just advanced past the auditions for season 9 of American Idol. Murillo decided to drop out of the competition and join the band. Daniel Murillo was also the lead singer of the band, Lorene Drive, which is currently on hiatus due to his involvement with Hollywood Undead. Deuce later released a song titled Story of a Snitch against the group, claiming he was kicked out.The band statedthat they didn't want to "stoop to his level" and chose to simply ignore the controversy. In mid-January, the band announced Daniel Murillo was an official member, going by the nickname of "Danny".
The band soon began writing material for their second studio album; American
Tragedy. On April 1, 2010, the band started its own iheartradio station, with horror and thriller tales. During interviews, the band stated intentions to record their second album in summer 2010 and release it in the fall. James Diener, head of the band's record label, confirmed the next album for a fall 2010 release and believed that it will launch the band into more mainstream success, making it a "big next step" for the group. The band has also confirmed that producer Don Gilmore, who also worked on their debut album, has returned to produce the new album. Recording concluded around mid-November and the band began mixing the album the day after Thanksgiving.
The band began a marketing campaign for the second album. They co-headlined the Nightmare After Christmas Tour with Avenged Sevenfold and Stone Sour to support the album. On December 8, 2010, the band released the artwork for the album's first single, titled "Hear Me Now". The track was released on December 13, for radio and on the band's YouTube page, and was made available online as a digital single on December 21. J-Dog commented that thisis his favorite song that the band has done so far. The song's lyrics tell the story of a person who is depressed and hopeless, taking a very somber tone to the track.Despite this, the instruments and
melodies contrast to make a "great rock smash", reports AOL Radio blog. Within its first couple days of release, the single made it to number 2 on the iTunes Rock Chart.
On January 11, 2011, the band announced the upcoming album will be titled American Tragedy. The next day, they released a preview of the album on their YouTube page. On January 21, they released a new song, "Comin' in Hot" available
for a free download. Also revealed in the "Comin' in Hot" trailer that the new album will be released in March 2011. In a recent interview, the group announced that the official release date for the album would be March 8, 2011 but as of February 22, 2011, it was announced that the album has been pushed back to April 5, 2011.
American Tragedy turned out to be more successful than their first album Swan Songs, selling about 67,000 copies (66,915) in its debut week, while Swan Songs sold 21,000 copies in its debut. American Tragedy has also peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200, while Swan Song's highest peak on the Billboard 200 was #22. It has also peaked at #2 on many other charts, while also reaching #1 on the Billboard's Top Hard Rock Albums chart. The album was also very successful in other countries, making #5 in Canada and #43 in the United Kingdom.
To continue promoting the album, the band headlined the Revolt Tour, along with 10 Years, Drive A, and New Medicine. The very successful tour took place between April 6–May 27, 2011. After the tour,the band played several shows in Europe, Canada, and Australia. They will then headline the Endless Summer Tour with All That Remains and Hyro da Hero, which took place between July 18– August 7, 2011.
The band announced in August 2011 that they would be releasing a remix album containing remixes of several songs off of the American Tragedy album. The album will include remixes of the tracks "Bullet" and "Le Deux" that are from fans winning a remix contest for each, with the winners earning money, band merchandise, and their track on the EP. A music video will be released for the remix of "Levitate" and the title for the album was confirmed to be American Tragedy Redux, with a release date of November 21, 2011.
On November 1st, 2011, the band set out on another tour titled the "World War III" tour, with Asking Alexandria, We Came As Romans, Borgore, and D.R.U.G.S.. Following the "World War III tour", the band also joined Avenged Sevenfold again on the "Buried Alive" tour, with Black Veil Brides and Asking Alexandria, with dates running from November 11 to December 14.
Following extensive touring throughout 2011 to promote their second studio album, American Tragedy, and their first remix album, American Tragedy Redux, Charlie Scene announced plans to begin a third studio album in late November 2011. The announcement came after the conclusion of the band's World War III Tour with Asking Alexandria. Charlie Scene stated that the band willbeginwritingand recording demos while on the Buried Alive Tour with Avenged Sevenfold and begin recording once the tour concludes in December 2011. He also stated the album will sound more similar to Swan Songs than American Tragedy. Commenting onthe difference in recording this time around, he stated, "I would say that this time the label gave us full creative control. I think it's going to be more like 'Swan Songs' than 'American Tragedy.' It'll be a mixture of both; I mean,we all grow as artists,we get older, and we've been doing it a long time so I think it'll be more like 'Swan Songs' and I think the fans are gonna like it a lot."
In an interview with Keven Skinner of The Daily Blam, Charlie Scene revealed more information about the album's details. He revealed that there may be collaborations with guest artists on the album. "[Collaborations] would be awesome. I think it's bad to do [them] on your first couple records, to ask people on, but I think that the third record is kind of the point where maybe you can have somebody featured. I think it would be really cool to have someone else sing a chorus on one of our songs or do a verse." When asked about the masks, he replied that they will be upgrading their masks for the next album as well, as they did with the previous two albums. Charlie Scene also explained that the third album will be released much sooner than American Tragedy was, and predicts it will be released by the summer of 2012. "We have a bunch of songs written and we're writing more on the road. We brought some studio equipment with us so we've been able to work on stuff while we're touring. After this tour and we're back home, we'll be able to work with producers that we want to work with and dial all the stuff in that we have – skeletons of songs. We have some really good stuff that we're excited to work on for sure. One thing that we definitely don't want to do is take as long as it took for us to do 'American Tragedy' so there will definitely be a third record out next year and we're hoping for at the latest – summer." He also explained that the album will sound more like Swan Songs did, in the lines of it having more party tracks than American Tragedy did. To be continued..
Current Band Members
Jordan Terrell / "Charlie Scene"
Vocals, Backing vocals, Lead guitar
(since 2005) Matthew St. Claire - Busek / "Da Kurlzz"
Drums, Percussion, Screams
(since 2005) Daniel Murillo / "Danny"
Clean vocals, Rhythm guitar
(since 2009) Jorel Decker / "J-Dog"
Rhythm guitar, Keyboards, Synthesizers, Programming, Vocals
(since 2005); bass guitar (since 2011) George Ragan / "Johnny 3 Tears"
Vocals, Screams
(since 2005) Dylan Alvarez / "Funny Man"
Vocals
(since 2005)
Former Band Members
Discography
Swan Songs (2008)
Swan Songs is the debut album by Hollywood Undead, released through Octone Records. The album was released on September 2, 2008. "Everywhere I Go" was the first single to be released, it was a web single and was available for download only on iTunes. The band released four music videos for four songs on the album, "No.5", "Undead", "Young", and "Everywhere I Go". When purchased through Amazon.com and at some other retailers, the albumincludes a bonus track and an option to unlock music videos. Swan Songs is the only studio album to feature vocalist Deuce, excluding the half-studio album Desperate Measures. American Tragedy (2011)
American Tragedy is the second studio album by American rap rock band Hollywood Undead. Production for the album began following the induction of Daniel Murillo into the band in early 2010 and lasted until December. Don Gilmore and Ben Grosse, who helped produce the band's debut album, Swan Songs (2008), also returned to produce the album along with several other producers including Kevin Rudolf, Sam Hollander, Dave Katz, Griffin Boice, Jeff Halavacs, and Jacob Kasher. The album is musically heavier and features darker lyrical content than the band's previous effort, also focusing largely on rock music ratherthan rap. Originally set to release in March, American Tragedy was released on April 5, 2011 in the United States and was released on various other dates that month in other countries. A remix of the album, American Tragedy Redux, was released on November 21, 2011.
The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200, selling approximately 67,000 copies in its first week in the United States, and ended up becoming the 142nd best selling album of 2011 in the US. It also charted in a few other countries, including Canada and the UK, a first for the band. The album also had five singles: "Hear Me Now", "Been to Hell", "Coming Back Down", "Comin' inHot", and "My Town", with music videos being made for all of them except "Coming Back Down" as it was released on the same day as "Been to Hell". The band participated in three headlining tours: the Revolt Tour, the Endless Summer Tour, and the World War III Tour, as well as other supporting tours throughout 2011 to promote the album. Upon release, American Tragedy received mixed reviews. Critics consistently noted the darker and more serious tone of the album, but to mixed reception. Lyrics were widely criticized while the energy and instruments were praised in most reviews. American Tragedy Redux (2011)
American Tragedy Redux is the first remix album by American rap rock band Hollywood Undead, taking songs exclusively off the band's 2011 studio album, American Tragedy, and remixing them. The album was released on November 21, 2011 by A&M/Octone Records. The original tracks on the album,which were on American Tragedy, were recorded following the induction of Daniel Murillo intothe band in early 2010 and lasted until December. The tracks were then remixed by various DJ's and musicians during the band's World War III Tour with Asking Alexandria later in 2011. It features remixes of songs from American Tragedy. The album's first single, "Levitate (Digital Dog club mix)", was released on October 18, 2011, with a music video being released on October 24.
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Member Since: 4/21/2012
Posts: 20,463
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Singles
Swan Songs
"No. 5"
Released: August 19, 2008
"Undead"
Released: August 26, 2008
"Young"
Released: April 13, 2009
"Everywhere I Go"
Released: July 29, 2009
"Black Dahlia"
Released: 2010 American Tragedy
"Hear Me Now"
Released: December 21, 2010
"Been to Hell"
Released: March 15, 2011
"Coming Back Down"
Released: March 15, 2011
"Comin' in Hot"
Released: April 9, 2011
"My Town"
Released: September 2011 American Tragedy Redux
"Levitate (Digital Dog club mix)"
Released: October 18, 2011
EPs
Coming Soon
More to come.. I'm still editing.
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 9/24/2009
Posts: 70,975
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i like American Tragedy 
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