Degrave, Decimus & Rusted Satellites {ROCK} The Mission
DEGRAVE
It all started back in 2013 when guitarist Clyde Daniels, and guitarist/vocalist Dylan Volmert met on the school bus. Soon after that they became bandmates and the duo began writing songs and jamming with musicians. In March of 2016 they hooked up with Shane Jenkins on the drums, and a month later Jordan Roedel fell into the picture with the bass guitar.
The first ever DEGRAVE show with this line-up was on May 4th, 2016. This show was recorded live by Jeff Grindstopher, and turned into their 6 song EP entitled, Inceptive Sounds. In between gigs during the fall months of October/November of 2016 they set off recording what was to be their first LP, Full Tilt. Then in December of 2016, due to personal circumstances, Shane Jenkins departed from DEGRAVE. In March of 2017, Jeff Kearney joined the group with his unbound energy and blitzkrieg style behind the drum throne. On April 20th, 2017 DEGRAVE released Full Tilt.
After the release of Full Tilt, DEGRAVE immediately began the writing process once again. DEGRAVE jumped in the studio in December 2017/January 2018 to record their self-titled second LP, DEGRAVE, which was released on July 27th, 2018. Currently DEGRAVE is in the writing process once again, and you can expect another album coming out at some point in 2019.
DECIMUS
Decimus is a four-piece prog rock/metal/thrash band from Jefferson City, MO. We’ve been together since the winter of 2017. It was a trick finding musicians in the middle of Missouri that all have the same love of a very particular style of music. But we did it. Everyone is so like-minded and all have the same goals. And from all of this, Decimus was created.
The funniest part of all of this is our age. We’re old. So old in fact, that the young metal heads didn’t want to come around in fear that Lynard Skynard might be the theme of the band and the only way the old bastards were going to get anywhere was with a walker and a cane.
It all started with Chris Grimes (drums and percussion) and John Taylor (guitar) recruiting long-time friend and bass player, Jason Simmons. Together, those three wrote music that pulled influences from old school metal such as Slayer, Testament and early-era Metallica, all the way into present day with riffage on the cuffs of Gojira, The Contortionist and Leprous.
We’ve been writing since then. We actually had no direction to go in except metal. As the writing process grew, we realized that we were aiming in more of a progressive direction. Not-so-typical time signatures. Music exceeding “radio length” songs. No format, just a direction that we were compelled to go in. Multiple sections that soar from epic to brutal. We knew we had something special that truly represented who we were, not only as a band but as individuals who loved music. We also knew that finding an audience for our music would be difficult. Our biggest factor is the genre of music we play. The only other type of music I can think of that’s even less popular is polka. But I’m guessing that those old Polka bums sincerely love their music just as much as we do.
Recently, an addition to the band has been made. Justin Owens (guitar) has been tricked into joining as well… and not breaking the folly or the demeanor of the band, he’s falling into place as though it were his home. Odd time signatures aren’t something easy to get down but Justin is proving to be a beast at everything that has been catapulted upon his shoulders.
Moving forward to present day, we’re currently in search of a vocalist at the time you’re reading this. We’ve decided to give it a go as a band without a singer for the simple fact that we’ve spent a year and a half working and writing music. We want to bring our music to the stage in it’s rawest form where it’s still a fresh and honest interpretation of who we are. And, playing shows is our next step in the recruitment of a vocalist.
But past all of that, we want to give our audience a unique experience in seeing a small, local band play live. And we’ve made that happen. Not a moment of stage time is wasted. No lull’s in the performance. Exactly in the true spirit of metal. It’s something we’re calling, ‘Decimetal.’
We’re getting a lot of attention on our artwork.
Decimus is thrilled that the artwork was done by Colin Marks. Colin is a London based artist working primarily in the heavy music/film industry who also runs the personal design studio Rain Song Design. http://rain-song.co.uk.
Colin works with many record labels and bands including Allegaeon, Nevermore, Exodus, and Strapping Young Lad. Each of us in Decimus has favorite albums covers that Colin has done, so to have him be a part of this is really a dream come true.
Colin asked us about some ideas that we had. We really wanted a bleak dystopian-like visual that included a figure in the picture. Adding a person in the mix makes it more than just a picture, it becomes a story. The sun peering through the dark clouds gives it that positive feeling of hope. The music can be aggressive and dark, but you gotta have a touch of happiness in there, right?
With the answers, Colin sent us some art that he had already created to see if he was even in the ballpark. As we told him what we liked and didn’t like, he started working. We sent him some of our music to give an idea of what we were so that he could capture our music with his vision. Not once did we reject anything that he sent, and we are so happy with the final result
Decimus won’t go on forever. When it’s over, we can look back and be very excited that Colin was a part of it.
Who exactly is Decimus?
Jason Simmons – bass & backing vocals
Chris Grimes – drums & percussion
Justin Owens – guitars & backing vocals
John Taylor – guitars & backing vocals