James Dewees (born March 13, 1976) is an American musician who has been involved in many musical projects including
Coalesce,
The Get Up Kids,
Reggie and the Full Effect,
New Found Glory,
My Chemical Romance, and, most recently,
Leathermouth.
Early Life and Coalesce
Dewees graduated from
Liberty High School in
Liberty, MO in 1994. He started college at
William Jewell College in Liberty later transferring to the
University of Missouri to study music composition. In 1995, he was asked to replace Sean Ingram as vocalist for the Kansas City hardcore band
Coalesce.
This angered Ingram, and caused a fight that eventually broke the band
up. However, in the summer of 1996, the band decided to re-form, but
this time with James Dewees as a drummer. With them, he recorded the
band's first two full-length albums
Give Them Rope and
Functioning on Impatience. Dewees was later kicked out of college for missing too many classes while touring with the band.
[1]
The Get Up Kids
In 1997, Coalesce played a music festival in
Wilkes-Barre,
Pennsylvania with fellow Kansas-Citians
The Get Up Kids, who had just released their first album
Four Minute Mile on
Doghouse Records. At the end of Coalesce's set, they began smashing all of their equipment, and James picked up his
Floor tom
and threw it into the audience, hitting a girl on the head. Someone
picked it up and tried to steal it, so James began chasing him, along
with The Get Up Kids' guitarist Jim Suptic. They started talking, and
Suptic invited James to hang out with the rest of the band.
[2][3]
Coalesce and The Get Up Kids began collaborating more and more,
playing shows together and eventually covering each other's songs for a
split 7". James recorded keyboard for the band on their
Red Letter Day EP, and after its release, joined the band full-time. After the release of the band's second album
Something to Write Home About, The Get Up Kids began receiving much greater national attention. In order to capitalize off of the success of
Something to Write Home About, as well as bridge the gap between their next album, the band released a collection of B-sides and rarities, entitled
Eudora, in 2000. This also included a re-make of "
A Newfound Interest in Massachusetts", with a new arrangement placing a much heavier emphasis on the piano.
In 2002, the band released their third studio album,
On a Wire, produced by
Scott Litt.
The album was a major departure from the band's previous, poppier
sound, and struggled sales-wise as a result. In 2004, the band released
their fourth album
Guilt Show. The album was met with a much warmer reception than
On a Wire, but there was a great deal of tension between the band mates during their world tour supporting the release. Lead singer
Matt Pryor,
whose wife had recently given birth, wanted to spend more time at home.
At one stop in Australia, the band broke up before deciding to finish
the tour. However, they decided that they would do one final farewell
tour before going their separate ways for good. Around the beginning of
their final tour, the band released
Live! @ The Granada Theater, their first live album. The album was recorded at the
Granada Theater in
Lawrence, Kansas at the band's tenth-anniversary show. On July 2, 2005 the band played their final show at
The Uptown Theater in
Kansas City, Missouri.
On August 28, 2008 James announced there will be a reunion tour in 2009.
Reggie and the Full Effect
After playing with The Get Up Kids for a while, James began to write
some of his own songs. However, he did not feel as though they fit with
the distinct style of The Get Up Kids, so with the assistance of
bandmate
Matt Pryor, he recorded
Greatest Hits 1984-1987, releasing it on Vagrant Records in 1998 under the name
Reggie and the Full Effect.
[4] He continued to write songs, finally releasing his second album
Promotional Copy two years later.
In 2003, he released a third album entitled
Under the Tray.
After this album released, his marriage to his first wife Megan began
to break down. He was soon involved in a bitter divorce, much of which
inspired his fourth album
Songs Not to Get Married To, which he was writing and recording during the divorce.
[5]
After The Get Up Kids split up in the summer of 2005, James began touring with
New Found Glory and
My Chemical Romance as their touring keyboardist. Slowly, this started to take more time away from Reggie and the Full Effect.
However, on April 8, 2008,
Alternative Press announced that they had received details on the new album from Reggie and the Full Effect. The 12 song album,
Last Stop: Crappy Town was produced by
Sean Beavan with tracks also done by
Paul Gray from
Slipknot and was released on June 17, 2008 through
Vagrant Records[6]
Personalities
On the various Reggie albums, James has created a series of different
personas that appear as "guests" on the album. One of these
personalities is "Klaus", the frontman for the fictional Finnish metal
band Common Denominator. There have been three Common Denominator songs
on Reggie and the Full Effect albums; "Dwarf Invasion" on
Promotional Copy, "Linkin' Verbs" on
Under the Tray, and "Deathnotronic" on
Songs Not to Get Married To.
The other personality present on many of his albums is "Fluxuation", a
British techno-pop star. His credits include "Gloves" on
Promotional Copy, "Mood 4 LUV" on
Under the Tray, and "Love Reality" on
Songs Not to Get Married To.
Jarrod Alexander is an
American drummer, who has played with many
hardcore bands. Alexander currently drums for the band
My Chemical Romance. He also drummed for the bands
The Suicide File,
A Static Lullaby, Dead Country, and more recently,
Matt Skiba & The Sekrets.
Early life
Jarrod graduated from
Berklee College of Music in 2003.
Bands
Alexander has played the drums for several bands throughout his career. He was the original drummer for
Death By Stereo, who appeared on the band's first album
If Looks Could Kill, I'd Watch You Die. He left the band in 2000, but rejoined it in 2006 to record a new album.
[1]
He played the drums on the
Background Music album from
American Nightmare. He toured Europe drumming for
the Vandals in 2001 before touring with
Jamison Parker in 2004. Alexander played the drums on
Hunter Revenge's 2007 tour as well as performing with
Only Crime in 2007. Jarrod is currently a member of the Los Angeles rock band Dead Country.
In September 2011, Jarrod filled in as the drummer for
My Chemical Romance on their "Honda Civic tour", after drummer Michael Pedicone left the band in acrimonious circumstances.
[2] Alexander has continued to play with
My Chemical Romance into 2012 including their appearances on the Australian Big Day Out tour dates.
My Chemical Romance adalah seorang Amerika rock alternatif band dari New Jersey , yang dibentuk pada tahun 2001. Band ini terdiri dari vokalis Gerard Way , gitaris Ray Toro dan Frank Iero , dan bassist Mikey Way dan memiliki suara beragam elemen menggabungkan daripunk , emo , glam metal , dan rock progresif . Tak lama setelah membentuk, band ini menandatangani kontrak dengan Eyeball Records dan merilis album debut mereka I Brought You My Bullets , You brought Me Your Love pada tahun 2002. Mereka menandatangani kontrak dengan Reprise Records tahun berikutnya dan merilis debut major label mereka Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge pada tahun 2004, album ini sukses secara komersil, dan dianugerahi platinum sedikit lebih dari setahun kemudian. Band bayangi kesuksesan mereka sebelumnya dengan 2006 mereka konsep album, The Black Parade , yang umumnya diperoleh ulasan menguntungkan kalangan kritikus musik. Album keempat studio mereka, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, dirilis pada 22 November 2010, untuk ulasan positif.
