Dead Days Beyond Help

Bio:

Dead Days Beyond Help is Alex Ward (guitar, vocals) and Jem Doulton (drums). They formed in 2006 and played their first gig on February 1st, 2007. Their debut album, "ACCESS DENIED!" contained the material written by Ward specifically for this band (6 instrumentals, 3 songs) between 2006 and 2007. It was released on October 19th, 2009 on Copepod. They have recently completed and are searching for a label for the followup, entitled "THE GAME FACE", which was written during 2008-9, and contains 8 new pieces by Ward, plus 4 by Ward and Doulton. As of mid-2009, all new DDBH material is written collaboratively by Ward and Doulton, and they are currently close to completing the writing of their next album, which they intend to record in April 2011. At the time of DDBH's formation, Alex had strenuously avoided anything with a prog or math taint since the demise in 2001 of his previous band Camp Blackfoot, but with the material he wrote for himself and Jem to play he once again allowed himself to explore (though not fixate upon) overt structural complexity. In live performances, DDBH mix their own material with pieces drawn from Ward's albums of songs “HAPLESS DAYS” (Copepod, 2005) and “SNARES AND DELUSIONS” (by Alex Ward & The Dead Ends, release pending), as well as a wide range of covers and increasingly generous helpings of improvisation. All these elements are balanced and combined according to spur-of-the-moment decisions by the 2 musicians, as they always perform without a set list. As the only constraints they acknowledge are the limits of what can be achieved with one guitar and a drum kit, the results can range from country-tinged simplicity through hyper-composed intricacy to flat-out noise. Their name reflects the fact that, for Ward, Dead Days Beyond Help initially represented the next step following on from the studio-based songs album “Hapless Days”, the loose approach to song material of his band "The Dead Ends", and his improvising quartet "Help Point" – but now DDBH have far less to do with any of Ward's previous projects, and are far more a matter of the collaboration of the two musicians and what emerges from it.

In addition to the albums mentioned above, DDBH have also recorded a second studio album of entirely improvised material, to be released before the end of 2010. A compilation of improvisations and cover versions drawn from live recordings entitled "UNWRITTEN RULES" became available for purchase direct from the band in April 2009. The music on this MySpace consists of a few tracks from "ACCESS DENIED!", and also some (mainly live) recordings that are unlikely to be released in any other format but have nonetheless been deemed representative and worth hearing.

Dead Days Beyond Help do not like the social aspects of MySpace very much, and they endeavour to maintain this page in a manner which makes it clear that it is only intended as a promotional tool and material resource. In practice, this means that they will not post comments on other people's pages; they use the “top friends” section solely for linking to other bands that have members in common with DDBH; they do not issue friend requests, but will accept any and all they are sent; and they will delete other people’s comments or let them stand purely according to whim, without explanation or justification. None of this should be taken personally.

Dead Days Beyond Help STRONGLY urge anyone with any interest in them at all to visit http://www.youtube.com/deaddaysbeyondhelp where one can view a wealth of live footage of DDBH and related projects. (A few examples can be seen on the left of this page.) Thank you.

Member Since:

December 19, 2006

Members:

Alex Ward: guitar, vocals; Jem Doulton: drums. Both of them also find it hard to restrain themselves from playing a bit of piano if there happens to be one lying about. They look somewhat like this:

Influences:

In general terms, too many to mention; but for demonstrating that bands with guitar, drums but no bass can be a viable proposition rather than a tiresome cod-garage gimmick, the two all-time greatest exponents of the medium - Cheval De Frise and the Electric Eels.

Sounds Like:

A guitarist and a drummer, following their whims. (One of the guitarist's more frequent whims is singing - the drummer tends to show a bit more self-control in that regard, though not when he's playing in some of his other bands.)

Record Label:

Copepod Records. (www.copepod.co.uk)