Bryan Gray is an American musician that has predominately performed with bands in the
punk rock and
hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier pu ...
genre, including and most notably,
the Blamed
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...
,
Blenderhead
Blenderhead was an American punk rock band signed to Tooth & Nail Records. They released three albums from 1992 to 2001. The band reunited for guitarist Tyler Vander Ploeg's 40th birthday in March 2016.
Band members
;Current
* Billy Power - vo ...
,
Left Out, The Satire, and Rocks in Pink Cement. He also has performed in the hardcore band
Six Feet Deep
Six Feet Deep was an American punk and heavy metal band started in 1991, which became popular in the mid-west United States due to success of their debut album. A review on ''Cross Rhythms'' of the band's album, '' Struggle'' was a 10/10 revie ...
. Gray was best known for being the brainchild of The Blamed, which is known for their tenure on
Tooth & Nail Records
Tooth & Nail Records is a Christian rock record label founded by Brandon Ebel in California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle, Washington where it is situated today. It is home to many well-known musical acts, including Undero ...
. He also has performed with
industrial metal
Industrial metal is the fusion of heavy metal and industrial music, typically employing repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal acts include Ministry, Nine ...
bands such as
Mortal and
Klank
Klank, also stylized as kLaNk or KLANK, is an American industrial metal and groove metal band that originated out of Long Island, New York in December 1993. The project began after Daren Diolosa, the brainchild of Klank, departed from the fello ...
.
History
Gray began his musical career in the band Rocks in Pink Cement.
The band was formed by Gray, as well as several friends in California, in the early 1990s. During their activity, they recorded a single demo, which was released around 1991. In 1992, Gray joined
Blenderhead
Blenderhead was an American punk rock band signed to Tooth & Nail Records. They released three albums from 1992 to 2001. The band reunited for guitarist Tyler Vander Ploeg's 40th birthday in March 2016.
Band members
;Current
* Billy Power - vo ...
and performed during their first three shows, even appearing on their debut demo. By 1993, Gray was offered to join the band
Mortal as a touring bassist, which resulted in Rocks in Pink Cement disbanding.
Gray took the offer, joining an ensemble cast of Jeff Bellew on guitars and
Jim Chaffin
Jim Chaffin is the original drummer for the Crucified and Fasedown and has played with many other acts, such as Deliverance, the Blamed and Left Out.
History
Jim Chaffin was born in Madera, California and began playing drums at the age of 12 ...
on drums, both formerly of
the Crucified
The Crucified is an American Christian hardcore and crossover thrash band from Fresno, California that formed in 1984. Its lineup is vocalist Mark Salomon, guitarist Greg Minier, bassist Jeff Bellew, and drummer Jim Chaffin. The band are consider ...
, as well as
Jyro Xhan
Jyro Xhan is the stage/pen name of Filipino American musician GD La Villa. He lives in California. He is a singer, songwriter, producer, guitarist and keyboard player. He has been in several bands such as Jyradelix, Cush, Juggernautz, but mos ...
and
Jerome Fontamillas
Jerome Fontamillas (born June 20, 1967) is an American musician. Fontamillas has played in several bands, notably with industrial rock band Mortal and alternative rock band Fold Zandura, with longtime musical partner Jyro Xhan. Since 2003, he h ...
.
In his tenure with the band, he recorded with the band on ''
Intense Live Series Vol. 5'', performing bass and backing vocals on the recording.
With this release, however, he used the moniker of Brian Grey, simply so "people did not know his real name".
Shortly after this, Gray was no longer able to tour with the band and then began his two projects, Mend and
the Blamed
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...
. Though Mend only recorded and released one song, "Token", The Blamed signed with
Tooth & Nail Records
Tooth & Nail Records is a Christian rock record label founded by Brandon Ebel in California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle, Washington where it is situated today. It is home to many well-known musical acts, including Undero ...
and recorded their debut album, ''21''.
The band at the time consisted of Gray, Jim Chaffin on drums, Eric Churchill on bass, and Aaron Bradford on guitars.
The next year, at Tomfest, Gray created a side-project called
Left Out, alongside Myk Porter (
Six Feet Deep
Six Feet Deep was an American punk and heavy metal band started in 1991, which became popular in the mid-west United States due to success of their debut album. A review on ''Cross Rhythms'' of the band's album, '' Struggle'' was a 10/10 revie ...
) on guitars, Daren Diolosa (
Klank
Klank, also stylized as kLaNk or KLANK, is an American industrial metal and groove metal band that originated out of Long Island, New York in December 1993. The project began after Daren Diolosa, the brainchild of Klank, departed from the fello ...
) on guitars, Jake Landrau (the Blamed) on guitars,
Jesse Smith (
Zao) on drums, and Gray on bass and vocals. In 1996, the band recorded their debut album: ''Pride Kills''. By this time, Gray moved to
Cleveland, Ohio, joining Six Feet Deep as their bassist after Matthew Simmons departed.
Gray recorded new material for the Blamed, Left Out, and Six Feet Deep, with Left Out's ''Serve Self'' and Six Feet Deep's ''
The Road Less Traveled'' released in 1997, and the Blamed's ''...Again'' released in 1998. However, Six Feet Deep disbanded in 1997, leading him to move to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...
, where he would become associated with
JPUSA.
The Blamed and Left Out would both continue to serve as Gray's main projects, releasing albums rather consistently, until 2002, when Left Out merged with the Blamed. In 2003, however, the Blamed disbanded.
At this time, Gray had been in contact with
Living Sacrifice
Living Sacrifice is an American Christian metal band formed in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1989. The band has released eight studio albums, out of which the first three were recorded under R.E.X. Records with their original vocalist Darren Johnson ...
and had been set to join the band as
Bruce Fitzhugh
Bruce Fitzhugh is the second and best known lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and founding member of Arkansas's Christian metal band Living Sacrifice. The lead vocalist role was left to Bruce shortly after the departure of former lead Darren John ...
was planning on departing.
Cory Brandan of
Eso-Charis had been playing guitars, but with Fitzhugh's departure, he would be taking guitars and vocal duties, with Gray filling in the rhythm guitar position. However, this never occurred due to the band's disbanding.
In 2004, Gray formed the
metalcore
Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use ...
band the Satire.
Originally, the project was known as The Blamed is Dead and consisted of Gray and former Living Sacrifice drummer
Lance Garvin
Lance Garvin is an American musician and, along with Bruce Fitzhugh, DJ Johnson and Jason Truby, a founding member of the Christian metal band Living Sacrifice. Garvin is mostly known for using a Ride Cymbal in modern metal without making it ...
.
However, eventually, Garvin departed, and Gray took the project in a different direction, being the only consistent member for a number of years.
[ In 2008, the Satire recorded ''Norway Demo'' while on tour in Scandinavia alongside the Chariot and ]Benea Reach
Benea Reach was a Norwegian progressive metal band based in Oslo. The band was nominated for a Spellemannsprisen Award in the metal category, and at one time included noted guitarist Christer Espevoll of progressive metal band Extol.
History ...
. Around this time, the band went to Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...
and recorded a self-titled EP with Joel Lauver of Trenches
A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit).
In geology, trenches result from erosi ...
. The EP would be released through Blood & Ink Records in 2012. The Blamed briefly reunited in 2012. In 2016, the Blamed reunited with Gray at the helm once more, alongside fellow original member Jim Chaffin on drums with Sid Doffour on bass, Jeff Locke on guitars and Wiley Willis on vocals. The band performed at Audiofeed that year and then returned to inactivity until 2018. The band returned with a split EP with Gray's other project the Satire, which at this point consisted of a whole new lineup. In 2019, the Blamed released ''The Church is Hurting People'', their first album since reuniting. In 2020, The Satire released a 7-inch: ''The Presence''.
Bands
Current
*The Blamed
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...
– guitars, vocals (1994–2003, 2012, 2016–present)
*The Satire – guitars, vocals (2004–present)
Former
*Rocks in Pink Cement – bass (1991–1993)
*Blenderhead
Blenderhead was an American punk rock band signed to Tooth & Nail Records. They released three albums from 1992 to 2001. The band reunited for guitarist Tyler Vander Ploeg's 40th birthday in March 2016.
Band members
;Current
* Billy Power - vo ...
– guitars (1992)
*Mend – vocals, bass (1994)
* Left Out – guitars (1996–2002), vocals (1995–2002), bass (1995–1996)
*Six Feet Deep
Six Feet Deep was an American punk and heavy metal band started in 1991, which became popular in the mid-west United States due to success of their debut album. A review on ''Cross Rhythms'' of the band's album, '' Struggle'' was a 10/10 revie ...
– bass (1996–1997)
*The Blamed is Dead – drums (2003-2004)
Live
* Mortal – bass (1993)
*Klank
Klank, also stylized as kLaNk or KLANK, is an American industrial metal and groove metal band that originated out of Long Island, New York in December 1993. The project began after Daren Diolosa, the brainchild of Klank, departed from the fello ...
– guitars
*Living Sacrifice
Living Sacrifice is an American Christian metal band formed in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1989. The band has released eight studio albums, out of which the first three were recorded under R.E.X. Records with their original vocalist Darren Johnson ...
– guitars (2003)
Discography
Rocks in Pink Cement
*''Demo'' (1991)
Blenderhead
*''Ep'' (1993)
The Blamed
*''21'' (1994)
*''Frail'' (1996)
*''...Again'' (1998)
*''Forever'' (1999)
*''Germany'' (2000)
*''Isolated Incident'' (2001)
*''Give Us Barrabas'' (2002)
*''The Blamed X The Satire'' (2018)
*''The Church Is Hurting People'' (2019)
Left Out
*''Pride Kills'' (1996)
*''Serve Self'' (1997)
*''For the Working Class'' (1999)
*''Left Out'' (2002)
The Satire
*''Norway Demo'' (2008)
*''The Satire'' (2012)
*''The Blamed X The Satire'' (2018)
*''The Presence'' (2020)
Mortal
*'' Intense Live Series Vol. 5'' (1993)
Six Feet Deep
*'' The Road Less Traveled'' (1997)
Guest performances
*''Cashists, Fascists, and Other Fungus'' – Crashdog (1995)
*''EP'' – Blenderhead (1996)
*''The Land, the Bread, and the People'' – Ballydowse
Ballydowse was an American Celtic punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois, United States, with a rare mix of anarchist and religious ideas infused into their music. Many of the group's members were from the Jesus People USA commune.interview with ...
(1998)
Production
*''Cashists, Fascists, and Other Fungus'' – Crashdog
Crashdog was one of the first Christian punk bands and was active primarily in the early 1990s. Most of their albums were released by Grrr Records, which has also been home to Headnoise, Resurrection Band, and Glenn Kaiser, among others.
Crashd ...
(1995)
*''Bite the Hand That Feeds'' – Brick Assassin (2016)
*''Having a VHS for a Leg'' – Captive Portal (2017)
*''Death Made Its Offer'' – October Bird of Death (2017)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Bryan
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American rock guitarists
American performers of Christian music
American rock singers
American punk rock guitarists
American punk rock bass guitarists
American punk rock singers
Tooth & Nail Records artists