Danava (pronounced DON-UH-VUH)Danava
at Kemado Records is an American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band from

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. Its music fits into the categories of, and is influenced by,

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

and

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

History

Danava was formed in 2003 by Gregory Meleney, Monte Mattsson, Zachariah Dellorto-Blackwell and Ben Vargas. Meleney and Mattsson had known each other as teenagers in

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ) is a city in Adams County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Mississippi River, the population was 39,463 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 40,633 in 2010. The Quincy, Illinois, mic ...

. They met Dellorto-Blackwell later and moved to

, where they met Vargas. They released a demo together in 2004. In 2005 Vargas left the band and was replaced by Jarred Rockwell on synthesizers just before the band signed with Kemado Records. This four piece toured extensively and recorded their self-titled album in 2006 and ''UnonoU'' in 2008. Meleney plays most of the keyboard on both records. A video for the song "Where Beauty And Terror Dance" (UnonoU, 2008) was released and played on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, through PMN’s MTV Entertainment Group Subdivision. The channel launched initially as an all-music ...

's ''

Headbangers Ball ''Headbangers Ball'' is a music television program that consists of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more obsc ...

''. In summer 2008, Rockwell left the band for other musical pursuits on the east coast. In September 2009, Mattsson left the group to pursue his studies in biology and was replaced by Matthew Oliver. Andrew Forgash, a rhythm guitarist, also joined at this time. In 2011 the album ''Hemisphere of Shadows'' was released leading to several European tours. Danava have toured with Down (twice), Voivod,

Melvins Melvins (sometimes the Melvins) are an American rock band formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. Primarily a trio, they have also performed as a quartet, with eith ...

Acid Mothers Temple Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., commonly shortened to Acid Mothers Temple or AMT, is a Japanese rock music, rock band, the core of which formed in 1995. The band is led by guitarist Kawabata Makoto and early in their career feat ...

Witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

(three times), Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Lecherous Gaze, Thrones, Weedeater, Gentlemans Pistols and played at the 2008

Roadburn Festival The Roadburn Festival is an annual music festival held each April in Tilburg, Netherlands. It was founded by Walter Hoeijmakers and Jurgen van den Brand in 1999, who ran a stoner rock blog of the same name. The festival has been held at Tilburg ...

in the Netherlands and Muskelrock in Sweden, 2013. In 2013, Bass player Dellorto-Blackwell left the band. He joined Lecherous Gaze for a few tours as a rhythm guitarist and is on the album One Fifteen. In 2019, still on guitar, he started the band Rocky MTN Roller. He was replaced by Dominic Casciato. Shortly after, Forgash left the group to pursue a career in a different field and was replaced by rhythm guitar player Peter Hughes of the band Sons Of Huns. This formation recorded the single "At Midnight You Die." Shortly after, Hughes was replaced by Kerby Strom.

Members

*Gregory Meleney -

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s *Dominic Casciato -

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

*Matthew Oliver -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

*Kerby Strom -

*Levi Campbell - vocals

Discography

Demos

* A four-song demo with versions of "By The Mark", "Eyes In Disguise" and "Longdance", and an unreleased song, "Jack". Recorded in 2004.

Albums

* '' Danava'' CD/LP (2006 Kemado Records) * ''UnonoU'' CD/LP (2008 Kemado Records) * ''Hemisphere of Shadows'' CD/LP (2011 Kemado Records) * ''Nothing But Nothing'' CD/LP (2023 Tee Pee Records) * Danava Live CD/LP (2024 Heavy Psych Sounds Records)

EPs/singles

* "Quiet Babies Astray in a Manger" 12" (2006 Kemado Records) * "Where Beauty & Terror Dance" 7" (2007 Kemado Records) * "Danava/Earthless/Lecherous Gaze" Split 12" (2011 Kemado Records) * "Danava/ Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats" Split 7" (2011 Kemado Records) * "Grave Command" (exclusive track on compilation: "Grave Command")(2012 Unseen Forces) * "Heavy Devil Star Crash-The 2004 Demos" 12" (2013 Unseen Forces Records) * "At Midnight You Die" 7" (2016 Tee Pee Records)

References

External links

Official Site

Official MySpace band page

{{Authority control American psychedelic rock music groups Musical groups from Portland, Oregon 2003 establishments in Oregon Musical groups established in 2003