The Distillers are an American
punk rock
Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1998 by Australian vocalist and guitarist
Brody Dalle
Brody Dalle (born Bree Joanna Alice Robinson; 1 January 1979) is an Australia, Australian singer, songwriter, and musician. She began playing music at the age of 13 and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18, where she founded the punk rock ban ...
. Dalle co-wrote, played guitar and provided lead vocals for nearly every track on the band's three albums. After the breakup of the band in 2006, Dalle and Distillers guitarist
Tony Bevilacqua went on to form
Spinnerette.
History
The Distillers first came together in late 1998, when Australian-born guitarist
Brody Dalle
Brody Dalle (born Bree Joanna Alice Robinson; 1 January 1979) is an Australia, Australian singer, songwriter, and musician. She began playing music at the age of 13 and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18, where she founded the punk rock ban ...
met bassist Kim Chi and the two bonded over their love for playing punk rock. They proceeded to recruit Detroit guitarist Rose Mazzola and drummer Matt Young.
Signed to
Epitaph
An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...
, the band issued its
self-titled debut in April 2000. By the end of the year, Kim Chi had left the group to join
Exene Cervenka
Exene Cervenka (born Christene Lee Cervenka; February 1, 1956) is an American singer, artist, and poet. She is best known for her work as a singer in the California punk rock band X.
Music career
The 21-year-old Cervenka met 23-year-old m ...
in her band, the Original Sinners. For a while
The Nerve Agents bassist Dante Sigona was playing bass for The Distillers but
Ryan Sinn stepped in and took position. Matt departed to join Chi while Mazzola left during the height of "Seneca Falls". By summer 2002, The Distillers were composed of Dalle, Sinn, and new drummer
Andy Granelli; joint American dates with
No Doubt
No Doubt is an American rock band formed in Anaheim, California in 1986. For most of its career, the band has consisted of vocalist and founding member Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young. Keyboar ...
and
Garbage
Garbage, trash (American English), rubbish (British English), or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or ...
were planned for later that fall. Guitarist/vocalist
Tony Bradley joined The Distillers in time for the recording of their third album and major-label debut, ''
Coral Fang'', which was released in 2003 by
Sire. Following her very public divorce from
Rancid's
Tim Armstrong
Timothy Ross Armstrong (born November 25, 1965) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Known for his distinctive voice, he is the singer/guitarist for the punk rock band Rancid (band), Rancid and hip hop/punk rock supergroup T ...
that same year,
Brody Dalle
Brody Dalle (born Bree Joanna Alice Robinson; 1 January 1979) is an Australia, Australian singer, songwriter, and musician. She began playing music at the age of 13 and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18, where she founded the punk rock ban ...
resumed performing under her own name.
Granelli left the band in early 2005, moving on to play with Darker My Love, and by summer, Sinn had exited as well, later joining up with
Angels & Airwaves
Angels & Airwaves (also written as Angels and Airwaves; stylized and abbreviated as ΛVΛ) is an American rock band, comprising lead vocalist/guitarist Tom DeLonge, guitarist David Kennedy, drummer Ilan Rubin, and bassist Matt Rubano.
The ban ...
. Despite rumors, The Distillers, now just Dalle and Bradley, denied that they were breaking up, instead simply going on hiatus. In early 2006, Dalle had her first child, daughter Camille, with new husband
Josh Homme of
Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated as QOTSA or QotSA) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1996. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme shortly before he returned to his native Palm Desert, California. ...
. By the year's end, the two remaining members formally announced the band's disbandment and went on to form
Spinnerette together.
In January 2018, Dalle shared a teaser video from The Distillers' Instagram and a newly opened Twitter account to confirm the return of the band. Initially, it was believed the four Twitter accounts that The Distillers' Twitter was following, would make up the 2018 line-up of the band: Dalle, Bradley, Granelli and former Spinnerette member Alain Johannes. Since then, however, the account has removed Johannes; and subsequently added former bassist Sinn. Bradley has since deleted his Twitter account.
It was later announced that the band would perform their first official show in over 13 years at
The Casbah in
San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
in late April 2018.
On September 11, 2018, the Distillers official Instagram account announced the release of a new single available on iTunes. In April 2019, the band confirmed that they had begun recording their fourth album and follow-up to ''
Coral Fang''. On April 28, 2019, The Distillers announced they would be entering the studio with English music producer
Nick Launay
Nicolas Launay (born 5 March 1960) is an English record producer, composer and recording engineer, currently residing in Los Angeles, CA. He is one of the most sought after record producers in the world due to his success with recent albums b ...
.
On July 16, 2021, The Distillers released a live album, ''Live in Lockdown''. The album, as its title suggests, features nine tracks that were recorded live during their 2020 livestream. The band were booked to perform at
When We Were Young in 2024; however, they announced last minute that they would not be appearing at the festival. No reason was given for their withdrawal. , The Distillers have not performed live publicly since January 2020.
Members
Current
*
Brody Dalle
Brody Dalle (born Bree Joanna Alice Robinson; 1 January 1979) is an Australia, Australian singer, songwriter, and musician. She began playing music at the age of 13 and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18, where she founded the punk rock ban ...
– lead vocals, rhythm guitar
(1998–2006, 2018–present), lead guitar
(2002–2003)
*
Ryan Sinn – bass, backing vocals
(2000–2005, 2018–present)
*
Andy Granelli – drums
(2000–2005, 2018–present)
*
Tony "Bradley" Bevilacqua – lead guitar, backing vocals
(2003–2006, 2018–present)
Former
*Rose "Casper" Mazzola – lead guitar, backing vocals
(1998–2002)
*Kim Chi – bass, backing vocals
(1998–2000)
*Mat Young – drums
(1998–2000)
*Dante Sigona – bass, backing vocals
(2000)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
Singles
Music videos
* "The Young Crazed Peeling" (2002)
* "City of Angels" (2002)
* "Drain the Blood" (2003)
* "The Hunger" (2003)
* "Beat Your Heart Out" (2004)
* "Man vs. Magnet" (2018)
* "City of Angels (Live)" (2021)
In popular culture
* In a February 2003 episode of ''
Gilmore Girls
''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. The show debuted October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagship series for the network. The show ran fo ...
'', Jess surprises Rory with last-minute tickets to a Distillers concert.
* A version of the song "Muppet N.A.M.B.L.A" on the
Leftöver Crack
Leftöver Crack is an American punk rock band formed in 1998, following the breakup of Choking Victim. The band is currently signed to Tankcrimes for CD releases, and Alternative Tentacles for vinyl releases. Leftöver Crack spans several diffe ...
EP, ''Rock the 40 Oz'' featured Dalle on guest vocals.
* In the ''
Daredevil'' episode "Kinbaku", "Die on a Rope" is played on the stereo of a car that Matt Murdock and Elektra steal.
Video games
* "Beat Your Heart Out" is featured in ''
Tony Hawk's Underground 2
''Tony Hawk's Underground 2'' is a 2004 skateboarding video game from Activision, the sixth entry in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series after ''Tony Hawk's Underground'' (2003). It was developed by Neversoft released on October 4, 2004 in the U.S. for the ...
''.
*"Beat Your Heart Out" is featured in
ATV Offroad Fury 3.
* "Dismantle Me" is featured in ''
MTX Mototrax''.
* "Seneca Falls" is featured in ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4'' is a 2002 skateboarding game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision under their Activision O2 label. The game was ported by different developers to various systems. It is the fourth installment in the ' ...
''.
* "Drain the Blood" is featured in ''
Gran Turismo 4
''Gran Turismo 4'' is a 2004 sim racing video game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It is the fourth main installment and the sixth overall in the ''Gran Turismo'' series. It was ...
'' and is a downloadable song for ''
Rock Band
''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...
''.
* The song "Beat Your Heart Out" and a cover of the "
''Spider-Man'' theme song" are featured in the video game adaptation of ''
Spider-Man 2
''Spider-Man 2'' is a 2004 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of Spider-Man. Directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story conceived by Michael Chabon and the writing team of Alfred Gough and Miles ...
''.
* The songs "City of Angels" and "Hall of Mirrors" both featured in the 2004 game ''
True Crime: Streets of LA''.
* "City of Angels" is featured in ''
Crash 'N' Burn'', as well as in the third episode of ''
Sleeper Cell'' entitled "Money".
References
External links
official website (Archived).
The Distillersat
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
.
The Distillersat
Instagram
Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
.
The Distillersat
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
.
The Distillersat
Myspace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Distillers, The
Hellcat Records artists
Musical groups established in 1998
Musical groups disestablished in 2006
Musical groups reestablished in 2018
Musical quartets from California
Street punk groups
Sire Records artists
Epitaph Records artists
Rise Records artists
Rock music groups from California
Musical groups from Los Angeles
Hardcore punk groups from California
Female-fronted musical groups
1998 establishments in California