Throwdown (band) Early years (1997-2002) What was the band doing in 1997? Throwdown was formed in 1997 Who were the original members? Visions, guitarists Tommy Love and Javier Van Huss, bassist Dom Macaluso, and drummer Marc Jackson.
Where were some of their first gigs?
Where were some of Throwdown's first gigs?
Throwdown was formed in 1997 by vocalist Keith Barney, who would also be an active member of both Adamantium and Eighteen Visions, guitarists Tommy Love and Javier Van Huss, bassist Dom Macaluso, and drummer Marc Jackson. The group took on the title Throwdown as a "wry irony on their collective stature," at the time no band member being more than 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m). The band released their debut, self-titled 7-inch single that same year through Prime Directive Records. Van Huss left the band, and was replaced by Brandan Schieppati. After sign a recording contract with Indecision Records, the band released their first studio album Beyond Repair the following year. In 1999, Barney also relinquished his role in Death by Stereo to prioritise Throwdown. Schieppati left the band to concentrate full-time on his other band Bleeding Through, being replaced by Dave Peters. The following year, the new line-up released the Drive Me Dead EP. In 2001, Throwdown released their second studio album, You Don't Have to Be Blood to Be Family. They also recorded a tongue-in-cheek metalcore version of Sir Mix-a-Lot's hit single "Baby Got Back" for Radical Records' Too Legit for the Pit: Hardcore Takes the Rap compilation, which also featured Candiria, Stretch Arm Strong, and The Movielife. Allmusic reviewer Rick Anderson gave the album four and a half out of five stars, stating that Throwdown's version for the song was "absolutely hilarious". The idea of cover a hip hop song, was a collaboration between Macaluso and Love. Originally they wanted to cover House of Pain's "Jump Around". Then the band decided there was too much in the song, as they felt that hip hop songs are hard to cover. Peters said, "Sir Mix-a-Lot was easy and funny, and that's what we're all about, playing easy stuff and trying to be funny." The following year, Barney expressed a desire to switch to guitar (which he played in Eighteen Visions already) because he would often lose his voice on tour. Peters took over on vocals. Fill-in guitarist Matt Mentley would fill in whenever Barney had shows with Eighteen Visions. Lacking a permanent drummer after the departure of Jackson, 18V drummer Ken Floyd regularly filled in around this time as well. After that in 2002 Throwdown made their next cd Face the Mirror EP with no changes except for Ken Floyd on drums. CANNOTANSWER
debut, self-titled 7-inch single that same year through Prime Directive Records.
Throwdown is an American heavy metal band from Orange County, California. Formed in 1997, the band has endured numerous lineup changes to the point where no original members remain. Throwdown has toured as part of Ozzfest, Sounds of the Underground, Hellfest, and Warped Tour, as well as with bands such as In Flames, Lamb of God, As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, Korn and Cavalera Conspiracy. The songs "Forever" and "Burn" were staples on MTV2's Headbangers Ball and Revolver Magazine called them part of "The Future of Metal" after hearing the album Vendetta. Initially branded a hardcore punk band, albums like Venom and Tears and Deathless took a sharp turn towards metal, with critics likening the band's sound to that of Pantera and Sepultura. The band are straight edge.

History

Early years (1997–2002)
Throwdown was formed in 1997 by vocalist Keith Barney, an active member of both Adamantium and Eighteen Visions, guitarists Tommy Love and Javier Van Huss, bassist Dom Macaluso, and drummer Marc Jackson. The group took on the title Throwdown as a "wry irony on their collective stature", at the time no band member being more than . The band released their debut, self-titled 7-inch single that same year through Prime Directive Records. Van Huss left the band and was replaced by Brandan Schieppati. After signing a recording contract with Indecision Records, they released their first studio album Beyond Repair the following year. Schieppati was replaced by Dave Peters. The following year, the new line-up released the Drive Me Dead EP.

In 2001, Throwdown was scheduled to release a split 7" vinyl with Poison the Well through Surprise Attack Records. Instead, the band released their second studio album, You Don't Have to Be Blood to Be Family. Not long afterward, Jackson left the band, who, lacking a permanent replacement, recruited Barney's 18 Visions bandmate Ken Floyd to fill-in. Floyd appeared on their self-released 2002 EP Face the Mirror. The same year, Barney told the band he'd like to switch from vocals to guitar, as he would often lose his voice on tour, so Peters took over on vocals. Barney would often miss shows due to his commitments to 18 Visions; Matt Mentley was drafted to fill in for him.

Haymaker (2003–2004)
In 2003, Throwdown recorded and released Haymaker, featuring the Peters-penned straight-edge anthem "Forever", on Trustkill Records. The lineup was Peters on vocals, Macaluso on bass, Love & Barney on guitars, and session drummer Jarred Alexander. A tour with Hatebreed followed in support of the album's release. 

As Barney stayed busy with 18 Visions, Macaluso and Love started the band The Lost, who released an EP with Indecision very reminiscent of the group HIM. 

Mentley officially replaced Barney in 2004. The band played Japan, with a fill in drummer, and embarked on a short tour of Europe with new drummer Ben Dussault. Former drummer Jackson filled in for Love, on guitar. Peters, Mentley, Dussault, Macaluso, and Love spent the summer of 2004 on Ozzfest's second stage.

Vendetta (2005–2006)
Throwdown spent the early part of the year recording Vendetta, made at Planet Z Studios with producer Zeuss. Mark Choiniere joined the band shortly before the album was recorded, although he does not appear in the music video for "Burn". Peters, Dussault, Choiniere, Mentley and Macaluso hit the inaugural Sounds of the Underground tour that summer. 

In the fall, they headlined a US tour sponsored by To Die for Clothing with Sinai Beach as support. Following this tour, Macaluso, the band's only remaining original member, exited Throwdown. Mentley switched to bass, with Mark Choiniere covering all guitar duties in the live setting. Throwdown has remained a four-piece ever since.

Venom & Tears (2007–2008)

Throwdown recorded Venom & Tears with producer Mudrock in Los Angeles. 

They spent the summer headlining the Ernie Ball stage on the Vans Warped Tour. After the tour, they filmed a video for "Holy Roller" with director Andy Reale. In the fall, they supported Machine Head on a US tour. Mentley left the band afterward. His replacement, Mark Mitchell, made his live debut in South America in December. Mitchell had previously been the vocalist in the straight edge, vegan metalcore band Culture in the mid-1990s and had also played guitar in Until the End and Red Roses for a Blue Lady.

In March 2008, Throwdown announced that they had fulfilled their contractual obligations and were no longer signed to Trustkill Records. In December 2008, the band signed to Koch Records and began working on their sixth album. In the same announcement, it was stated that Jarrod Alexander, who worked with the band on Haymaker, would return for the new album.

Deathless (2009–2013)
In February 2009, the band played at the second annual MusInk festival in Orange County, supporting Danzig and The Used.

In the Spring, Throwdown began recording with Mudrock (who previously recorded Venom & Tears) in Los Angeles. The new album featured Peters, Choiniere, Mitchell, and session drummer Alexander. The album was mixed by Zeuss, who had produced and mixed Vendetta. 

They spent September and October touring Europe with Chimaira and Unearth, with Living Sacrifice drummer Lance Garvin behind the kit. 

On November 10, 2009, Throwdown released Deathless in North America via Koch (now called eOne). 

In November and December, they headlined the Deathless Tour across America, with support from Bury Your Dead, For Today, ABACABB, and The World We Knew, again with the lineup of Peters, Choiniere, Mitchell, and Garvin. 

In December, the band announced they would join Five Finger Death Punch and Shadows Fall on a lengthy U.S. tour set for January and February 2010. However, without a permanent replacement for Dussault, Choiniere opted to bow out of Throwdown roughly two weeks before the start of the tour. Throwdown dropped out of the tour and was replaced on the bill by the band God Forbid. 

Deathless was released in Europe on January 25, 2010, via Nuclear Blast Records.

In October 2011, Throwdown headlined a short West Coast trek dubbed "Brawloween". The lineup was Peters and Mitchell with Demon Hunter drummer Tim "Yogi" Watts and then-Bleeding Through guitarist Dave Nassie filling in. Support for the shows included Carnifex, First Blood, and Suffokate.

Intolerance & Take Cover (2014–present)

After a long period of inactivity, Throwdown released a new album, Intolerance, on January 21, 2014, via eOne Music. It was produced by Peters with Davey Worsop and mixed/mastered by Zeuss. Peters performed everything on the album, save for drums (handled by longtime session player Alexander) and guitar solos, which were tracked by Nassie. Since the release of Intolerance, the band has made only two live appearances: at Canada's Amnesia Rockfest in 2014 and Belgium's Groezrock festival in 2015. Both shows featured Dave Peters on vocals and the return of bassist Matt Mentley, with Alexander and Nassie filling in. 

In April 2020, Throwdown released a surprise EP, Take Cover, collecting five cover songs from over the years. The EP was issued by the band's own label, Pit Viper Records. Throwdown's Trustkill-era albums are now on all digital services via Pit Viper Records, as well.

Members

Current
 Dave Peters – lead vocals (2002–present); guitar (1999–2002)
 Matt Mentley – bass (2005–2007, 2014–present); guitar (2004–2005); touring guitar (2001–2004)

Touring
 Nick Jett – drums (2003)
 Lance Garvin – drums (2009–2011)
 Timothy "Yogi" Watts – drums (2011)
 Dave Nassie – guitar (2011–2015)
 Jarrod Alexander – drums, percussion (2014–2015)

Former
 Tommy Love – guitar (1997–2004)
 Dom Macaluso – bass (1997–2005)
 Keith Barney – lead vocals (1997–2002); guitar (2002–2004)
 Javier Van Huss – guitar (1998)
 Marc Jackson – drums, percussion (1998–2002); guitar (2004)
 Brandan Schieppati – guitar (1998–1999)
 Ken Floyd – drums (2002)
 Ben Dussault – drums, percussion (2004–2008)
 Mark Choiniere – guitar (2005–2011)
 Mark Mitchell – bass (2007–2014)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums 
 Beyond Repair (1999)
 You Don't Have to Be Blood to Be Family (2001)
 Haymaker (2003)
 Vendetta (2005)
 Venom & Tears (2007)
 Deathless (2009)
 Intolerance (2014)

Extended plays
 Throwdown (1998)
 Drive Me Dead (2000)
 Throwdown / Good Clean Fun (2001)
 Face the Mirror (2002)
 Americana / Planets Collide (2007)
 Covered with Venom (2007)
 Take Cover (2020)

Videos
 Together. Forever. United. (2004)

Music videos
 "Forever" (2004), directed by Chris Sims
 "Burn" (2005), directed by Chris Sims
 "Holy Roller" (2007), directed by Andy Reale
 "The Scythe" (2010), directed by Cale Glendening
 "This Continuum" (2010), directed by Cale Glendening
 "Tombs" (2010), directed by Cale Glendening
 "The Blinding Light" (2010), directed by Cale Glendening

References

External links

Throwdown - Beyond Repair (Indecision Records, 1999)

American metalcore musical groups
American groove metal musical groups
Musical groups from Orange County, California
Straight edge groups
Musical groups established in 1997
MNRK Music Group artists
Heavy metal musical groups from California
Musical quartets
Trustkill Records artists
Slayers Bay Blues is the third album of Japanese band Electric Eel Shock and was released in 1999.

In 1999, Electric Eel Shock (EES) recorded Slayers Bay Blues on a multitrack recording, and pressed enough copies to take to the road for their first gigs abroad. They had lined up a handful of dates in and around New York City, including CBGB, with their friends Peelander-Z who had relocated there some time earlier. The gigs were a big success, and the handful of dates that were planned turned into an East Coast tour.

Track listings 
This track listing corresponds to the Micro Music, Double Peace Recording release of Slayer's Bay Blues.

All tracks written by Electric Eel Shock

Release history

More about release 
EES left their native Japan in 1999 to see what they could make of America and they have been on a near constant world tour ever since. EES paid their way by selling merchandise and their self recorded album Slayers Bay Blues at their gigs. Headlining a stage at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark was a key early event for the band. By 2004 EES had toured 27 countries around the world.

References 

Electric Eel Shock albums A gig  is a type of boat optimised for speed under oar, but usually also fitted with a sailing rig for appropriate conditions. The type was in use by Deal boatmen in the 18th century. It first occurred as a naval ship's boat after Deal boatbuilders recommended a different design to boats ordered from them by the Royal Navy to equip the cutters purchased in the 1760s to combat smuggling. The captains of larger warships soon sought permission to substitute a gig for one of the heavier boats which were then used; some even had a gig built at their own expense. The gig therefore became part of the usual complement of ship's boats used in warships.

Gigs also had civilian uses, being employed to take pilots to and from ships, carrying mail and people for vessels waiting at anchor for favourable winds, salvage and lifesavingand for smuggling. They could be found in places like the Mersey, as one of the faster and lighter boat types providing communication with ships anchored off the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts, and also from Deal to the Downs. The West Country is well known for its pilot gigs, with surviving and new-built examples now being raced at a large number of clubs in the region.

Gigs were lightly built, usually of clinker construction. They were narrow for their length. Typically, in naval gigs a beam of  was used for hull lengths from propelled by between four, six or eight oars. Exceptions included gigs pulling ten oars. Oars were always single banked in a gig.

Some would describe larger gigs as a galley, with regional variation on this terminology for civilian craft. Others regard the galley as a similar but different type. In Royal Navy usage of the latter half of the 19th century, the captain's gig was always referred to as "the galley". This contrasts with the US Navy usage: here the "captain's gig" was originally the traditional wooden boat, but in recent times a fibre-glass hulled powerboat which provided transport for the captain to and from his ship.

History

The Royal Navy had, by the middle of the 18th century, a long-standing relationship with the boat builders of Deal. The Navy bought their clinker-built yawls and cutters  which contrasted with the carvel hulls of boats built in the Navy yards. The working boats of Deal were well known to all in the Navy when they came out to warships anchored in the Downs. In 1763, the Navy bought thirty cutters  cutter in the sense of the small warship or revenue protection vessel. These were to combat smuggling. To ensure they were properly equipped with boats, a dozen cutters (in the ship's boat meaning of the word) were ordered from Deal boatbuilders. A discussion with four of the local boatbuilders ensued, and they gave the firm advice that the ordered boats were not suitable for catching smugglers. (The Deal boatmen had a reputation for involvement in a substantial amount of smuggling at the time.) What was recommended instead was the gig, a type of boat used locally. The Navy accepted the recommendation.

When war started with France again in 1793, naval captains came to prefer smaller, lighter boats than the barges that they were issued with. The barge was meant to match the status of the officer they carried, but something that could be launched quickly and achieve a good speed was much more useful. Some brought on board boats that were their own property. Others just ignored the barges carried and used one of the cutters out of their ship's selection of boats. Gigs were the most popular of the private boats; Nelson had one on  in 1801. By 1808 it is clear that the Navy had accepted the gig on vessels other than the anti-smuggling cutters. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars gigs were available in six different lengths (18 ft to 26 ft) for issue to British warships.

Characteristics
The gigs generally had a high wineglass transom, full keel, straight stem and somewhat rounded sides. There was in general very little rocker in the keel. The gunwales on many were nearly straight from bow to stern.

Howard Chapelle mentions the belief of W.P.Stephens that the gig was the precursor to the Whitehall rowboatbeing built (in New York) by former apprentices in the Navy Yard.

Today

With the coming of metal ships and combustion engines the size of the captain's gig increased and the boats could transport more sailors swiftly.

In the U.S. Navy, the captain's gig varied by the size of the ship, with aircraft carriers and, until the mid-1990s when they were decommissioned, battleships, typically assigned a double cabin cruiser that was 33 to 35 feet in length.  These boats were typically painted with a white superstructure and gray hull with a red waterline stripe and black hull below the waterline. Because these capital ships also held a dual function as flagships for an embarked admiral, an identical vessel, albeit painted with a black hull and green waterline stripe, functioned as an Admiral's Barge.

Captain's gigs were eliminated from all U.S. Navy ships in early 2008 in an economy move.

In popular culture
 In science fiction, the term is often used to refer to a small auxiliary spacecraft. In Star Trek, the craft is referred to as a "captain's yacht".

See also
Cornish pilot gig, a larger boat (crewed by 6 plus a cox) which used to be used to transport pilots out to ships.

Notes

References

Boat types
Military boats
Ship's boats