The Birthday Massacre

The Birthday Massacre
The Birthday Massacre performing at M'era Luna Festival 2009
Background information
Origin	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Synthrock Alternative rock Darkwave
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Metropolis
Website	www.thebirthdaymassacre.com
Members
Chibi (vocals), (Mezzo-soprano) Rainbow (guitar) Michael Falcore (guitar) O.E. (bass) O-en (keyboards) Rhim (drums)
Former members
Dank (1999-2001) Adm (2002-2004) Aslan (1999-2007)

The Birthday Massacre is a synthrock band, based in Toronto, Canada. The band was officially formed in 1999, known at that time as Imagica, a name taken from a novel by Clive Barker.

History

Formation and Nothing and Nowhere (1999–2003)

The group originated in London, Ontario under the name Imagica. The group's original line-up formed when childhood friends Rainbow (guitars and programming) and M. Falcore (guitars) met Chibi (vocals) and J. Aslan (bass) in college. In mid 2000, Dank, a long time friend of Chibi's, joined to play live keyboards. After months of rehearsals and writing songs, they played their first gig on October 28, 2000 at Diversity night club in London. The band released a seven-song limited edition demo CD at the show. There were 40 hand numbered copies of the demo which included the first recorded version of the song "The Birthday Massacre" (later renamed "Happy Birthday"). The following month, in answering an ad posted at the college, O.E. was added to play live drums. During this time, the band also met Rhim and Owen at the same college who would later join as drummer and keyboardist, respectively.

In 2001, the band relocated to Toronto, Ontario to begin recording as a four piece shortly after Dank left the group. There, they independently produced, recorded and manufactured another limited edition demo.

Shortly thereafter, the band adopted the name The Birthday Massacre. In July 2002, The Birthday Massacre independently released a limited edition CD entitled Nothing and Nowhere. In 2003, Adm joined the band on live keyboards and Rhim on drums as the band began playing live more often. 2003 also saw the launch of their flash site NothingAndNowhere.com, designed by the band themselves.

Violet (2004–06)

On July 20, 2004, The Birthday Massacre released a nine song EP entitled Violet, and at the end of the year, re-released "Nothing and Nowhere" with new sleeve artwork. Adm soon left thereafter to explore his own projects. In the fall of 2004, the band was signed to Repo Records in Germany, and released a remastered and expanded LP version of "Violet" in Europe, including updated album art in a digipak case.

O-en in a T.B.M. concert at the Mod Club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 17, 2009.

In 2005 the band signed to Metropolis Records and released the Violet LP with larger distribution. Owen joined on live keyboards and in August, the band began a series of international tours taking them to Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Belgium. Also in August, a DVD consisting of the Dan Ouellette-directed video for Blue_(DVD) was released. It also included behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, a studio performance of "Nevermind," as well as live performances of "Violet" and "Video Kid."

In early 2006, the Birthday Massacre toured North America, playing across Canada, the United States and Mexico on their "Broken Minds" tour. They also played Europe and the U.K. in the summer of 2006.

Walking With Strangers (2007–08)

In June 2007, it was announced that the band was working on a new record with Canadian producer/engineer Dave "Rave" Ogilvie and that bass player Aslan had left the band for his own project. Aslan has been replaced on bass by former drummer O.E. The demo version of the song "Kill the Lights" was released on Vampirefreaks and MySpace for streaming on January 1, 2007. "Looking Glass" (another single from "Walking with Strangers") was released for streaming on August 1, 2007 for Vampirefreaks and MySpace.

On September 11, 2007 the band released "Walking with Strangers" in North America, entering at #10 on the Billboard "Top Heatseekers" chart for September 29.^[1] The album was released in Europe on September 21 and in the UK on 22 October. A third trip to Europe and the U.K. followed in November to promote the record. During the European leg of the tour, a live performance was filmed in Hamburg, Germany which would later become the "Show and Tell" live recording.

In May 2008 they released the Looking Glass EP, the second single taken from the album^[2], containing the video and several remixes by high-profile electronic artists. Starting June 17, they promoted it on a tour with Mindless Self Indulgence, Julien-K, Fake Shark - Real Zombie! and Combichrist. November 2008 also saw the band touring Australia for the first time.

Show and Tell (2009-present)

On May 5, 2009, the band released their 'Show And Tell' CD, featuring 16 live tracks from their show in Hamburg, Germany, which occurred during their 'Walking With Strangers' European Tour in 2007. The DVD portion of the show was released on October 2, 2009 in Europe and on February 9, 2009 in North America.

During the spring and summer of 2009, the band also went on tour in order to promote their live CD 'Show And Tell' in both North America and Europe.

In late July 2009, the band was featured on a contest for Virgin Mobile Free Fest 2009, called 'Book The Band', which took place online. On August 17, The Birthday Massacre was declared a winner of the contest and was given 100 tickets to hand out to the lucky fans who voted for the band. They performed at the festival on August 30, 2009 in Columbia, Maryland.

In early September 2009, the band posted a blog on their official MySpace announcing that they are going to continue writing and recording the new album which will be released in early 2010. They also announced that they are working on a new website with their ex-bassist, Aslan.

Members

• Chibi (Sara Taylor) – Vocals
• Rainbow – Guitar, Programming, and Vocals
• Michael Falcore – Guitar and Programming
• Rhim – live Drums (2003–present)
• O-en – live Keyboards (2004–present)
• O.E. – Drums (2001–2003), Bass and Vocals (2007–present)

Former members

• Aslan – Bass (1999–2007)
• Dank – Keyboards (1999–2001)
• Adm – Keyboards (2002–2004)
• Brett Carruthers - Keyboards (fall 2004)

Discography

Albums

• Nothing and Nowhere (2002)
• Violet (2005)
• Walking with Strangers (2007)

Live Albums

• Show and Tell (2009)

EPs

• Violet (2004)
• Looking Glass (2008)

Singles

• Red Stars (2007)
• Looking Glass (2008)

Music Videos

• Blue

• Nevermind

• Looking Glass

• Video Kid

DVDs

• Blue (2005)
• Official "Bootleg" DVD (2006)
• Show And Tell DVD (2009/2010)

Appearances

• Vocals by Chibi on "The Knight Murders" by Vanity Beach
• The Birthday Massacre remix of "The Knight Murders" by Vanity Beach on the Australian release of Nights of the New
• EBM Remix of "Video Kid" by The Birthday Massacre on the This Is Neo-Goth compilation CD.
• "Fallen Hero" by Funker Vogt remixed by Rainbow of TBM
• "Straight to Video" by Mindless Self Indulgence "Dramaclub Remix" by Rainbow, O-En and Falcore
• Vocals by Chibi on "Never Wanted to Dance: The Birthday Massacre Pansy Mix" by Mindless Self Indulgence
• Remix of "Make a Star" on the Make a Star EP by Dope Stars Inc.
• Remix/Cover of "Last Daze" by Left Spine Down with new vocals by Chibi on the 2009 album Voltage 2.3: Remixed and Revisited
• Vocals by Chibi on WWE's Katie Lea's 4th theme, "Hurt You".
• Vocals by Chibi on the song "Mouth to Mouth" from Kill Hannah's 2009 Wake Up The Sleepers album.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Birthday Massacre

• Official website
• The Birthday Massacre at MySpace