Death By Dancing

Technology really has transformed music. In less than a year, Grand Haven’s Death By Dancing has gone from talking about starting a band to having one of the most polished, futuristic-sounding CDs in the area. Certainly such sudden success will make many liken the emo-punk-goes-electronica act to Panic! At The Disco, without the theatrics, although such a scapegoat sub-genre generalization shortchanges the band’s budding sound. Drum machines and pulsating synths dominate most of these songs, but they still feel surprisingly human. Those who missed the band’s big-time opening set before The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus last month might have to head to the Muskegon Summer Celebration, where Death By Dancing will take its rave-ready sound out into the sunshine June 29. — Eric Mitts
- Recoil Magazine

Having grown up in Grand Haven, I would never have guessed it'd be the spawning ground for the coolest electronica CD I've heard in a while. But in covering the music scene, I've learned to expect the unexpected.

Anyway, that brings us to today's artist of the month, Death By Dancing. This Grand Haven quintet combined dance, techno and rock to create its eight-track "The Distribution EP," which I'm mightily impressed with.

Get an earful of it by checking out the featured track, "Elights," right here at "Sound Check."

And come back next month for another slice of regional music. - Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS - First gigs typically are humble afairs, but in Death By Dancing's case, the band came out swinging.
The Grand Haven electronica five-piece, which formed last summer, diddn't kick off its live performance cycle in a small venue in front of a handful of friends and family. Instead, the band's public debut came at a battle of the bands in Feburary at The Orbit Room.
To top it off, the band took top honors at the event.
"We were all just dumbfounded," said Nick Lill, who plays synthesizer for DBD.
As part of the prize winnings, Lill and his bandmates - his brother and bassist Kaja Lill, singer Tyler Roth, drummer Mike Greenbank and guitarist Kevin Kozel - were awarded recording time at a studio in Rochester Hills, near Detroit. The band headed to the studio shortly thereafter and completed its first recording "The Distribution."
The eight-trackE{ was released May 22, when the band opened for THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS at The Orbit Room.
"It was by far our biggest show to date," Lill said. "There were about 2,000 people there."
The band will have a chance to entertain another large audience June 29, when it plays on the main stage at Muskegon Summer Celebration. It secured the slot by taking first in the Webster House Battle of the Bands.
Perhaps the judges at these events have been drawn to DBD's vigorous electronic beats, or teh band's tendency to stand apart from the crowd (or the ability to get hipsters to dance). The electronic synth-heavy pop band's sound is reminiscent of The Rapture, Fischerspooner and The Faint, an intelligent dance music genre linked to hip music havens like New York.
"It's (a style that's) quite rare around here," Lill observed. "It's mostly hardcore screamo or power-punk bands."
"The new stuff is a little more vocally intense with backing vocals," Lill said.
Those who attend a DBD show and don't feel like movign thier feet can feast their eyes on teh band's visual elements, as provided by video DJ and Keytarist Erik Stoneburner. Stoneburner uses a computer program to project images onto a screen or the band members.
"He's quite creative," Lill said. - Grand Rapids Press