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Top » Bands and Artists » G » God Lives Underwater » Articles

God Lives Underwater, Empty

They've got the proverbial fuzzbox and they certainly put it to good use! Laying it all out comparable to the likes of Machines of Loving Grace or Filter, GLU creates a dark, brooding sonic view of the world. With titles like "No More Love" , "Fool", and "Scared" the thematic collection would be depressing were it not for the well-crafted grooves and faster pace of many of the tracks. Adam Kary, Andrew Mcgee, David Reilly and Jeff Turzo are God Lives Underwater, Turzo and Reilly being the 'brains behind the musical mayhem' (ie. writing the songs). They released a self-titled EP not too long ago that was brilliant. Their performance at the "Sextasy Ball", about a month ago in New York, with Thrill Kill Kult and Lords Of Acid was equally brilliant. Taking this as a hint of what was to come, I braced myself for the full-length effort. The most glaring oversight in the compilation of the aforementioned first full-length release was the omission of the in-your-face opening track to the EP, "Drag Me Down". It seems as if only a couple of the EP songs carried over to the album. It's a shame, because some of the tracks that didn't carry over, moved a bit better than some we got on Empty. The EP is worth checking out as an addition to the album, not instead of it. Empty's brightest tracks are "All Wrong" and "No More Love", providing contrast for the dimmer "23" and "Scared". What the dim tracks do provide is a showcase for a technologically augmented band's singing ability. The lead is well taken, and translates to live sound well unlke many of their contemporaries. Talent!? What a concept! http://www.westnet.com/consumable/1995/10.15/revgodli.html

God Lives Underwater Is Full With "EMPTY"

Suitcases packed with a mutual affinity for music, two farm boys from rural Pennsylvania leave the plush countryside to pursue their dreams in the concrete jungle of Los Angeles. Hmm. Sounds like a sitcom idea for Fox. Quick, get a script writer. That's life in the big city for singer-guitarist David Reilly and guitarist-keyboardist Jeff Turzo, the two-headed brain trust that fronts the techno-rock band God Lives Underwater. Reilly, Turzo and bandmates Andrew McGee (guitar) and Adam Kary (drums) made their American Recordings debut this fall with the full-length album "Empty." It's an odd, streetwise hybrid of Depeche Mode-like hi-tech and other distinctly modern edges (a combination of pop, funk, hip-hop and metal), a growth leap from their self-titled EP last winter. Not exactly what you would expect from two self-professed geeks from Perkiomenville, Pa., population 400. "I've always loved it there," Turzo said recently of his hometown. "I didn't want to escape it. I wanted that life and also be able to travel, whether I'm away for a few months, a year or five years. It'll always be home." After living in L.A. for the past eight months, Reilly said the band members now are in a dwelling limbo. Because they tour so much and are never home, they have ditched their apartments and put their belongings in storage. Where they settle down is anyone's guess. "Some of us are staying with family in Pennsylvania," Reilly said. "I'm not exactly attached to the area. I just have bad memories of Philadelphia. "When we moved to L.A., I had never been there before. It was weird. But I got used to it. I found all my favorite hole-in-the-wall bars to go to. It's not too bad living there. I might consider staying there." Turzo said he has five areas on his short list - San Diego, Louisville, Ky., Savannah, Ga., and Miami Beach. Reilly's choices are different, except for one: Miami Beach. They both love the sun, surf and female sights. Turzo and Reilly have been friends since junior high school, first discovering that they had interests in snakes. Then they set out to make music, influenced heavily by Depeche Mode. "We both liked hard rock and techno," Reilly said. "Then we decided the best, most convenient and sufficient way to record was to do it at home." A do-it-yourself demo got into the hands of disc jockey Gary Richards, who then became their manager and got them signed to American. "We recorded all of 'Empty' in L.A., after the shock of moving there from a town of 400 wore off," Reilly said. "Now, months later, we're constantly striving to get better, trying new equipment, keeping the live band in check and staying friends. "We're not trying to bite off too much. We're not expecting to become the next Pearl Jam, but we want to write some good songs and have everyone enjoy our music." There's no fear of them going Hollywood, Turzo said. "We don't see that much of it anyway," he said. "We're not back home looking at the lake anymore, but we're not seeing the glitter of the music business here either. "We're still stopping at the nerd tourist stops when we're on tour. That's just the way we are."

God Lives Underwater has Appetite for Success

03.26.1998 (MTV.com) Electronic duo God Lives Underwater has an eye-catching and stomach-turning new video for "From Your Mouth," [500k QuickTime] the first single from its new album, "Life in the So-Called Space Age." The clip features world hot-dog eating champ Hirofumi Nakajima from Japan stuffing his face with all sorts of food, the footage of which Roman Coppola -- son of "Apocalypse Now" director Francis Ford Coppola -- runs backwards for some dizzying effects. "I think Roman read an article in the paper about him," the band's Jeff Turzo said, "like a little 'USA Today' blurb, and that's where he got the idea for the video, you know. I guess we could have gotten, there could've been a few people that could've done the video, but we had to have him, because he's the champ" [300k QuickTime]. "We can both eat as much as that guy," bandmate David Reilly added, "but he looks cooler eating than we do. He knows what he's doing." The video was shot in six takes, which meant that Nakajima ate all the food pictured in the video six times in a row. Yikes. God Lives Underwater will play New York City on April 9 before joining Rancid, the Specials and Blink 182 for the final date of the Big Air Tour on April 25 at Mount Hood, Oregon.

God Lives Underwater Resurface

When one thinks of music from the California area these days, bands such as Korn, Sublime and No Doubt usually come to mind. Hearing the techno-style pop songs from Life in the So Called Space Age (A&M), the second album from God Lives Underwater, one wouldn't necessarily place this band in the Los Angeles area pigeon-hole. Not that geography has much to do with the music-so says Jeff Turzo, one half of the duo, with whom I had a telephone interview from a mystery restaurant last week. "This is the first time we have felt any sort of presence in L.A., is in the past few weeks with this album," he remarks. "We've lived there for the past three years and it was where we lived, but it was the least-recognized city for us in the United States. It's such a weird finicky place and such a sceney place." Turzo and partner Dave Reilly have not been involved in any scenes, in or out of L.A,. for a while. Following their first album Empty, they took a three year Stone Roses-like sabbatical, citing problems with their former record label, American. "Dave and I kind of got locked into this weird situation," Turzo recounts. "We couldn't really tour, and we couldn't make an album and they didn't really let us do anything. We got really miserable and really un-productive and then things turned around. Our manager, who was like our room-mate/best friend, Gary, had just got a label deal with A&M and then all of a sudden things brightened considerably. We took some of the stuff that we had worked on through that tough period and finished an album." Their creative lull has worked considerably in their favour. The first single from Life in the So Called Space Age, "From Your Mouth," is receiving con-siderable radio and television airplay. The group will start a month long tour next week and plan to be on the road for the summer playing at radio festivals. Not bad for a band who claim to "just write pop songs and make them at home with some gear." The duo have shied away from using the studios to record, preferring to make their music at home not just for financial reasons, but for creative purposes as well. "If I had all the money in the world," says Turzo, "I wouldn't feel comfortable spending $200 an hour to jerk around in the studio. We aren't recording in studios because of the way we make music. A lot of it is not just the methodical, like lay down the tracks, mix the song, done. For us, [we] kind of enjoy it to the level that we might listen to a part looping for a couple of hours. It's not the kind of thing you can do on the clock in the studio." The result is a sound that is both unique yet mainstream at the same time, although straying from the usual guitar sounds of today's music. Although Turzo says that there "were no conscious stylistic changes in this album" he feels that "there's only so many rock riffs that we could've worked with." Turzo also jealously guards the group's individuality, not wanting parameters to be placed around their sound. He refers to past incidents where the group's message has been misinterpreted. "I guess when you are trying to describe a band you need to give something to people so that they can have a take on it," he explains. Instead, the duo are content to write what "turns them on." Although they have both a new drummer (Scott Garrett ) and guitarist (Andrew McGee), Turzo and Reilly prefer to remain as a pair and not make any permanent additions at this point. "Dave and I started doing this ourselves and have always pretty much," Turzo says. "It's just the chemistry and combination that we found that works but we haven't felt the urge to mess with that." http://varsity.utoronto.ca:16080/archives/118/apr14/music/god.html

God Lives Underwater On Skinny Puppy, Depeche Mode Projects

(mtv.com) God Lives Underwater will be popping up on the pending Skinny Puppy remix album, and the band is also organizing what's turning into a major tribute to Depeche Mode. Project manager Jeff Antebi confirms that GLU will be participating on the as yet unnamed Skinny Puppy record for the Nettwerk label, but adds that a specific song has yet to be chosen. GLU will be joining fellow Philadelphian Josh Wink (song TBA) along with Chris Vrenna ("Assimilate"), Adrian Sherwood ("Tin Omen"), Autechre (TBA), Rhys Fulber ("Worlock") and Ruby ("Smothered Hope"). Antebi says he's looking for artist-oriented remixes and expects to add another three to five tracks to the record. There's no release date or album title at this time. Skinny Puppy were pioneers of the industrial goth genre and stood shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Ministry and Nine Inch Nails. They were first formed in 1982 and disintegrated in the early 1990s. GLU will be squeezing the Puppy remix into a schedule that includes a current tour supporting their just released second album, "Life in the So-Called Space Age," and overseeing their pet project, a tribute record honoring Depeche Mode. California's BAM magazine reports that the tribute, called "For the Masses," is shrouded in secrecy, but will probably feature GLU ("Fly on the Windscreen"), the Cure ("World in My Eyes"), Trent Reznor ("Personal Jesus"), Smashing Pumpkins ("Never Let Me Down Again"), Failure ("Enjoy the Silence"), Meat Beat Manifesto ("Everything Counts"), Apollo Four Forty ("I Feel You"), Dishwalla ("Policy of Truth"), Deftones ("To Have and to Hold"), Monster Magnet ("Black Celebration"), Hooverphonic ("Shake the Disease"), Smashmouth ("People are People"), Foo Fighters ("Master & Servant"), and Self ("Shame"). The album is due in August. The glue of GLU is the songwriting/programming/guitar team of David Reilly and Jeff Turzo. They're joined on the road by drummer Scott Garrett and guitarist Andrew McGee.

Sonic Future

God Lives Underwater takes off for 'Life in the So-Called Space Age' on new album By Nicky Baxter Whatever tag is pinned on God Lives Underwater's new album, Life in the So-Called Space Age, don't call it techno. After all, Jeff Turzo and David Reilly are just a couple of guys from Small-town USA (Perkiomenville, Pa.) whose only desire is to make technology-based music we can all live with. Though Reilly, who writes the lyrics and does the screaming, and Turzo, who plays guitar, keyboards and doodles with all manner of whiz-bang machinery, have since re-located to L.A., they continue to record in their bedrooms--call it high-tech sounds for lo-fi music lovers. Life in the So-Called Space Age (1500/A&M) finds God Lives Underwater holding tenaciously to its roots while edging closer to free-flowing experimentalism. Despite the sometimes futuristic imagery (robotics, behavior modification and the like), the theme remains the same from 1995's Empty: the search for love in a cold, cruel world. Musically, however, the band is rapidly expanding its sonic horizons. The album's first cut, "Rearrange," is introduced with a low, whoosing sound that gathers momentum, as some hammering percussion is gradually introduced. Suddenly everything stops--and starts anew, this time with the crackling buzz of a supersonic jet. The music then sputters and bleeps before Reilly's churlish vocals lash out at the ups and downs of romance. He is definitely not comfortable with change; even as he acknowledges its inevitability, he is still angry that it has to be that way. "From Your Mouth" waltzes around the techno arena without really staying there. Turzo not only knows his mechanics, he also understands how to bend them to his will. Even as he pumps out the beats, he humanizes them by interspersing the scratches of a hip-hop mix master. Reilly's vocal is cool and deadly; he really does remind you of an American David Bowie, a comparison he would not find disturbing. "Alone Again," "Behavior Modification" and "Dress Rehearsal for Reproduction" all concern themselves with a lovelorn, soul-suffocating future. It's not explicit in the lyrics but, rather, is evoked by the music, which alternately reaches back to Stevie Wonder's plangent synth-scapes and spins forward into the space age with an melange of otherworldly blips and whirring noises. "Behavior Modification" sounds like a postmodern R&B ditty, with Turzo hitching himself to a funk-dunked groove (check out the kinetically chattering keyboard mixed down low). Reilly transforms himself into a viper here, hissing and seething with a seductive creepiness. This is an new millennium in which "morals are undefined." The song's coda is a harshly dissonant keyboard note maintained for what seems like an eternity. On "The Rush Is Loud," Reilly and Turzo's vocals intertwine until they sound like Brit-poppers Squeeze whisked off into the middle of the next century. The verse--"We accuse ourselves"--is repeated over and over again in a bone-chilling mantra; here disassociation from the self is complete, making "The Rush Is Loud" one of the album's eeriest and most effective offerings. When Reilly whines "A shot in the arm, or a shot in the head; it's killing me," the horror of it all is weirdly romantic, like Shelley or Byron pointing a pistol to his temple while reading a poem. In the end, Life in the So-Called Space Age may not reveal anything new about our fears of the future, but it does make them compellingly attractive. [San Jose | Metroactive Central] Web extra to the May 21-27, 1998 issue of Metro. Copyright © Metro Publishing Inc. Maintained by Boulevards New Media.

God Lives Underwater Push Songs To The Surface

Electronica duo insists that it is more about the music than the technology. by VH1 Contributing Editor Frank Tortorici Since the duo God Lives Underwater surfaced on the electronic music scene in 1994, its members -- who both sing, play guitar and keyboards and handle looping -- have insisted that they are first and foremost about songs, not ambiance. And based on the recording process used for their latest modern-rock hit album, Life in the So-Called Space Age (1500/A&M), it can safely be said that God's Jeff Turzo and David Reilly, both 27, are men of their word. While the two write songs in many different ways, Turzo said their favorite tracks on the new album -- which was released in March -- are the tunes that began as just words and guitar. "A lot of times we'll have a nearly finished song written on guitar and then we'll go back and find sounds on some tape that go with it well," he said. "This album is more song-oriented than the last one," Turzo added. "And the track 'The Rush Is Loud' is an example of that. It's a 2-year-old song that we had a lot of fun remaking. It took from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. a few days before mastering the album to [cut the song]. That's what made it cool." The band's label, 1500, was fully behind the duo's first single from Space Age, "From Your Mouth" , a funky and irresistible track that garnered a great deal of airplay on modern-rock radio stations. The label plans to release the equally catchy "Rearrange" on June 30. "Everyone has a say in picking the singles," Turzo said. "But often [David and I] are too close [to the songs] and we can't hear anymore, so we look for help [from the label]." The two -- Pennsylvania natives who moved to California -- share the songwriting. And although they sometimes focus their lyrics on personal experience, they're primarily concerned with what words sound good. God Lives Underwater's eponymous 1994 EP and 1995 debut album, Empty (both on American Recordings), were not your typical, monotonous, melody-free electronica-fests, either. It's just that, according to Turzo, the duo had more of a game plan this time: to cut music like that which they love. And what they love are "song bands" such as techno-rockers Spiritualized, Depeche Mode and even the Beatles, though mixed with some techno of the Prodigy and Nine Inch Nails kind. It comes off sounding something like new, highly produced pop from David Bowie or Radiohead, only with more tape splicing. And while GLU's music has certain electronic elements to it, the group draws its lyrics organically from the life around them. "Dave's more personal," Turzo said. "I like to write colorful things. Music is still art if it's not 100 percent real emotion. Emotion can be fake. We've written stuff as other people." Turzo and Reilly produce all their sounds, mostly on their own, in their private home studio. They've shunned commercial studios since the beginning of their recording days. "[Our studio] is where we're comfortable working," Turzo said. On tour, where they're joined by drummer Scott Garrett and guitarist Andrew McGee, Turzo and Reilly said they believe that GLU's live sound should be different from their recorded music. "Very few techno bands play live," band manager Gary Richards said. "GLU add in everything from guitars to live drums, vocals [and] filter changes on the fly. They are more like a rock band than a techno band. Songs come first, then the production elements are added." GLU switched to A&M Records when Richards formed the label's 1500 Records. The new label offered the group more creative freedom, Turzo said. Familiarity with the band makes a crucial difference in helping the group develop, Richards said. "As a label, we can help get God Lives Underwater's vision across," he added, "because I've been [working] with them for many years, live with them, and I understand what they're trying to accomplish. They are a song-based band that utilizes technology to enhance the music." Original URL: http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/350269/06181998/god_lives_underwater.jhtml

Section 3 Inteview with David Reilly of GLU

God Lives Underwater David Reilly interviewed by: louis . tanguay GLU's [god lives underwater] name means absolutely nothing. It was thought up by singer/songwriter David Reilly, because his partner Jeff had a band called "Glu." It was also inspired by an educational television special on Atlantis and the magnetism of the Earth. David wanted to figure out words that could go into the word "Glu." God Lives Underwater. There you go. GLU was poised to be one of the most popular groups this year when their latest album, Life in the So-Called Space Age came out, but the public just wasn't ready for it, yet. Maybe if I leave this interview up, and GLU continue to work hard and tour that a few people might wise up and start the push for some GLU. Until then, here's my interview with David Reilly of God Lives Underwater. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you could acquire a characteristic of one particular animal, what would it be? Me and Jeff are both into reptiles. I like the Bearded Dragon, because I like their demeanor. They're really cool and they look neat. They're just fun. So, you want to chill like Bearded Dragon? Yeah. I like the way they just hang out. They're really cool pets. They look pretty scary, but they're not. What new invention do you think should become reality? Um…well I think they should stop criminalizing people who have chemical dependencies, and I wish there was a way to keep people from having chemical dependencies. Also, it would be cool if at the time you would get killed, like say you get killed in a violent and bloody way, you know, like get hit by a car or a bus or something like that, if there was a way to speed up the recording process of an instrument, say like a camera or an audio recorder, so fast that the engine controlling the record head could go back in time, and then you can predict things…that way we can prevent accidents to people that you love. But if it was going to report something, then it would actually have to record it. If the motor spun really fast, then it still wouldn't record anything, because the accident didn't happen yet, so there would be nothing exposed. But how do you know that? Because of the chemical process of film. The way it works. Mechanicals of film are one thing, but there's no processing involved in a digital medium. It's just assignation of 1's and 0's. Then it's encrypted or whatever. No one would ever know this. There's never a way to prove thiss, but I would say that if there's a delay between when something occurs and when it is recorded. Even if it might not be audible, or visual that you can notice, there's got to be a way to make a recording in better than real-time. If you could do that, than there has to be a way to record it. When the record medium can get assigned to it's duty quicker than the action occurs. So it would then have to psycho-kinetic in some way to know the actions of everyone around it, and to know what they're going to do, since there's nothing to record if the action didn't occur yet. See, I don't think it has to know anything. I think it's all just a physical thing, because if you press the "record" button on a cassette deck, because even when you say something into it, there's a delay between the tape head and the tape going across. I think that there's gotta be a way the distance can be reduced to a negative amount of space. So then you believe that all things are predictable. For shure. That's what I think people who predict things do. Maybe not necessarily that they have sped-up consciousness, but that they have a system of weights and measures where they can predict things by chances. They way you would bet on a horse, and some people are extremely good at it. So it's not like they knew what numbers would win the lottery, but they're like a human computer. They can out-weight the pluses and minuses and chances. Do you believe in aliens? iI don't know. A lot of people who consider themselves (intellectuals) are pretty much on the same level as I am on this. It's like, "I guess." The way I feel is that most of this space ship nonsense that people say they see, for how long do you think people were seeing alien aircraft before they found out about the B-2 bomber? How long do you think the B-2 bomber was just flying around before the government wanted anyone to know about it. And why didn't we find out about the cloned sheep until it was an adult? The way I see it, is that all of these "interactions" that we've had, or "sightings," can pretty much be explained to us by our own government in the next ten years. The fact is that if we knoew about all the technology there was, we wouldn't be able to kill Saddam Hussein. So we gotta bust out the technology. Original URL: http://www.section3.com/interviews/glu.shtml

Good Year for God Lives Underwater's Jeff Turzo

Apogee Ads, Cool Remixes and Unprecedented '70s Drum Sample CD, Multitrack Murderer, Help to Make it a Good Year for God Lives Underwater's Jeff Turzo. PR Newswire, Sept 24, 1999 LOS ANGELES, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- It's not enough for producer and mixer Jeff Turzo to sit around his elaborate home studio in Los Angeles creating tracks for God Lives Underwater's forthcoming LP. The 1500 Records/Interscope recording artist, who co-founded the group with fellow Pennsylvania native David Reilly, is now the youngest and first-ever musician to lend his image (and home studio!) to Apogee Electronics. Turzo is currently featured in print ads for the esteemed digital audio company's new Rosetta AD (analog-to-digital) converter, a moderately priced piece of equipment designed as the ultimate tool for home recording studios. "This is Jeff's year," says Apogee's spokesperson Mary Anne Campagna. "He's so completely well-rounded as a musician, producer, mixer and songwriter. He is the kind of guy who is the future of the music industry and his attitude is great." Through Turzo's association with Apogee, God Lives Underwater also had the good fortune to work with legendary producer and mixer, Bob Clearmountain (The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, The Pretenders, Roxy Music, Tori Amos). Clearmountain produced one of his signature remixes for the band's new track, "1% (Long Way Down)." The hard-driving tune will first appear on a new 1500 Records sampler disc, Evolution (due out this fall) that will also include a demo version of Clearmountain's SessionTools studio management software. It will then be included on God Lives Underwater's fourth album due out in the year 2000. On the flip side, Turzo has been dabbling in a few remixes himself by recently working on tracks for Rob Zombie, Bloodhound Gang, Lords of Acid, Korn and Smash Mouth. In God Lives Underwater, Turzo and Reilly display a unique ability to combine organic instrumentation with electronic production to make a contemporary and hybrid sound. It is no surprise to 1500 Record's President Gary Richards to see them at last come into their own. "I met Jeff and Dave in 1991 and they were the first guys I knew who used samplers and sequencers and mixed that with guitars and drums. They started in the woods of Pennsylvania and didn't really have a way to record beats and drums so they developed a make-shift way of putting their music together. They were way ahead of their time and really haven't gotten their credit. I mean, how many people do you know in their late twenties who have been sampling and sequencing since they were 14?" In addition to working on tracks for the upcoming album, Turzo and God Lives Underwater drummer Scott Garrett just finished production on a '70s drum sample project, Multitrack Murderer. As a sample CD, it is the first in a series featuring drum loops taken from hours of live drumming recorded at Hollywood's classic Grandmaster studio (a virtually unchanged spot from that era). "It reproduced a sound people don't get today," explains Turzo. "And there's only a finite number of those old '70s loops so it's pretty much to the point where every loop has been used and over-used. That's why we set out to make a CD that sounds like that but it's all new playing ... it sounds really old in a good way." Look for God Lives Underwater's new material to embrace more guitars, metal roots and Turzo's ever-evolving production skills. "Our new material sounds harder to me," he concludes. "The last record was more keyboard based because it was a new source of inspiration. Now, I think the guitar is starting to sound good again. It goes in cycles." Fortunately, this cycle is a damn good one. COPYRIGHT 1999 PR Newswire Association, Inc. COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group Original Date: 1999-09-24 Original URL: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m4PRN/1999_Sept_24/55857368/p1/article.jhtml

Riffage.com Acquires Rights to 1500 Records and Artists From A&M Records.

Business Wire, July 10, 2000 Business & Entertainment Editors PALO ALTO & LOS ANGELES, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 10, 2000 Deal With Former Interscope/Universal Label Will Meld Traditional Record Label Services With Powerful Fan A&R and Promotion Through Online Music Site Riffage.com, the Net's leading destination for people who want a personalized music experience, today announced that it has acquired music label 1500 Records, formerly part of A&M Records under the Interscope/Universal banner. By acquiring 1500 Records, Riffage.com's strategy is to merge the promotion and distribution strength of a traditional label with the sourcing, marketing and data mining capabilities of the Internet. Under the deal, 1500 Records becomes a new division of Riffage.com, providing traditional A&R support, retail music sales and CD publishing to select Riffage.com artists, as well as talent scouted through traditional channels. Through quantitative data obtained from Riffage.com, 1500 Records will be able to develop customized marketing programs for each of its artists, including identification of key target markets for touring, street team activity and radio airplay. Gary Richards, president of 1500 Records, will head the division, which will be based in Los Angeles, along with members of Riffage.com's musician services team. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Currently, 1500 Records has exclusive recording contracts with God Lives Underwater and Ugly Duckling. The company expects that it will sign approximately six bands yearly from the Riffage.com site, in addition to other artists. Domestic distribution of CDs will be handled by RED Distribution, Inc., the leading independent music distributor in the United States. 1500 Records is currently producing the soundtrack for New Line Cinema's upcoming film "15 Minutes," starring Robert DeNiro. Gary Richards is also serving as music supervisor for the film. "1500 Records is a logical extension of our online music business," said Ken Wirt, founder and CEO of Riffage.com. "We are creating a very cost-effective music ecosystem in which new music is strategically marketed to the people who are already interested in it. The addition of 1500 Records means that we can offer Riffage.com artists opportunities not available to them anywhere else." "1500 Records and Riffage.com share a common vision of creating a new record industry paradigm that maintains the key marketing services used by the traditional labels, but leverages the powerful artist/fan interaction made possible by the Internet to deliver a more progressive and effective marketing campaign for the artist and a more cost-effective business for the label," said Gary Richards, president of 1500 Records. New Music Label Business Model Artists signed to the Riffage.com/1500 Record label will be partners who split the net profits on album sales, as opposed to the 12-18 percent royalty offered by traditional record labels. 1500 Record artists will be provided with the services typically provided by traditional record labels, including advances and funding for recording, tour support, retail distribution, street marketing and promotions. Through Riffage.com, 1500 Records will be able to provide more effective marketing and promotion, including direct marketing of new music releases and concert ticket sales to Riffage.com's 300,000+ registered music fans, editorial placements, Web street teams, promotional downloads on the site and placement on Riffage.com's sampler CDs. The company will also provide live and on-demand Webcast performances via the company's Riffage Live streaming media division. Riffage.com's recent acquisition of San Francisco's Great American Music Hall can also provide a live concert venue for 1500 Records-signed artists. Riffage.com/1500 Records Key Management 1500 Records' current management are now employees of Riffage.com. Key management includes Gary Richards, president; Van Riker, general manager; and Lee Kurisu, marketing director. 1500 Records also has a 20-city street team in place, which will handle deejay/club promotion, event marketing and retail merchandising. It also plans to hire additional radio representatives, in addition to utilizing independent promotions companies, and expects to put an online street team in place. Initial Artist Line-up Under the Riffage.com/1500 Records Label God Lives Underwater God Lives Underwater is getting set to release their third LP on 1500 Records this fall. Working with producer, Sean Beavan (Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson), the band has made a record that crafts an array of electronic loops, heavy guitar riffs and personal lyrics to make a strong collection of songs. God Lives Underwater's last release recording was their version of Depeche Mode's "Fly on the Windscreen," on 1500 Record's Depeche Mode tribute LP "For the Masses." This tribute LP was the idea of God Lives Underwater band members Jeff Turzo and Jeff Reilly. "For the Masses" includes new versions of Depeche Mode songs by Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure, the Deftones, Rammstein, Monster Magnet, Gus Gus and others. Prior to their tribute LP, God Lives Underwater had a Top 15 modern rock hit with "From Your Mouth," from their LP "Life in the So-Called Space Age." This followed the radio success of two singles "No More Love" and "All Wrong" from their first LP "Empty." Ugly Duckling Long Beach-based Ugly Duckling is at the forefront of the new wave of hip hop groups, such as Jurassic 5 and Black Eyed Peas, who are inspired by the old school style of hip hop, espoused by the likes of De La Soul, Eric B & Rakim, The Pharcyde and Run DMC. Over the past year, the Long Beach trio has traveled the globe in support of their debut EP, "Fresh Mode," touring with the likes of the Jungle Brothers, Del The Funkee Homosapien and the Long Beach Dub All Stars. "Journey to Anywhere," the band's forthcoming LP, is the next step in the evolution of the band, documenting Ugly Duckling's own style which blends old-school underground hip hop and creative parody. In March 2000, Ugly Duckling was also a featured band for Riffage.com's "Riffage Live from the Great American Music Hall" TV show and Webcast. The TV show will air over the Burly Bear college cable TV network this fall. Ugly Duckling's concert Webcast is currently available as on-demand programming at http://live.riffage.com. About Riffage.com Riffage.com is a leading online music destination, recognized industry-wide for its unique way of connecting artists and fans on the basis of personal musical taste. With state-of-the-art communications, live programming, community features and e-commerce, Riffage.com delivers a powerful forum for discovering both indie and popular music in a format that's compelling, personalized and easy-to-use. The company's Riffage Live division provides live and on-demand Webcast programming from major music events across the globe and co-produces an indie-artist TV showcase, broadcasted over the Burly Bear college TV network and online at http://live.riffage.com. The division also manages Riffage.com's venue, San Francisco's legendary Great American Music Hall, which serves as its premier facility for hosting live concerts and Webcasts by indie and popular artists. Through its 1500 Records division, Riffage.com provides select artists with professional music label representation, utilizing an industry-breakthrough business model that combines traditional A&R services with powerful Internet-based research and marketing. Company investors include AOL, Bertelsmann Ventures, BMG Entertainment, Mayfield Fund and TransCosmos USA. Riffage.com, based in Palo Alto, Calif., is a privately-owned company. More information is available at http://www.riffage.com/Company COPYRIGHT 2000 Business Wire COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group Original URL: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0EIN/2000_July_10/63253580/p1/article.jhtml

Music Portal Riffage.com Has Left The Building

Music Portal Riffage.com Has Left The Building.(Company Business and Marketing) Newsbytes News Network, Dec 10, 2000, by Dick Kelsey Riffage.com is the latest music site to be silenced by a flat online marketplace and the sharp edge of legal uncertainties. "Pioneers enjoy the thrills of new frontiers, but must also deal with the risks inherent in uncharted territories," says a message posted on the Riffage home page. "Having reached out to a million fans and tens of thousands of bands, we cannot continue to service these fine communities in the current economic marketplace." Operations ceased on Friday. Riffage's Great American Music Hall and 1500 Records, which the company purchased last summer, will be sold to new owners, the statement said. High-tech's fall from grace on Wall Street, coupled with the Napster lawsuit and other legal battles, have created an especially difficult environment for music sites. "The funding environment is very difficult right now," said Sean Ryan, COO of Listen.com, in a speech at a digital music conference in September. "VCs (venture capitalists) are not funding because of the uncertainty of the legal issues facing many companies." He predicted that one digital media company would go under each week for the next 12 to 18 months. Riffage joins file-sharing site Scour, Webcasting pioneer Pseudo.com, indy label online distributor SpinRecords and other such sites on the failure list. 23:42 CST (20001210/WIRES ONLINE, LEGAL, BUSINESS/) COPYRIGHT 2000 Newsbytes News Network COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group Original URL: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0NEW/2000_Dec_10/67876011/p1/article.jhtml

Still on the floor, waiting to get up

A long long long time ago, we told you that Megaforce Records was going to release the final God Lives Underwater record in 2002. Well, now it's 2004 and the label is saying that they hope to have Up Off The Floor released this summer. Check the more for a statement from the label, and visit their site to download "Tricked" from the still forthcoming disc. "After many legal struggles and bidding wars, not to mention one of the music industry's most horrific examples of corporate greed, internet bubble-bursting and eventually bankruptcy, God Lives Underwater will release the much anticipated Up Off The Floor this summer, 2004. More details to be announced shortly." http://www.silentuproar.com/news/individual.php?newsid=6250&back=yes

God Lives Underwater surfaces again

http://www.newstimes180.com/story.php?id=202&category=SOUNDS When I saw God Lives Underwater in concert at the now-defunct Norwalk club The Globe in 1998, I had never heard the band’s music before – save for a remix of the Bloodhound Gang song “Mama Say.” What I got was a tripped out, multi-layered, heavy rock experience that was truly amazing. The band was giving out sampler cassettes that included its No. 17 Modern Rock hit, “From Your Mouth,” from its third album, “Life In The So-Called Space Age.” Within the last year or two, I bought copies of all three God Lives Underwater albums, including their self-titled EP and the “Empty” LP. Since then, I wondered what had happened to God Lives Underwater, which led to some searching on the Web and ultimately to an interview with frontman David Reilly, which took place Saturday from a studio in upstate New York. We talked about the life of Reilly – pun intended – from his brand new solo EP, “Inside,” to the long-awaited GLU album “Up Off The Floor” and the treacherous road that the singer has traveled to overcome drug addiction and personal tragedy. Reilly talked about his experiences as we discussed “Inside,” which makes sense when you realize that the songs on the album are all about his life up to this point. “I put out the EP now just to make some people aware that I was still making music,” said Reilly, who wrote, produced and performed the tracks himself for the most part. “It was basically some demos – a couple that were sort of older and some newer stuff that I’ve come up with over the last few months. I think it’s kind of representative of where I’m going. It was just kind of for the fans, you know. “I guess the difference between what I do on my own and what I did with God Lives Underwater is that God Lives Underwater was a heavier rock band,” he added. About a girl The “Inside” EP opens with the song “Keep Dreaming,” which was the first song Reilly recorded after having not picked up an instrument for two or three years. He wrote the song on an acoustic guitar with minimal drum and keyboard programming – reminiscent of “Violator” era Depeche Mode. “I was inspired to write that because there was a girl that lied to me about being with somebody else,” he said. “I’ve had kind of a dramatic life, so I have yet to really run out of material. I have years and years of things to write about. I haven’t yet needed to write from a different viewpoint because I have such a full life of drama that I feel writing from my point of view is refreshing enough (that) so far the fans can relate to just about everything I say.” A good portion of the drama Reilly refers to stems from his 15 years of drug and alcohol addiction, which included a decade on heroin. Reilly, who has been clean and sober for 11 months, was once convinced that he needed heroin to write songs. His problems with substances would cause “the demise of everything,” including God Lives Underwater and, until recently, his music career. “I’ve been dead before,” Reilly said. “I’ve had to be resuscitated a few times. “(Since then), I quit everything and kind of buried myself back in the music,” said Reilly, who also endured the deaths of a good friend and his fiancee. “There’s kind of vague references to the way life is without being on drugs, which, to me, experiencing life and relationships and anything in general without being high is pretty insane at this point. So I kind of need to write about it.” Is it hard to deal with everyday life without drugs? “It is,” Reilly said. “It’s still not a full year yet that I’ve been clean. It’s strange. I went through a lot of major changes. Before I got clean, I weighed like 120 pounds. And then I got clean and I did everything. I’ve turned myself in to jail to clear up any offenses that I did (for possession and purchase). I paid off bad checks. I started cleaning everything up that I’d messed up over those years. “I gained a bunch of weight; I was like 200 pounds,” he added. “Then I got sort of being active and healthy and now I’m at a normal weight. There were some dramatic changes that came with being clean – different friends, different places, caring about things. It’s a trip being clean entirely because it’s so foreign to me. I didn’t really have a childhood that wasn’t involved in that. It stole my youth from me pretty much. I’m 33 now, but I feel 17.” One for the fans The song “1 Ft. In The Grave” was the second song Reilly wrote following his years off from making music. He started out by experimenting with sounds and guitar chords in the studio before working them into a song and laying down the vocals. Though he still isn’t totally happy about the song, he put it on “Inside” because lots of fans responded well to it when he made it available for download. “For once, I’m not being selfish about my music,” Reilly said. “If there are people that are gonna enjoy something, I’m gonna put it out.” So what inspired the song? “There’s sort of two subject matters in it,” Reilly said. “Some of the lyrics are about being clean and some of the lyrics are also about (how) I was dating somebody who was a lot younger than me, who was 21. I was tired of listening to people complaining about it, so I mentioned some things.” Extreme dream Reilly’s 21-year-old art school student girlfriend, Chrissy, also inspired the song “Stay,” which was based on a dream Reilly had where he was really old and she was his nurse. “In the dream, I was sort of the way older people get when their family visits them – they never want them to leave,” he said. “That was the basis for that. It is simultaneously about being with someone who is younger and wanting her to stay, no matter what the obstacles were.” The relationship has had its share of drama, some of which was caused by online rumors. In fact, Reilly isn’t sure whether it will work considering that he’s on the road often, touring and producing songs for other artists. “I’d like us to stay together because it’s a great relationship,” he said. “But being a musician and a producer and having a little bit of minor celebrity stature can be trying for somebody – especially somebody that young.” Thanks for the advice Reilly took a moment to think about how to describe the song “Spinning” because “there are some things in a recovering addict’s life that are supposed to remain anonymous.” “People that have been through what I’ve been through have advised me to not be in any kind of a relationship until I have been clean for a longer period of time,” he said. “When I got into this relationship with this girl that I’ve been with, everybody told me that was like a warning sign that I’m trying to fill the void that was left by substances with a relationship that was dramatic and intense from the start. “A lot of people were worried that it would cause my demise,” he added. “But I’ve been able to handle pretty many things since I got clean. It hasn’t affected my sobriety at all.” Old school flavor For diehard fans of Reilly and God Lives Underwater, the last two songs on the “Inside” EP may sound familiar. That’s because “Blaming The Truth” and “Far From Home” originally appeared on “The Seven EP” by Reilly’s side project, Fluzee, in 2002. The album was dedicated to Reilly’s late fiancee, Seven, who was struck and killed by a passenger train on Nov. 30, 2000. It featured seven songs and was pressed in a limited edition of 777 copies. Reilly produced “Far From Home” using a minimal amount of equipment. The song relates to Seven’s death. “I had some ups and downs with accepting that,” Reilly said. “I would wish that she could be here to see how it’s possible to move on from the drugs and alcohol. But she was far from home – you know, dead.” Meanwhile, “Blaming The Truth” was co-produced by God Lives Underwater band mate Jeff Turzo. It was recorded at the GLU studio, which is reflected in the song’s sound. It also is about Seven’s death. “It has things in it about when I lived in Hollywood,” Reilly said. “It has things in it about when I lived down in the neighborhood too (in Philadelphia). It’s about trials and tribulations. It mentions her in it – saying that she was the love of my life, but like everything else I touch she’s gone now. It’s pretty serious subject matter on the things that have happened since ‘Life In The So-Called Space Age.’ That kind of started the real collapse of my network of people.” God Lives Underwater 2004 “Up Off The Floor,” the long-awaited new album by God Lives Underwater, is due out later this year or early next year on Megaforce/Locomotive. It has songs about getting clean and others about giving up. The album was recorded between 1998 and 2001. Its release was pushed back multiple times as it changed hands from A&M to Interscope to a dot.com company and then to Megaforce and Locomotive. Reilly and Turzo could possibly tour if the album sells well enough. It would be difficult, though, since both musicians are busy with solo careers. Turzo’s current band is called Wired All Wrong. Meanwhile, Reilly is finalizing negotiations on a record deal and hopes to begin tracking his full-length solo debut in August. “What makes me really happy right now is that I’ve sort of rebuilt my relationships with Jeff and our manager, Gary,” said Reilly, who lives in the Philadelphia area. “I’ve got a new manager named Tom – I actually call him ‘The Rooster’ – and he’s a big influence on me being productive. He believes in me and what I do a lot. “And then the girl I’ve been (seeing), I guess you could say it’s been a tumultuous relationship that I’ve had with this girl Chrissy,” he added. “That’s helped me a lot too because it was one of those things. After I got clean, I got a driver’s license, I got a car, I wasn’t in trouble with the law anymore and then I ended up in love with this girl. The rewards of being clean paid off tenfold. Being clean, making music, having a girlfriend – it made it so I couldn’t imagine going back to that other life.” -------------------------------- To order the “Inside” EP, visit www.corporatepunishment.com . For more information on David Reilly and God Lives Underwater, visit www.davidreillymusic.com and www.enjoyglu.com .

David Reilly of God Lives Underwater

Hey David, thanks for taking the time,and thanks for being persistant enough to ensure the release of this masterpiece of an album "Up Off The Floor." As a die hard and long time fan (since 1996) it's an honor to talk to you! Here goes nothing: So Up Off The Floor has been sitting on a shelf for over 3 years? Whats that like...how do you keep being motivated knowing this wonderful piece of art is just in limbo? Well, now that its not in limbo I'm happy about the release. But if anything, while it was tied up in legal turmoil, my addiction got to the homeless point. Plus, Jeff Turzo (other half of GLU) got married, and we both also began solo projects. What exactly happened with 1500 and the whole fiasco? I never read a straight story? Well, 1500 was my manger's label thru A & M Record, then there was a merger and we got put on Interscope, and then we amicably left due to differences. After that it bounced around a little, acutally a lot, in bankruptcy due to the internet bubble bursting via a company called Riffage (once a big internet conglomerate) who did a deal with 1500 Records, then Riffage went under... but, now it's finally coming out. If this album is successful, is there any chance of God Lives resuming? We are just on hiatus. It's possible, but we agreed we will only go back out touring if we can get the support to put on a really involving show. As for Jeff and I making another GLU record, that is also depending on this release. Jeff and I are going to be working on my solo record at some point anyway. What have you been doing for the last 3 years or so? I know you recorded the solo ep (which is amazing) but what has has occupied your time? This last year i occupied my time my getting clean, and maintaining it, and making music again. The other years were just awful. I went to jail, I bounced from facillity to facillity, and eventually just stopped making music altogether. Are you sicked by the industry? Or do you still feel music will always be your life? Music will always be my life. If it's gonna support me, who knows. I have to make music. It's like breatthing or eating to me God Lives Underwater really was a sorta cult hit. Today on many message boards and such you guys are widely renowned and respected, How does that make you feel and do you get that vibe? It makes me feel great that now some people are strting to give us respect for basically starting a sound and movement that became way bigger than we could have imagined. Like, Linkin Park. Nuff said. I love some of their stuff, and I am glad there's people doin it. So whats next? A tour? More recording? Will you be promoting the album? Gimme an idea of what your gonna be doing in the next 6-12 months? I will be doing remixes, producing, putting out a full length solo record, and touring. What ever happened to the Fluzee project? I loved that Ep, but after it's release it all just sorta died.the band died.i was a wreck, and eventually the whole band had serious problems.those songs, well a few, will be on my solo record. Who in music today do you really respect? Are there some artist or bands that you really love and have ad! miration for? I love My Chemical Romance. I think that they are going to be the first "stars" of their movement. I like Snow Patrol, Polyphonic Spree, too much to mention What records are you currently spinning? See the above answer. Who are some unknown artists that we need to look into ? David Reilly, Everything Ends-- those are the only two unknown artists i can think of. Do you think you missed on on something with the album being delayed so long? Maybe you missed a boat or it caused everything to change forever? Yes, I think GLU would have continued to gain fans, and maybe would have become a more successful alt-rock band quicker. Do you care how sucessful the album is or is this more for personal gradification? Like are album sales and rave reviews important to you? I dont care if people like it or dont like it, but i love that vindicated feeling i get when someone says, "i hate to admit it, but i love this record." Most people seem to be saying they like it, though. What will be the sucess meter for thi! s do you think? Too early to tell Are there any artists that you would like to work with in the future? See above mentioned. Tell me what the best 5 movies of all time are? Big Fish, Rushmore, Groundhog Day, Goodfellas, every M.Night Shyamalan movie. Well I certainly hope this album sells a million copies and spurs on many more God Lives Albums. You guys are one of my favorite bands of all time and I am so thrilled this is finally happening. Please give me some last words of hope! Last words of hope: Don't let life ruin your life. I will keep making records for 1 fan or a million in hopes of telling them how life ruins me.
Original Date: 07-01-2005 Original URL: http://www.decoymusic.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1054

GLU Founding Member David Reilly Dead at 34

Monday October 17, 2005 GOD LIVES UNDERWATER founding member David Reilly passed away on Sunday, October 16 due to complications from longstanding stomach problems. He was 34 years old. Thom Hazaert of Corporate Punishment Records — the label which released Reilly's solo EP, "Inside", in 2004 — has issued the following statement regarding Reilly's death: "I just received the devastating news that my brother and friend, and the first artist signed to Corporate Punishment, David Reilly (who was also the singer and one half of one of the greatest and most underrated bands to ever exist, GOD LIVES UNDERWATER), passed away [Sunday] morning due to complications from longstanding stomach problems. David had his demons just like everyone, and he lived his life the best he could. Yeah, he fucked up, and when he fucked up it was usually big. But I am honored and humbled to have had the chance to work with someone like him, an amazing artist and visionary, who in my eyes will always be one of the most talented people to ever walk the Earth. "We had the amazing pleasure of releasing David's first and only official solo recording, 'Inside', last year, and he had recently signed a deal with Sony to release a new solo record. Unfortunately this will never happen, which might be one of the biggest travesties of all. And although he will remain forever in our hearts, David will be sorely missed by everyone at Corporate Punishment Records." Original Date: 2005-10-17 Original URL: http://www.roadrun.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=42970

David Reilly Press Release.

Monday October 17, 2005 Oct 17th, 2005 For Immediate Release GOD LIVES UNDERWATER VOCALIST DAVID REILLY PASSES AWAY IN PA HOSPITAL. Corporate Punishment is very sad to announce the passing of our good friend, God Lives Under vocalist David Reilly. Complications from an untreated infection are the reported cause of death for Reilly, who was pronounced dead around 5:15 AM on Sunday Oct 16th . God Lives Underwater was established in 1995 and was quickly signed to Rick Rubin’s American Recordings. The group had the radio hit, “From Your Mouth” from their 1998 Interscope/1500 Release, Life In The So-Called Space Age, which was heralded as a cross between Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails. Corporate Punishment Records released David's first and only solo recording, the EP Inside in 2004. Recently, David signed with Ruff Nation/Universal who were slated to release his debut full length, How Humans Rx, in early 2006. (Some of these recordings can be found on his myspace site at www.myspace.com/cprdavidreilly) Unfortunately this will never happen, which might be one of the biggest travesties of all. Corporate Punishment resident, Thom Hazaert, (affectionately dubbed “the Rooster” by Reilly) also spent a big chunk of the past few years serving as Reilly’s manager, most recently serving as a management and creative consultant. “I am honored and humbled to have had the chance to work with someone like him, an amazing artist and visionary, who in my eyes will always be one of the most talented people to ever walk the Earth,” says Hazaert. “David will remain forever in our hearts and will be sorely missed by everyone at CPR.” Reilly had spent much time in recent years speaking out about his longtime bout with substance abuse. He was 34. Original Date: 2005-10-17 Original URL: http://www.corporatepunishment.com/news/article/99

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