Satanicide

In the late 1990s, Dale May (a photographer) and Phil Costello[7][8] were in a group called Peanut 23.[1] Peanut 23's quirky original songs were far from successful.[1] One night, both Dale and Phil put on their girlfriends' wigs and spent the evening "acting like a couple of kids in from Jersey, kicking over trash cans, talking the talk."[1] After a positive reception that night to an uninvited, impromptu performance on a club's stage, Dale and Phil decided to form their own band.[1] Drummer Andrew Griffiths was recruited from a trip hop band called Puracane, and bassist Pemberton Roach was added to complete Satanicide.[1]

In August 1999, Satanicide played the Maxwell's music club in Hoboken, New Jersey.[9] Previously used to getting perhaps 30 people to come out for a Peanut 23 show, Satanicide brought in hundreds.[1] In January 2003, Satanicide played a gig at the Sundance Film Festival in support of a short film made by the band.[1]

By March 2003, Satanicide were a popular act on the New York music scene.[10] Their humorous stage shows were viewed as creating a certain mood which allowed for improvised audience embellishment.[10] The William Morris Agency agreed to represent Satanicide and worked with the band to produce a film treatment for a television series.[1] However, Dale and Phil's songwriting chemistry did not translate into scriptwriting chemistry and the treatment was tabled.[1]

Four years after they formed, Satanicide sought to replace bassist Pemberton Roach in August 2003 because Pemberton "secretly liked Billy Joel."[1][11] In advertising for the bassist position, Satanicide listed the required qualifications as musical "chops"; "hott[sic girlfriend to share with band"; "disposable income to buy coke, booze and whores"; and "when hearing the Dave Matthews Band, must be overcome by impulsive desire to kill."[11] Darediablo's Jake Garcia took over as the Baron's younger brother Vargas Von Goaten in 2003. The current bassist is Sebastian Von Goaten.[6]

In September 2004, the website heatherband.com was created.[12] In December 2004, Satanicide announced that they had changed their name to Heather, listing heatherband.com as their website.[13] In addition, the group became "the group formerly known as Satanicide", jettisoning the big-hair wigs and at least some of the shtick.[13] In July 2005, Satanicide announced that they were getting together for a reunion performance at the Bowery Ballroom, a music venue in the Bowery section of New York City.[14] Some question whether they in fact broke up in the first place.[14]

By May 2005, Satanicide had appeared in a Cingular commercial and were headlining at the Bowery Ballroom.[7] In April 2007, the Chinese gangsta rap trio Notorious MSG released their Lunch Money EP, with Satanicide's vocalist Dale "Devlin Mayhem" May providing the chorus vocals to the Warlord song.[15]

In 2007, Phil co-founded Tragedy: All Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees and Beyond, with New York City musician Royce Peterson.[16]

In 2008, Patrick Quade became Satanicide's bassist, assuming the stage name "The Baron Klaus von Goaten IV."[17]

From 2012 - 2014, Tragedy's Royce Peterson joined Satanicide on lead guitar, under the stage name "Rolls Royce Peterson." [18]

In the Satanicide act, the band members hurl themselves into the crowd to scatter their fans as a way of mocking the rocker practice of stage diving/crowd surfing.[1] They wear Barbie wigs to give them the big hair appearance of a glam metal rocker.[1] In addition to this New York-based band claiming that they are from "Jer-Z," they spout elaborate lies related to casual sex conquests and call to mind This Is Spinal Tap, the 1984 mockumentary directed by Rob Reiner about a fictional renowned metal band.[1] The Satanicide members typically wear sleeveless T-shirts and circulation-inhibiting leather pants while they mimic many styles of metal.[1] Their act calls to mind a mixture of Probot, Tenacious D, The Darkness, The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, The Upper Crust, and This Is Spinal Tap.[1]

• Dale May – lead singer[19]
• Phil Costello – guitarist[19]
• Andrew Griffiths – drummer[19]
• Patrick Quade – bassist

• Heather - 2003[20] The title track of Satanicide's debut album, Heather, is a Bic-lighter ballad about a girl whose name "everybody knows . . . from reading the bathroom stalls."[1][21] Also on the album is a Dungeons and Dragons game tribute called "20 Sided Die" that summons the spirit of Ronnie James Dio, as well as a Bon Jovi-like ode to the big city called "NYC 2 Nite."[1]
• Cradle the Balls - 1997[20]

• The Darkness

• The official Satanicide website.