Gravity Kills - "Superstarved"     Jeff Scheel - vocals/guitars   Matt Dudenhoeffer - guitars   Doug Firley - bass/keyboards   Brad Booker - drums

 
 
"Superstarved is a play on words- it's what we've been through,” says Gravity Kills front man Jeff Scheel of his band's third full-length release, and first for new label Sanctuary records. "We had achieved some success, and then we were going through the free fall of waiting to sign with a new label. The name seemed appropriate, the star was still burning, but at the time we wrote the record, there wasn't much fire left. We were going through the darkest time of the band."  
 
Out of that darkness emerged Superstarved, Gravity Kills' most blinding musical statement to date- a 13-track blitzkrieg of guitar-charged, industrially driven mayhem. The album purges the band of the ghosts of their past, sending them careening headlong into the future, returning Gravity Kills from a two year absence with an album with an album custom-made to steer hard rock clear of its currently downtrodden path.  
 
The adrenalized kick start of "Love, Sex and Money" opens the album in grand fashion, paving the way for "Take It All Away," where vocalist Scheel, guitarist Matt Dudenhoeffer, keyboardist/bassist Doug Firley and drummer Brad Booker bleed an eerie, industrial ambience into a cathartic blast of metal that bridges good and evil with an emotional headlock and musical rapture. "Wide Awake" offers a different slant, featuring a chorus that borders on pop, but capitalizes on verses that are disturbing, electronic and melodic- the unholy trinity, if you will, of Gravity Kills' sound.'  
 
But if you're looking for the essence of Superstarved, look to lead single "One Thing." "Are you wishing upon a star that's falling?" asks Scheel in the opening line, an autobiographical reference of sorts, considering the past few years in the Gravity Kills camp. "Give me just one thing, something to cling to, something to pray to..." "That's the Superstarved statement that we've all made in our lives," says Scheel. "For us, that's where we were before signing with sanctuary. We were waiting for that one bit of good news, that one omen or sign, something tangible to get us through it all."  
 
Discovered by a St. Louis radio station when they submitted the song "Guilty" for an unsigned bands compilation in early 1995, Gravity Kills soon became a household name throughout America- their hard rock sensibilities sparking excitement in fans of heavy music, and their electronically-driven pulse making waves in the realm of industrial rock. "Guilty" went on to become one of the biggest radio hits of the year, setting the course for their sophomore release, Perversion.  
 
"Stylistically, we're combing things from the first two records on Superstarved. It's like we're going through psychotherapy/' continues the front man. "I think the first record was very simple, and while we weren't writing symphonies on the second record, the arrangements had changed and the songs were a lot heavier...maybe even too heavy for our own good. This record is a little bit of both; we've learned how to make great arrangements while cutting off the fat at the same time. People have been asking me if the songs are more like the first record or the second record...they've got the hooks of the first record, the more advanced arrangements of the second record, and yet there's a simplicity to this record that came from the experiences of both."  
 
Produced by industrial mastermind Martin Atkins (Ministry, Pigface, Murder Inc., etc.), Superstarved is a mission statement for Gravity Kills, Adeptly blurring the lines between the three key elements of their music: Rock, industrial, and pop. "I think we're that missing link...it's not that I don't want to be considered a heavy band, because we can get heavy with the best of them, but we're in that no- man's land between really heavy bands, electronic music and the pop side. We didn't reinvent the wheel with those sounds, but what we do with them is unique, especially with Superstaved."  
 
 
Buy CD  
 
Visit www.gravitykills.com  
 
 
Back to New Rock