Death On Two Wheels

Death On Two Wheels came from a conversation Jay (drummer, vocals, & roomate) and myself, Trae (vocals, rhythm guitar), had while driving one day. At the time, Jay and I knew we were in a band together and that we were roomates, but we had no name at the time and we had hardly even began writing songs yet. Not to mention it was only he and I when the band began. Jay was telling a story and commented, "we may have been (something), but we rolled in there like death on two wheels." I can't recall what the story entailed, but I do know that I chimed in immediately and said, "Hmmm, death on two wheels, I like that, that's our band name!" It is somewhat ironic in nature and from the get go, I knew that is where the band was headed. Our music and the live show are somewhat dark and sinister, but whimsical, yet comes from a group of guys who typically cannot keep from smiling and spreading friendship and good vibe amongst one another and whomever we find ourselves around.

Trae Vedder / Vocals, Rhythm Guitar / 25, Andrew Knox / Organ, Vocals / 23, David Fountain / Bass / 19, Jay Wilson / Drums / 28, The Phantom 5th / Lead Guitar / ?

I've played since around middle school I think, never been as good as I wanted to be, but always leaned more towards songwriting and melody more than my guitar playing ability, but I can hold my own and it gets the job done. Jay toured for several years as a bassist, but this is the first band he's played drums in. The band started with he and I switching between guitar and drums in the practice space just hashing out our ideas and we decided we both liked our natural feel for the rhythm as the tunes came together. David is our little brother of the band. He keeps us all in good spirits amongst one another and is just a good kid to have around. He's played music the least amount of all of us, but grows so much each and every time we get together. He and I have been friends for several years, I dated his sister for a couple of years, we've been friends ever since. Knox has played in bands for years on guitar, drums, and organ. He and I met when he was in The Californias and I was managing them. He's always been a killer dude and when it came time to add organ to the mix, I knew that if he enjoyed the music, the chemistry would be a given.

Our favorite places to play are small and intimate. Somewhere that we can play on a stage, but be really close with the crowd. Our favorite local spot is the Star Bar in Little 5 Points. Small stage, keeps us close to one another, close to the people, we feed off that, and the whole group, band and audience, become one somewhat and everyone has a better experience. Our favorite show and venue thus far was on our first tour back in December. We played the Bottletree in Birmingham, it was a good crowd, the venue treated us great, it has more vintage random folk art awesomeness than I could even begin to list, and it's simply the best we ever played as a unit, everything just kinda fell into place you know.

We practice at our house (Trae/Jay's) in the living room. We use the dining room as the living room and the living room as our practice space. The neighbors don't love us, well, they don't love the noise, but they must love us a little bit deep down, because they've kept at bay as best they can, and given us our space to do what we need to do. We love them for putting up with us. But Jay and I are moving out at the end of this recording session and moving into our parents places. I'm selling my car to get a van and we're heading our on tour at the end of May.

Hmm we haven't played with a whole lot of recognized bands. But we do love the local bands here in Atlanta and we've somewhat created a brotherhood amongst one another, especially with Ponderosa (www.myspace.com/ponderosamusic) and Ski Club (www.myspace.com/skiclubmusic). We'll be on tour in May and June with Ponderosa and that will be good times. We played with both Norma Jean and Janelle Monae in the same week, both amazing bands/artists on complete different ends of the spectrum, we loved playing to their crowds and both were kind to us and have kept in touch since.