Starkweather is a metal

Metal

A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...

 band from Philadelphia, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 that formed in 1989. Starkweather helped pioneer the hardcore/heavy metal crossover sound that would later be known as "metalcore". They have influenced many of today's top selling hardcore/metal bands.

The name Starkweather is taken from Charles Starkweather

Charles Starkweather

Charles Raymond Starkweather was an American teenaged spree killer who murdered eleven people in Nebraska and Wyoming during a two-month road trip with his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate. The couple was captured on January 29, 1958...

, a late 1950s spree killer.

Biography

After recording a demo at Why Me? Recording (Turning Point, Edgewise, Brody), the band was quickly signed to Harvcore Records and released the Crossbearer LP in 1992. Starkweather made an impression with a succession of 7" single releases. These were followed by their first EP, Starkweather, for Inner Rage Records (1993); the Crossbearer re-issue, for Too Damn Hype (1994); their second full-length effort, Into the Wire, on Edison Recordings (1995); and the 1996 Bitter Frost / Bee Stings and Posion Eggs split with Season to Risk

Season to Risk

Season to Risk are a Noise Rock/Alternative Rock collective hailing from Kansas City, Missouri.-History:Season to Risk formed in late 1989 from the ashes of the Kansas City punk bands Nine Lives and Curious George...

 through Supermodel Records.

Starkweather released their third album, Croatoan, in late 2005. It was produced by Pierre Remillard, and was released only on vinyl through Hypertension Records. In that year, the band went on their first international European tour, visiting the Netherlands, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. 2006 saw the CD release of Croatoan on Candlelight Records

Candlelight Records

Candlelight Records is an independent record label based in Europe founded by former Extreme Noise Terror bassist Lee Barrett, though it has had a division in the United States since January 2001. Candlelight Records specialises in black metal and death metal, having bands such as Emperor,...

. Croatoan features guest performances from bass player Liam Wilson

Liam Wilson

Liam Wilson is the bass player of the band The Dillinger Escape Plan and former bass player of the band Starkweather. Before playing in the Dillinger Escape Plan, Liam played bass for other Philadelphia-based metal bands, such as For Life and Burnside.-Personal life:A vegan who is concerned about...

 (The Dillinger Escape Plan

The Dillinger Escape Plan

The Dillinger Escape Plan is an American mathcore band from Morris Plains, New Jersey. The group originated in 1997 after the disbanding of Arcane, a hardcore punk trio consisting of Ben Weinman, Dimitri Minakakis, and Chris Pennie. The band's current line-up consists of guitarist Ben Weinman,...

 and Burnside

Burnside

- Places :Australia* City of Burnside, a Local Government Area of Adelaide, South Australia* Burnside, South Australia, a suburb of the City of Burnside* Burnside, Victoria, a suburb of MelbourneCanada* Burnside Business Park, in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia...

) and Jim Winters (Believer, Earth Crisis

Earth Crisis

Earth Crisis is an American metalcore band from Syracuse, New York, active from 1989 until 2001, reuniting in 2007. Their most recent record, To the Death, was released in May 2009 through Century Media....

, Turmoil, and The Promise) and the cover art was done by artist Paul Romano, who also worked with Mastodon

Mastodon (band)

Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1999. The band is composed of bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor...

, The Red Chord

The Red Chord

The Red Chord is an American grindcore band from Revere, Massachusetts, formed in 1999. The band is made up of vocalist Guy Kozowyk, guitarist Mike "Gunface" McKenzie, and bassist Greg Weeks. The band gained a fanbase with its 2002 debut album Fused Together in Revolving Doors. The second album,...

, Trivium

Trivium (band)

Trivium is an American heavy metal band from Orlando, Florida, formed in 1999. Signed to Roadrunner Records, the band has released five studio albums, eleven singles, and twelve music videos...

, Earth

Earth (band)

Earth is an American musical group based in Seattle, Washington, formed in 1989 and led by guitarist Dylan Carlson.Earth's music is nearly all instrumental, and can be divided into two distinct stages...

, and Godflesh

Godflesh

Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham, England. Originally known as Fall of Because, they formed in 1988 by Justin K. Broadrick and G.C. Green and disbanded in 2002. Godflesh's innovative music is widely regarded as a foundational influence on industrial metal and post-metal...

.

Style and influences

Starkweather songs don't follow traditional verse-chorus-verse structure. Songs tend to have "narrative or cinematic flow", the compositions tend to emphasize an ongoing development of themes and motifs. Alex Henderson of Allmusic  has described their music as "dissonant, jagged, angular, and discordant as well as abrasive, noisy, violent, claustrophobic, and dense" and an "extreme sensory assault".
Singer Rennie Resmini is influenced by the vocalists of Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....

, Diamanda Galas

Diamanda Galás

Diamanda Galás is an American avant-garde composer, vocalist, pianist, organist, performance artist and painter.Galás has been described as "capable of the most unnerving vocal terror", with her three and a half octave vocal range. She often screams, hisses and growls...

, Bjork

Björk

Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...

, Swans

Swans (band)

Swans are an influential American post-punk band initially active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York No Wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in...

, The Birthday Party

The Birthday Party (band)

The Birthday Party were an Australian rock band, active from 1973 to 1983.Despite being championed by John Peel, The Birthday Party found little commercial success during their career...

 (Nick Cave

Nick Cave

Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...

), Amebix

Amebix

Amebix are an English crust punk/heavy metal band. Formed as "The Band with No Name," Amebix's original run was from 1978 to 1987, during which time they released three EPs and two full-length LPs...

, Killing Joke

Killing Joke

Killing Joke are an English post-punk band formed in October 1978 in Notting Hill, London, England; other sources report the band formed in early 1979.Related news articles: Founding members Jaz Coleman and Geordie Walker have been the only constant members.A key influence on industrial rock,...

, and others. The primary musical influences on the band are Voivod

Voivod (band)

Voivod are a Canadian heavy metal band from Jonquière, Quebec, Canada. Their musical style has changed several times since the band's origin in the early 1980s...

, Celtic Frost

Celtic Frost

Celtic Frost was a metal band from Zürich, Switzerland. They are known for their heavy influence on the extreme metal genres. The group was first active from 1984 to 1993, and re-formed in 2001. Following Tom Gabriel Fischer's departure in 2008, Celtic Frost decided to break up again...

, Gorguts

Gorguts

Gorguts is a technical death metal band from Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The band's only constant member is Luc Lemay.-History:Gorguts were formed in 1989 by Luc Lemay , Sylvain Marcoux , Éric Giguère and Stephane Provencher...

, Articles of Faith

Articles of Faith

Articles of faith are sets of beliefs usually found in creeds, sometimes numbered, and often beginning with "We believe...", which attempt to more or less define the fundamental theology of a given religion, and especially in the Christian Church....

, Watchtower

Watchtower (band)

WatchTower is an American progressive metal band based in Austin, Texas. The band were influenced by late 1970s progressive rock and acts such as Rush and UK as well as the burgeoning New Wave of British Heavy Metal...

, Atheist

Atheist (band)

Atheist is a technical death metal band from Florida, founded in 1984, whose music combines metal riffs with subtle Latin music arrangements and jazz fusion.- History :...

, Dream Theater

Dream Theater

Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...

, Confessor

Confessor (band)

Confessor is a doom metal band from North Carolina, USA. By their technically complex interpretation of traditional doom style, they are also well-known name within progressive metal circles...

, Fates Warning

Fates Warning

Fates Warning is an American progressive metal band, formed in 1982 by vocalist John Arch, guitarists Jim Matheos and Victor Arduini, bassist Joe DiBiase, and drummer Steve Zimmerman in Hartford, Connecticut. Fates Warning has experienced numerous line-up changes...

 and Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...

.

Starkweather is often credited as an early pioneer of modern metalcore

Metalcore

Metalcore is a subgenre of heavy metal combining various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. The name is a portmanteau of the names of the two genres. The term took on its current meaning in the mid-1990s, describing bands such as Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity...

. In an interview with Noisecreep

Noisecreep

Noisecreep is a hard rock and heavy metal music news and media website based in the United States. The site was created by AOL Music in March 2009....

, guitarist Todd Forkin commented that although he was "flattered" to have been considered influence, he likened pioneering metalcore to spreading cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

. Forkin stated, "I've heard the tag on a number of occasions that we, along with a handful of other bands, are responsible for metalcore, but to me that's like being told you're responsible for spreading cancer. You just pray that it's not true." Forkin continued in the interview that while he understands that being an influence means taking "the spirit" of Starkweather and performing it "through their own sensibilities", he doesn't hear "a direct take on what we've done" in modern metalcore bands. In a review for Starkweather's This Sheltering Night

This Sheltering Night

This Sheltering Night is a studio album released by American rock band Starkweather. The album was released on May 25, 2010 through Deathwish Inc.....

, Cosmo Lee of Decibel wrote, "If one had to assign a context for Starkweather, it would be the late '80s/early '90s, where bands like Only Living Witness

Only Living Witness

Only Living Witness was an American metal / hardcore band.-Career:The band was formed in 1989 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Jonah Jenkins and Eric Stevenson . Eric's brother Kevin Stevenson and former Formicide bandmate Roy Costa completed the line-up. In 1991, Kevin Stevenson and Costa were...

 and Prong were smashing together metal and hardcore—but not quite making 'metalcore.' 'Metalcore' now implies the worst of both worlds. We're talking about the best of both worlds."

Current members

• Rennie Resmini - vocals
• Todd Forkin - guitar
• Harry Rosa - drums
• Vincent Rosa - bass guitar
• Bill Molchanow - guitar

Former Members

• Michelle Eddison - bass guitar (1990–1999)
• Sean Roberts - guitar
• Jim Winters - guitar
• Dan McGuinnis - guitar (1990)
• Liam Wilson - bass guitar
• Leonard Emerick - drums

Discography

• Crossbearer (LP) (1992) Harvcore Records
• Starkweather (7" EP) (1993) Inner Rage Records, France
• Philly Dust Krew compilation cd (1993) Too Damn Hype Records
• Crossbearer (studio album, 1994) re-issue of vinyl with bonus tracks on Too Damn Hype Records
• A Food Not Bombs Benefit compilation LP (1994) Inchworm Records
• Into The Wire (studio album, 1995) Edison Records
• Bitter Frost/Bee Stings and Posion Eggs (split with Season to Risk
  Season to Risk
  Season to Risk are a Noise Rock/Alternative Rock collective hailing from Kansas City, Missouri.-History:Season to Risk formed in late 1989 from the ashes of the Kansas City punk bands Nine Lives and Curious George...
  
  , 1996)
• Definitely Not the Majors compilation CD (1997) Bush League
• Croatoan (studio, 2005) vinyl by Hypertension CD released by Candlelight Records in 2006
• This Sheltering Night
  This Sheltering Night
  This Sheltering Night is a studio album released by American rock band Starkweather. The album was released on May 25, 2010 through Deathwish Inc.....
  
  (studio, 2010) CD LP released by Deathwish Inc.
• "Split" Starkweather & Overmars LP released by Deathwish Inc.

External links

• MySpace page