Gravity Kills: Америкалық индастриал рок тобының тарихы

American industrial rock band
the album by this group

Gravity Kills is an American industrial rock band from St. Louis, Missouri. Formed in 1994, they had their first hit single with "Guilty", a track later released on their 1996 self titled debut album. The band released two additional albums of new material, Perversion in 1998 and Superstarved in 2002, as well as a remix album in 1997. Their singles "Falling" (from Perversion) and "One Thing" (from Superstarved) both achieved minor radio success. Their music was described by one critic as "a blending of eerie industrial rock with a pop infused melodic chorus and a bit of hard core head banging." Due to the lack of tour support from their record label, they were unable to complete a tour for Superstarved and broke up in 2003. From 2005 to 2012, Gravity Kills reunited for occasional one off festivals and shows. The band reunited in 2023 as they reissued their self titled debut album and announced a singular show in St. Louis that same year. Gravity Kills' songs have been featured on soundtracks for a variety of media, such as Mortal Kombat, Se7en, Escape From L. A., and Kissing a Fool, in addition to video games such as the Test Drive franchise. They have toured with such bands as Sex Pistols, Sevendust, Local H, Flaw, Sister Machine Gun, and Pigface.

As the band was forming in 1994, keyboardist Doug Firley was reading an article where he misread what he thought said "like the Gravity Kills." He went back through the article and could not find what he thought he had read. Firley told drummer Kurt Kerns and guitarist Matt Dudenhoeffer about it and thought that Gravity Kills would be a great name for the band. Kerns and Dudenhoeffer really made sense of the name when comparing what they were doing with music (deconstructing samples and noise) to an architect they were both into named Lebbeus Woods and his theories regarding deconstruction and ultimately reconstruction. In response to a contest from St. Louis area radio station KPNT for a compilation CD of local artists, the trio brought in vocalist Jeff Scheel (Kerns' cousin) to record and mix a track in one week during the summer of 1994. The resulting song, "Guilty", was given heavy airplay and quickly became the most requested song at the station. Although nearly an entire year had passed since "Guilty" was first released, Gravity Kills finally played their first live show in November 1995 at a soldout venue in St. Louis. Later that month, the band officially signed a record deal with TVT Records. Gravity Kills toured in the summer of 1996 with the Sex Pistols and embarked on a solo tour that fall. With the success of the first album, the band quickly established itself on the rock scene as one of the most promising young bands in the industrial music scene. On April 19, 1998, Scheel suffered a whiplash when he got overexcited during a warm up gig at the University Wellness & Activities in San Antonio, Texas. He had not performed live with the band since a previous live concert at the Q101 Festival in Chicago, IL on October 16, 1997. The injury happened at a club in what was supposed to be a low key gig that attracted 6,000 fans, according to the band's label, TVT Records. The injury, which put Scheel out of commission for a few weeks, came less than a week before Junkie XL leader Tom Holkenborg injured his back in an onstage accident; ironically, Junkie XL and Gravity Kills were scheduled to join British band Pitchshifter on a U. S. tour on June 3. The band released their second studio album in June 1998, titled Perversion. The album was less successful than their self titled debut but still sold well, peaking at No. 107 on the Billboard 200 chart. The single "Falling" peaked at No. 35 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, and was featured in the 1998 racing video game Test Drive 5 along with Pitchshifter, Fear Factory, Junkie XL, and KMFDM. "Alive" and "Drown" also appeared in another game from the same franchise in 1998, Test Drive Off Road 2. On July 1, 1998, at the Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Scheel got the whole crowd chanting "Fuck you!" while the show was being broadcast live on a mainstream rock local radio station, Lazer 103 FM. This was a familiar phrase to the July 2, 1997, Summerfest. The station's DJ tried to get the crowd to stop, but he was having mic problems and the crowd ignored him. In August 1999, drummer Kerns had left the band, reasons for leaving as a chance for him to spend time with his family and to return to practicing architecture. He was initially replaced by Greg Miller (who played with another St. Louis band, Radio Iodine). After a handful of shows in 2000, Brad Booker (former drummer for the band Stir) joined on drums.

On October 28, 2005, Gravity Kills reunited to perform for a self created Halloween music festival in St. Louis, Missouri entitled The Killoween Freakshow. It was initially to be an annual event, as another Killoween occurred on October 28, 2006, at Pop's Nightclub and Bar. Due to a scheduling conflict, Killoween was instead The Nightmare Before Thanksgiving on November 21, 2007. Gravity Kills confirmed rumors that had persisted over the past year on October 20, 2009, and the band announced that they were working on new music. The band performed in Tulsa at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on May 7, 2010, and at Roberts Orpheum Theater in St. Louis, MO on June 25, 2010, as part of a benefit show. The band was working on a follow up album, as they maintained an online diary regarding their progress. They revealed a working title for one of the songs, "Again".

On December 13, 2018, Gravity Kills noted on their official Facebook page that the last time the band had performed together was on November 23, 2012, at The Pageant in St. Louis, Missouri. The band was considered to be in hiatus, but in November 2022 they previewed a vinyl reissue of their self titled debut album. The post displayed the tentative vinyl packaging and no release date was given at that point. The vinyl pressing of Gravity Kills was eventually given the release date of May 19, 2023; however, no other plans for the band was made public. Eventually, the band announced a reunion show in St. Louis for November 11, 2023; thus, it became their first live show in 11 years.

1996 Gravity Kills Heatseekers No. 1
1996 Gravity Kills The Billboard 200 No. 89
1998 Perversion The Billboard 200 No. 107
2002 Superstarved CMJ Retail Chart No. 62

YearSongModern RockMainstream RockThe Billboard 100UK chartsAlbum 1996 "Guilty" 24 39 86 77 Gravity Kills "Enough" 98 "Down" "Blame (L. A. Remix)" Escape From L. A. (soundtrack) 1998 "Alive" Perversion "Falling" 35 2002 "One Thing" 24 Superstarved "Love, Sex, and Money" 2003 "Personal Jesus" "—" denotes a release that did not chart.

Year Title Director(s) 1995 "Guilty" Rocky Morton 1996 "Blame (L. A. Remix)" Peter Christopherson "Enough" Rocky Morton & Annabel Jankel 1997 "Down" 2002 "Love, Sex, and Money" Marc Romero

Year Song Title 1995 "Guilty" Se7en film 1995 "Goodbye (Demo Version)" Mortal Kombat film / soundtrack 1996 "Blame (L. A. Remix)" Escape from L. A. film 1997 "Enough (Extrinsic Remix)" Hoax IV Brass Monkeys film 1997 "Blame" Test Drive: Off Road video game 1997 "Enough" Test Drive: Off Road 1997 "Guilty" Test Drive: Off Road 1997 "Enough" Airbag film 1997 "Suffocating" Feat. Moby outtake of Spawn film soundtrack 1998 "Last" Kissing a Fool film 1998 "Guilty (Juno Reactor Remix)" NHL '99 video game 1998 "Falling" Test Drive 5 video game 1998 "Alive" Test Drive: Off Road 2 video game 1998 "Drown" Test Drive Off Road 2 1999 "Guilty (Juno Reactor Remix)" Beowulf film 2000 "Guilty" Vampire: Redemption video game 2000 "If" MTV Sports: Pure Ride video game 2002 "Guilty" Evil on Queen Street film written and directed by Matt Spease 2012 "Guilty" True Blood TV series season 5 promo 2019 "Enough" Treadstone TV series episode "The Berlin Proposal" closing credits