Deadbird

Deadbird came together in 2002 when Fayetteville, Arkansas brothers Chuck Schaaf, handling vocals and guitars, and Philip Schaaf, behind the drums, launched the group as an exploratory doom and sludge outfit. Their sound also incorporates strands of hardcore, death metal, and progressive metal, a breadth already audible on the 2005 debut album The Head and the Heart. That record included guitarist and vocalist Alan Short along with bassist Todd Bohannon, both of whom departed while the band was tracking its second album in late 2006. The exits forced the Schaaf brothers to spend more than a year locating new members, ultimately settling on guitarist Jay Minish and bassist/vocalist Reid Raley. Raley also serves as a permanent member of Rwake, the Arkansas chicken-fried prog-sludge leaders whose ranks briefly included Chuck Schaaf himself back in 2002; the shared connection has prompted frequent and largely accurate comparisons between the two acts, yet Deadbird’s own compositional strengths stand fully on their own.