Drop Dead, Gorgeous

Differentiating themselves from the 1999 beauty pageant film of the same title through the calculated addition of a comma, the metal/post-hardcore band Drop Dead, Gorgeous formed in Denver in the mid-2000s. Its original lineup included Aaron Rothe handling vocals and keyboards, Danny Stills on vocals, Danny Cooper on drums, Kyle Browning on guitar, Jake Hansen on bass, and a second guitarist also named Dan. The group leveraged online platforms to secure a September 2005 deal with Rise Records after the label discovered tracks posted on their MySpace and Purevolume pages. With half the members still attending high school, Drop Dead, Gorgeous had completed no major touring prior to or immediately following the January 2006 release of their EP Be Mine, Valentine. Their first full-length album, In Vogue, arrived that May and was produced by Kris Crummett of Fear Before the March of Flames and Anatomy of a Ghost. The summer that followed brought an extensive national tour that included shared bills with Scars of Tomorrow, Folly, and Calico System. By year’s end the band, whose oldest member was then only 20, had signed with the Interscope subsidiary Suretone and begun recording their next album under Ross Robinson. The roster was simultaneously reduced to five members when both Dans departed—one from guitar, one from drums—and Danny Passera joined on drums. Their 2007 album Worse Than a Fairy Tale presents a fictional narrative about a serial killer active in a small town.