Pariah

In San Antonio high schools the five musicians who would form Pariah—vocalist Dave Derrick, guitarists Kyle Ellison and Jared Tuten, bassist Sims Ellison, and drummer Shandon Sahm, son of Tex-Mex legend Doug Sahm—first crossed paths and began rehearsing in ever-changing combinations. They eventually adopted the name Pariah, careful to distinguish themselves from the unrelated English heavy metal band of the same name. Strong local live shows quickly built a regional audience and secured a recording contract with Geffen. Multiple postponements, however, kept their debut album, To Mock a Killingbird, from reaching stores until mid-1993, by which point the hair-metal era had already collapsed under the weight of grunge. The missed moment proved decisive, and the musicians soon parted ways. Two years later, after Sims Ellison had moved to Los Angeles, he died by suicide while battling depression. The Sims Foundation was subsequently created in his memory to supply health care for Austin-area musicians.