Biography
Richard Fearless, born Maguire, fronts the stylistically wide-ranging electronic rock outfit Death in Vegas, whose output draws from shoegaze, dub, and psychedelia. Long active as a DJ and remixer, he has also issued solo productions. From the 1990s onward he has offset the band’s guitar emphasis with DJ sets rooted in electro and Detroit techno, documented on the second disc of the 1999 compilation Heavenly Presents: Live at the Social, Vol. 3. Solo releases began appearing in the 2010s, culminating in the expansive techno album Deep Rave Memory in 2019.
Fearless assembled the London group Dead Elvis in 1994. After signing to Concrete in 1995, the band issued the hallucinatory debut single “Opium Shuffle.” The Elvis Presley estate requested a name change, so the project became Death in Vegas; its first album nevertheless kept the title Dead Elvis and appeared in 1997 to favorable reviews and modest sales, aided by MTV exposure for the unsettling clip of “Dirt.”
By then Fearless was sought after for remixes, having reworked material by Saint Etienne, Ruby, David Holmes, and additional artists. In 1999 Death in Vegas delivered the follow-up The Contino Sessions, a harder-rocking record than the trip-hop and big-beat orientation of the debut and featuring contributions from Iggy Pop, Jim Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain, Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream, and others. That same year Fearless also handled the second disc of Heavenly Presents: Live at the Social, Vol. 3, the double-CD set whose other mix came from Andrew Weatherall.
Scorpio Rising arrived in 2002 with appearances by Liam Gallagher and Paul Weller; the shoegaze cut “Girls” later surfaced on the soundtrack to the 2003 film Lost in Translation. The fourth album, Satan's Circus, emerged on Fearless’s own Drone imprint in 2004 and omitted guest vocalists entirely. Subsequent remixes encompassed tracks by Oasis, Yoko Ono, Kasabian, A Place to Bury Strangers, and further acts. After relocating to New York City, he prepared the band’s fifth album, Trans-Love Energies, which Portobello Records released in 2011.
Thereafter Fearless’s outside remixes, including work for Daniel Avery and Tiefschwarz, leaned more overtly dance-floor than the guitar-centric band material. In 2014 he revived the Drone label, issuing solo singles alongside acid-techno 12"s by Gabriel Gurnsey of Factory Floor and Michigan producer D’Marc Cantu. Association with the reissue-focused German imprint Bureau B began in 2015 and yielded a 12" of his versions of Moebius/Plank/Neumeier’s “Speed Display”; he also assembled the label anthology Kollektion 04. The Detroit-influenced single “Overview Effect” closed the year, followed by the 2017 12"s “Night Blind” and “Sweet Venus.” Deep Rave Memory, recorded at the Metal Box studio overlooking the Thames, appeared in 2019.
Fearless assembled the London group Dead Elvis in 1994. After signing to Concrete in 1995, the band issued the hallucinatory debut single “Opium Shuffle.” The Elvis Presley estate requested a name change, so the project became Death in Vegas; its first album nevertheless kept the title Dead Elvis and appeared in 1997 to favorable reviews and modest sales, aided by MTV exposure for the unsettling clip of “Dirt.”
By then Fearless was sought after for remixes, having reworked material by Saint Etienne, Ruby, David Holmes, and additional artists. In 1999 Death in Vegas delivered the follow-up The Contino Sessions, a harder-rocking record than the trip-hop and big-beat orientation of the debut and featuring contributions from Iggy Pop, Jim Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain, Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream, and others. That same year Fearless also handled the second disc of Heavenly Presents: Live at the Social, Vol. 3, the double-CD set whose other mix came from Andrew Weatherall.
Scorpio Rising arrived in 2002 with appearances by Liam Gallagher and Paul Weller; the shoegaze cut “Girls” later surfaced on the soundtrack to the 2003 film Lost in Translation. The fourth album, Satan's Circus, emerged on Fearless’s own Drone imprint in 2004 and omitted guest vocalists entirely. Subsequent remixes encompassed tracks by Oasis, Yoko Ono, Kasabian, A Place to Bury Strangers, and further acts. After relocating to New York City, he prepared the band’s fifth album, Trans-Love Energies, which Portobello Records released in 2011.
Thereafter Fearless’s outside remixes, including work for Daniel Avery and Tiefschwarz, leaned more overtly dance-floor than the guitar-centric band material. In 2014 he revived the Drone label, issuing solo singles alongside acid-techno 12"s by Gabriel Gurnsey of Factory Floor and Michigan producer D’Marc Cantu. Association with the reissue-focused German imprint Bureau B began in 2015 and yielded a 12" of his versions of Moebius/Plank/Neumeier’s “Speed Display”; he also assembled the label anthology Kollektion 04. The Detroit-influenced single “Overview Effect” closed the year, followed by the 2017 12"s “Night Blind” and “Sweet Venus.” Deep Rave Memory, recorded at the Metal Box studio overlooking the Thames, appeared in 2019.
Albums
Singles
