Biography
In the early 1990s Rick Burns and Warren Gregson launched the death metal outfit Simply Dead, with Burns covering vocals and guitar while Gregson handled guitar and vocals. Bassist Dylan Parker’s arrival triggered both a name change to I Died Laughing and a musical pivot toward power pop. Drummer Mitch Cruikshank came aboard a year after that, prompting the final rechristening as Shortfall. Squirtgun Records put out the group’s first full-length album, Hooray for Everything, in 1995. The follow-up, It’s a Miserable Life, appeared in 1997.