About
Deadboy & the Elephantmen are a "new blues" duo who stringently maintain
they aren't siblings, married or otherwise involved with one another, and
who produce convincingly fuzzy R&B featuring occasional (and wholly
unexpected) flashes of early David Bowie. Former death metaller Dax Riggs
and New Orleans orphan Tessie Brunet played a one-off gig together in 2004
prior to Brunet returning to New York after a trip to see her adoptive
parents in Houma, La. Two years later she found herself on the road
promoting debut album We Are Night Sky as support for the Fiery
Furnaces. Riggs' musical past includes being part of Louisiana outfit Acid
Bath, whose problem-fraught, if successful, time together came to an abrupt
end when bassist Audie Pitre was involved in a road accident. Riggs set up
Deadboy & the Elephantmen soon afterwards, in 2000, as a vehicle for a fresh
interest in guitar and piano -- and, it seems, songwriting with a decidedly
dark bent.
- Jamie Dolling
