Saturday, April 11, 2009

Every Shirt XIII: Mortis Deveia

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shirt: Mortis Deveia
size: XL (US)
vintage: 2007
provenance: band

I picked this shirt up from the band sometime probably in the first half of 2007; between when I had to nearly put Henry in a headlock to get him to take my money for their demo and when Mark's ran out of bands willing to p2p to allow them to support concerts. This shirt, said demo, and a track on an Oak Knoll comp are, apparently, now all that remains of one of the Merrimack Valley's most promising bands.

Playing thrashy yet accessible NWOSDM-influenced music while that style was still in its ascendancy, and sporting a female vocalist and a truly elite lead guitarist, Mortis Dev drew a lot of interest, and a few contract offers from smaller labels, but did not sign. Eventually Caitlin quit the band, and while they got a new (male) singer and the instrumental positions were completely unaffected, a significant portion of their local audience, in one of the more egregious and stupid dick moves we have on record, lost interest. The music stayed the same, but the change in peripherals left the band high and dry.

Even at this distance, it rankles. Support music, not rumors, so that good bands don't get jobbed by ultimately immaterial cosmetic issues.

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