EARLY GRAVES DEATHMETAL SINGER MAKH DANIELS KILLED AT 28

I know what you're thinking. A guy growling "Goner" in a Death Metal band called Early Graves gets killed before he reaches 30. Was he asking for it?

One thing is certain, the schedule for his band was a killer. The guys from Early Graves and The Funeral Pyre were on one hellacious tour, all over the hot, humid country in July. Nine guys in a van. Take a look and ask yourself if it's a surprise that on August 2nd, the driver fell asleep at the wheel on Interstate 5, one of the monotonous white-line highways that were blinding them:

7/1 Dallas, TX @ Renos Chop Shop
7/2 San Antonio, TX @ Zombies!!!
7/3 Austin, TX @ Red 7
7/4 OFF DATE in Dallas. lets party.
7/5 Memphis, TN @ The Poplar Lounge
7/6 Nashville, TN @ The Black Church. 504 N 3RD ST
7/7 Louisville, KY @ Skull Alley
7/8 Columbus, OH @ 15th House (369 e. 15th ave)
7/9 Columbus, OH @ the Cara Bar
7/10 Gloversville, NY @ Limbos
7/11 Jamaica Plain, MA @ The Midway Cafe
7/12 Boston, MA @ Church Of Boston. 69 Killmarnock St.
7/13 Dover, New Hampshire @ Dover Brickhouse
7/14 Haverhill, MA @ Anchors Up
7/15 Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Lanes
7/16 Philadelphia, PA @ The M Room
7/17 Brooklyn, NY @The Union Pool
7/18 Pittsburgh, PA @Belvedere’s
7/19 Toledo, OH @ The Black Cherry
7/20 Milwaukee WI @ the borg ward.
7/21 St Louis, MO @ Fubar
7/22 KC, MO @ Aftershock
7/23 Lincoln, NE @The Manor
7/24 Denver, CO @ Blastomat
7/25 Cheyenne, WY @ Ernie November
7/26 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Outer Rim
7/27 Garden City, ID @ Brawl Studios
7/28 Spokane, WA @ Mootsy's
7/29 Seattle, Wa @ The Morgue
7/30 Portland, OR @ Plan B
7/31 Bellingham, WA @ JINX artspace
8/1 Salem, OR @ TBA
8/2 Reno, NV @ Ryans Saloon
8/3 SF, CA @ Submission Gallery
8/4 Los Angeles, CA @ TBA
8/5 Riverside, CA @ TBA
8/6 Whittier, CA @ The Bamboo Lounge
8/7 Long Beach, CA @ TBA
8/8 Echo Park, CA @ POWER OF THE RIFF FEST

No, they didn't quite make it to the Submission Gallery, or continue their August run. The odds were not with them at any point in this demonic drive. Would you fucking love to drive from Memphis to Nashville within 24 hours? And then Nashville to Louisville? And Louisville to Columbus Ohio? Every damned day they were on the road, going huge distances.

Sometimes they got a break. It's only about a 2 hour drive from Philadelphia to Brooklyn. But from Brooklyn they had to get to Pittsburgh!

That's the reality of trying to make a living by making music, especially when there's no money to be made from selling CDs or mp3's and most of it has to come from live shows. Rationalize it all you want: "Nobody was FORCING them to tour so much," and "They could of had DAY JOBS and played on WEEKENDS," and "They just didn't tell their fans often enough, "if you like it buy it..." What…ev…er…..

Lead singer Matikeef (Makh) Daniels was ejected from the van after driver Justin Garcia (a guitarist with The Funeral Pyre) conked at the wheel, and that was it; over and out. The band's brand of thrash, hardcore, metalcore and Death Metal can be heard on their two surviving CD's, "We the Guillotine" from 2008 and their 2010 release "Goner." You get a lucky seven of those tracks in the download; any more would be pointless because a) the stuff is in print, and b) it all sounds the same. Hear the head-banging drums, thrashing guitars and Cookie Monster ranting for yourself, on:

Goner, Faith is Shit, Old Bones, Give Up, The Man in Black, Ghosts Among Us, and Borrowed Teeth Borrowed Claws.


EARLY GRAVES 7 tracks