My Dying Bride

My Dying Bride was formed in June 1990 after lead guitarist Andrew Craighan left his former band Abiosis to join Aaron Stainthorpe (vocals), Calvin Robertshaw (guitar) and Rick Miah (drums). Adrian Jackson would join later on bass. After six months of rehearsing, the band recorded and released their demo, Towards the Sinister. Its title was taken from a line in the song "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium".
In the early 1990s My Dying Bride were part of what was known as the Peaceville Three with Paradise Lost and Anathema - all three bands hailing from the north of England. They also toured in 1995 with Iron Maiden as part of their European tour.
Their music is characterised by romantic, sensual lyrics and an obsessive attention to atmospheric detail. Early demos were death metal in a traditional sense, though much slower than most. However, their debut album As the Flower Withers saw the addition of violins and keyboards. Turn Loose the Swans built on that foundation, utilising clean as well as death grunts and, unusually, lead violin on several tracks. Trinity is a compilation of the three early EPs and a 7". The Angel and the Dark River saw the abandonment of death grunts altogether, this added a more traditional Doom feel to the songs. Like Gods of the Sun continued in that direction.
The highly experimental 34.788%...Complete was next, which along with the following The Light at the End of the World polarized fans over the band's new direction. My Dying Bride entered something of a hiatus after this, releasing two retrospective albums Meisterwerk 1 and Meisterwerk 2. These albums lay halfway between best of albums and rarity compilations.
It was not until 2001's The Dreadful Hours that My Dying Bride managed to win round the bulk of their former fans. More innovative than The Light at the End of the World, yet retaining all the key elements of the My Dying Bride sound, The Dreadful Hours was a slightly darker release. 2004's follow-up Songs of Darkness, Words of Light showed a band continuing to expand and refine their sound and purpose. A substantial increase in live performances - once an unheard of rarity - has led to much greater recognition by a new generation of fans.
In 2004, the band's label, Peaceville, re-released their entire back-catalogue in digipak format, with rare bonus tracks (demos, remixes, live performances etc.) added to each release. The band's next release came in May 2005, when they released the fancifully-titled Anti-Diluvian Chronicles, a fully-fledged best of box set featuring three discs and thirty tracks.
My Dying Bride toured the UK in November 2005, playing shows at London Astoria (18) and Bradford Rio (19). The band spent the winter of 2005/2006 writing material for new studio album A Line of Deathless Kings. The album was released on October 9, 2006. It was preceded by the EP Deeper Down on September 18. Shortly before the release of A Line of Deathless Kings, Shaun Taylor-Steels announced his permanent departure from the band due to persistent problems with his ankle.
In early 2007, Jackson announced his departure and session-drummer John Bennett could no longer stay, citing a lack of time due to work commitments. Replacements were found in Lena Abé on bass and Dan Mullins on drums.


Members



Current members

• Aaron Stainthorpe - Vocals (1990-)
  
• Hamish Glencross - Guitar (1999-)
  
• Andrew Craighan - Guitar (1990-)
  
• Sarah Stanton - Keyboards (2002-)
  
• Lena Abé - Bass (2007-)
  
• Dan Mullins - Drums (2007-)
  

Former members

• Martin Powell - Keyboards, Violins (1991-1998) (ex-Anathema (UK), ex- Cradle of Filth, ex-Cryptal Darkness)
  
• Calvin Robertshaw - Guitar (1990-1999)
  
• Bill Law - Drums (1998-1999) (ex-Dominion (UK))
  
• Rick Miah - Drums (1990-1997) (ex-Abiosis, ex-Khang, ex-Lazarus Blackstar)
  
• Shaun Taylor-Steels - Drums (1998-2006) (ex-Solstice (UK), ex-Anathema (UK), ex-Ironside)
  
• Adrian Jackson - Bass (1991-2007)
  

Session members

• Jonny Maudling - Session Keyboards (Bal-Sagoth)
  
• Michelle Richfield - Guest Female Vocals in ``34.788%... Complete`` album (Dominion (UK), Sear (UK), ex-Anathema (UK), Antimatter)
  
• Yasmin Ahmed - Keyboards (1999-2002) (ex-Ebonylake)
  
• John Bennett - Session Drums (The Prophecy (UK))
  

Discography



Demos, singles and EPs

• (1990) Towards the Sinister (demo)
  
• (1991) God Is Alone (7")
  
• (1991) Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium (EP)
  
• (1992) The Thrash of Naked Limbs (Single)
  
• (1993) Unreleased Bitterness (7")
  
• (1994) I Am the Bloody Earth (Single)
  
• (1994) The Sexuality of Bereavement (7")
  
• (2006) Deeper Down (Single)
  

Albums

• (1992) As the Flower Withers
  
• (1993) Turn Loose the Swans
  
• (1995) The Angel and the Dark River
  
• (1996) Like Gods of the Sun
  
• (1998) 34.788%...Complete
  
• (1999) The Light at the End of the World
  
• (2001) The Dreadful Hours
  
• (2004) Songs of Darkness, Words of Light
  
• (2006) A Line of Deathless Kings
  

Compilations

• (1994) The Stories (box set)
  
• (1995) Trinity
  
• (2000) Meisterwerk 1
  
• (2001) Meisterwerk 2
  
• (2002) The Voice of the Wretched (live)
  
• (2005) Anti-Diluvian Chronicles
  

Aaron Stainthorpe (born November 12, 1968) is the vocalist for doom metal band My Dying Bride. He was born in England but moved to Germany when six months old, because his British army officer father was stationed in the country. He currently lives in Halifax, West Yorkshire.
He is an avid reader of romantic poets such as Percy Bysshe Shelley and often draws on the Bible for inspiration. In a 2004 interview with Live 4 Metal, Stainthorpe commented that:

"I have no religious beliefs but I do like to use the Bible as a source of inspiration because it’s an obvious wealth of delicious tales and characters."

Despite the overwhelmingly morose nature of his lyrics, Stainthorpe insists they do not give a full overview of his personality. In 2004 he told metal-rules.com that:

"Some of the stuff is influenced by personal mishaps in life. Nobody has lived a perfectly good life without tragedies and we’ve used them as part of our songwriting. I think that dwelling on the darker side of life seems much more interesting and evocative than the happier things...I’ve got somewhere to put my depression and it’s called My Dying Bride...I'm generally a happy guy!"

In December 2005, it was announced that Stainthorpe would lend his voice and some lyrics to a song with Sarah Jezebel Deva's new band Angtoria. "Original Sin" - taken from the band's first album 'God Has a Plan For Us All' - was released on 24th April 2006.
Stainthorpe has made other guest appearances on Dominion's Interface and Disincarnate's Dreams of the Carrion Kind. Aaron also made a narration appearance on Dreambreed's "Sometime" mini-album in 1995. He has his own web page at http://www.azzron.com, where a collection of his art work - including album covers for My Dying Bride and other bands - is displayed.
Stainthorpe is also public about his hatred for music downloads and how badly it's affecting the music business. In an interview he conducted with http://www.puremetal.org he stated:

"Every single band on this planet is getting ripped off and sales have never been as low, even for the mega-stars, so don’t even bother trying to make a career from music, folks, as it’s a dead-end job with no prospects!"

Hamish Glencross (born February 13, 1978 in Dundee, Scotland) is one of My Dying Bride's guitarists. He also co-founded Blackdoom Records with the other guitarist in the band, Andrew Craighan.
He replaced Calvin Robertshaw in 1999 prior to the band touring for the album The Light at the End of the World and has been an official member of My Dying Bride ever since. Prior to joining My Dying Bride he played guitar for UK progressive metal band Seer's Tear, Leeds based punk/metal band Apocalypso and UK doom metal band Solstice. Before concentrating on music, Hamish also did some acting work; appearing on both stage and television - something he has has expressed an interest in returning to in the future.
Glencross currently endorses Jackson guitars, and has been playing them exclusively since 2006.

Andrew Craighan (born July 18, 1970) is one of My Dying Bride's guitarists. Along with Aaron Stainthorpe, he is the only original member of the band still in the lineup. He played the guitar from 1989 to 1990 in the band Abiosis.
On My Dying Bride's official website he lists his favourite My Dying Bride album as 1999's The Light at the End of the World.

Sarah Stanton (born June 28, 1978) is My Dying Bride's keyboardist. She was the youngest member, beating Hamish Glencross by a few months. Lena Abé, the recently added bass player, replacing long-standing Adrian Jackson, is now the youngest member of the band. Stanton and Glencross are partners.

Dan Mullins
date of birth:
June 15 1978
other bands played in:
The Raven Theory, Thine, Bal-Sagoth, Sermon of Hypocrisy, Kryokill (session), The Axis of Perdition, Minethorn (session), Black Millenium, The Enchanted, Warbastard (session)
major personal influences:
My Family, My love
major musical influences:
Dream Theater, Death, Iron Maiden, Strapping Young Lad / Devin Townsend
favorite MDB album:
Turn Loose the Swans
favorite non-MDB album:
Dream Theater - Change of Seasons
Best thing about being in a metal band:
Kicking the shit out of my drums
favorite film:
the Ninth Gate
favorite book:
Lord of the Rings and The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker.
favorite food:
Indian/Chinese
favorite country:
Yorkshire
who/what you love the most:
My love.
who/what you hate the most:
Inconsideration.
credo/quote/wise words:
people can say many things, they cannot un-say them however.

Lena Abé

date of birth:
January 4 1983
major personal influences:
My friends and family
Favorite bands:
Misery Loves Co., Primus, Earthtone9, Dry Kill Logic and loads more
favorite MDB album:
A Line of Deathless Kings
favorite most recent album:
Killswitch Engage: As Daylight Dies
favorite film:
Lost Highway
favorite book:
I read a lot of true crime stuff
favorite food:
Sushi
favorite country:
Of the countries I've been to I'd like to go back to Japan. I'd also love to see Canada.
who/what you love the most:
In no order- My folks, Jayne, Ju and Shane.
who/what you hate the most:
The usual things like selfishness, rudeness and inconsideration.
credo/quote/wise words:
What matters is not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.
equipment endorsement:
Mayones Guitars & Basses

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this must be telepathy...i was just about to put this band up on the forum... kiitos paljon. i adore My Dying Bride