Today we’d like to introduce you to Death Bard Thanny.
Hi Death Bard, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Growing up I had many mediums of creativity or fun. Video games, painting, drawing, sculpting, writing poetry, riding my bike, and hanging out with my friends. But the one that has been the most consistently recurring part of my life was Music.
I was in the church chorus for a large portion of elementary school, and played various instruments from fourth grade into high school. Even down to some of the video games I played such as, guitar hero and rock band, and some dance games. My parents exposed me to a variety of genres. However, the music that had the greatest impact on who I am and what music I make now was a combination of moments I found the genres that influenced and spoke to me most.
Most of the music that stuck with me the most when I was very young was 80’s Alternative music such as The Cure, New Order, Depeche Mode etc. through out middle and high school was around the time I really began to properly appreciate rock and metal and embracing angrier music in general; Rage against the machine, Slip Knot, Avenged Sevenfold, Sevendust, Linkin Park, Bullet for my Valentine, and Bring me the Horizon were all heavily in my music rotation during that time. In my college years however was where the shift towards a music career and performing really began to take form. Around my first two years in college I was finally around trap music and hip-hop enough to begin appreciating it.
If I had to pin it down to any one moment that really started it all, It was in late 2016. Some friends and I went for a drive in the mountains of northern Maryland in the snow and Paris by $uicide Boy$ began playing in the car. I was genuinely taken to another world and the reason it stuck with me was at the time I had no idea that rap could be THIS edgy, hard and alternative. I had listened to Eminem, Flatbush Zombies, and Tyler the Creator in high school, but sonically I hadn’t found anything that really spoke to how dark my mental state was at the time. Throughout that year I really began to go down the rabbit hole of south florida rappers that were big or getting big at the time such as XXXTENTACION, Ski Mask the Slump God, Bones, Ghostemane, and mostly everyone that was involved in Raider Clan.
Around the same time, as I was listening to more rap, it started influencing how I was writing poetry. One of my good friends I went to college with began producing at the time and noticed that my poetry was beginning to write like rap and encouraged me to rap over something he made. After that moment it became he and I’s mission to create music and we later formed a group with another friend. For about the next 5 years we made music together often. However, around 2022 I left the group due to a mixture of reasons, but the biggest one aside from interpersonal issues was I didn’t feel like I was making the music that inspired me and that I hadn’t fully come into myself.
Jumping back to 2017-2018, One artist I found that probably had the most direct influence on the music I make today is Scarlxrd. When I first found him I never imagined or dreamt that scream vocals existed over heavy trap or that trapmetal was even a thing. I’ve always been intrigued by hybrid-genre music and when I found his song Heart Attack, I was truly inspired. It pushed me to learn how to do scream vocals and improve as an artist overall.
I had my first proper show back in 2022 at a house show in College Park Maryland which was probably one of the best first shows a performing artist could ask for. A packed garage during my set that had a good amount of people I knew personally who came out to support me. It gave me a hunger to push my craft further and since that night I’ve done numerous shows in and out of my home state and have been on shows with bigger artist.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has not at all been smooth, but it has certainly been rewarding in many ways. I think some of the biggest struggles have been assembling a team I trust, the financial aspect of music as a whole, creative blocks, and balancing life with music as a whole. Due to both music and life itself, I think the biggest personal toll this journey has taken on me is the people that aren’t with me here now for whatever reason and coming to accept why whether it was my fault or not. Missed opportunities, people showing their true colors, disagreements, people passing away, that’s something that I’m still learning to deal with but circumstantially gets easier. Lately i feel like biggest obstacle is balancing the business of music and actually making to time for my craft.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My genre, if it had to be labeled anything, has been called scream rap or trap-metal. I like to think of it as twin to the nu-metal genre because instead of rapping on a metal instrumental my genre focuses more on screaming and rapping over very heavy and dark trap instrumentals. What I’ve been the most proud was teaching myself any form of screaming in general because it was a skill I always admired but never thought I could achieve. I think what sets me apart from others is aesthetic and my cadence. While its taken me awhile to discover, I don’t see many others do medieval-esc fashion mixed with a wrestler aesthetic. As far as cadence I just don’t hear anybody the hits notes or sings/raps about things the way I do.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
The list of people that have helped me along the way is very long. I think most immediately I’d have to shout out Quad the Dark God, Lord Slade and Caezzura. In terms of artistry these 3 have inspired, assisted, and travel with me probably the most out of anybody i know in the local scene. Cae and Quad have helped me a lot in terms of collaborating and organizing shows as well as the music itself. We have many songs together released and not. Slade and Cae have also both been behind the mixer and screens to mix and master some of the most impactful to me projects. Special shout to my dad for gifting me his creativity when I was born. Big shout out to my Manager Freddie and my Photographer Eli. They’ve helped me with a lot of behind the scenes work and continue to work hard for their own dreams and mine. Them in particular i could never thank enough. Last but not least shout to Dream Shepherd for encouraging me to start making music in the first place. Without him i may have never began to make music the way I do now. Through him learning production I began teaching myself to rap.
Pricing:
- Performance: $150
- Features: $100
- Merch: Contact me via IG
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deathbardthanny
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@deathbardthanny8021
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/abb159v2sOdIN1hwzg
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4PMs5rxJRmy7RrXe5LgcdL
