Deantoni Parks facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Deantoni Parks
|
|
|---|---|
Deantoni Parks in 2013
|
|
| Background information | |
| Born | November 2, 1977 Newnan, Georgia, U.S. |
| Genres |
|
| Occupation(s) | Musician, producer, songwriter |
| Instruments | Drums, keyboard |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Associated acts |
|
Deantoni Parks (born November 2, 1977) is an American musician, producer, and songwriter. He is known for his unique drumming style and for playing different kinds of music, including new wave, avant-garde, and experimental rock.
Deantoni is a co-founder and drummer for the New York band KUDU. He also works with Nicci Kasper as "We Are Dark Angels," creating music for TV and movies. He was a member of the rock band The Mars Volta and the alternative rock band Bosnian Rainbows. Deantoni also played on André 3000's album, “New Blue Sun.”
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Deantoni Parks started the Tech Art Fair and Technoself Immersive. He also has his own record label, Humani Machina, and an online school called Technoself School of Philosophy, which began in 2020. He has taught at places like Stanford Jazz Workshop and Berklee College of Music. He has also given workshops at Cooper Union, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech.
Contents
Biography
Deantoni Parks was born and grew up in Newnan, Georgia. His family loved music like funk, Southern soul, and gospel. With their support, he started playing drums when he was only two years old. He became well-known across the country before he turned five. This happened because he practiced a lot and performed with the Newnan High School band. In 1982, Xernona Clayton from The Xernona Clayton Show interviewed him for a national TV show.
As a teenager, he explored jazz music with Delbert Felix. He later decided to study at Berklee College of Music. There, he learned from Lenny Nelson and discovered electronic music artists like Photek and Squarepusher. This made him interested in the precise and mechanical beats of electronic music.
KUDU
In 1998, while living in Boston, Deantoni wrote down his ideas for a new music style called the New Wave Manifesto. These ideas helped create the songs for the KUDU band. He started KUDU with his girlfriend Sylvia Gordon and Nicci Kasper.
KUDU played cover songs by artists like Photek and Roni Size at different places in Boston. Deantoni could play very fast and skilled drum rhythms live. This made KUDU inspire many American drummers and live drum and bass bands from 2000 onwards. Famous musicians like Bill Laswell and Jojo Mayer even watched KUDU shows after the band moved to New York City in 2000.
KUDU released their first album, Kudu, in 2001. Later, in 2006, they released their album Death of the Party. They also put out Back for More: A Remix Collection. This album had unreleased songs, B-sides, rare recordings, and remixes by many different artists.
Between 2006 and 2007, KUDU performed at big music festivals. These included the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, the Delta Tejo Festival in Portugal, and Transmusicales in France.
Their last public show was in 2009, when they opened for Me'shell Ndegeocello. Even though KUDU had early success, they haven't released an album since 2008. However, Nicci Kasper, Sylvia Gordon, and Deantoni have continued to write and produce music for other artists. In early 2009, Deantoni and Nicci Kasper started working together as "We Are Dark Angels."
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group / The Mars Volta / Bosnian Rainbows
Deantoni briefly joined the rock band The Mars Volta in September 2006. He toured with them for two months. He later explained that he was already busy with John Cale and KUDU, and he felt more loyal to them at the time. He said he was just filling in for The Mars Volta.
Deantoni joined the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group for their tour in 2010. He has also played on many of Omar's albums since 2008. He rejoined The Mars Volta in late 2010 and stayed until the band broke up after their 2012 album, Noctourniquet. During this time, he also worked on music with other members of The Mars Volta for their own projects.
In 2012, Deantoni formed a new band called Bosnian Rainbows. He started it with Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, singer Teri Gender Bender, and his bandmate Nicci Kasper. Their first album, also called Bosnian Rainbows, came out on June 25, 2013.
Teaching
Deantoni has been an instructor at the Stanford Jazz Workshop and Berklee College of Music since 1998. In 2020, he used this experience to create the Technoself School of Philosophy. This is a private online school that operates using Discord.
Discography
- Solo Work
- Touch But Don't Look (2012) on Sargent House/Rodriguez-Lopez Productions
- Technoself (Leaving/Stones Throw; 2015)
- WALLY (2016)
- Deanthoven (2016)
- Look This (2016) as WE ARE DARK ANGELS
- ELEVENELEVEN (2017)
- Dog Eat Dog (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2017)
- Homo Deus (Leaving/Stones Throw; 2018)
- Augusta (Humani Machina Records, Alpha Pup Records) 2019
- Westwave (2019)
- Silver Cord (Humani Machina Records, Alpha Pup Records) 2020
- Collaborations
- Last Night – Moby (2008) – contribution to an LP
- The Biggest Piano In Town - Grand Pianoramax on ObliqSound (2008), Leo Tardin - keyboards, Deantoni Parks - drums, Adam Deitch - drums, Mike Ladd - vocals, Celena Glenn - vocals, Invincible - vocals, Spleen - vocals
- With Astroid Power-Up!
- Google Plex (2003) - LP
- With Gray
- 1979 (Unreleased) - LP
- Shades of... - (2019)
- With KUDU
- Kudu (2001) - LP
- Death of the Party (2006) - LP
- Back for More: A Remix Collection (2008) - LP
- With John Cale
- Circus Live (2007)
- Extra Playful (2011)
- Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood (2012)
- MFANS (2016)
- Mercy (2023)
- With Meshell Ndegeocello
- The Article 3 (2006)
- The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams (2007)
- Devil's Halo (2009)
- Weather (2011)
- Pour une Âme Souveraine: A Dedication to Nina Simone (2012)
- With Omar Rodríguez-López
- Old Money (2008) ("The Power of Myth")
- Solar Gambling (2009) ("Locomoción Capilar", "Las Flores Con Limón", "Vasco de Gama")
- Dōitashimashite (2010) - Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group live release
- Un Escorpión Perfumado (2010)
- Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar (2012)
- Unicorn Skeleton Mask (2013)
- ¿Sólo Extraño? (2013)
- Sworn Virgins (2016)
- Blind Worms Pious Swine (2016)
- El Bien Y Mal Nos Une (2016)
- Cell Phone Bikini (2016)
- Zapopan (2016)
- Nom de Guerre Cabal (2016)
- Some Need It Lonely (2016)
- A Lovejoy (2016)
- Roman Lips (2017)
- Zen Thrills (2017)
- Chocolate Tumor Hormone Parade (2017) - Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group live release
- Gorilla Preacher Cartel (2017)
- Killing Tingled Lifting Retreats (2017)
- Solid State Mercenaries (2017)
- Doom Patrol (2017)
- With The Mars Volta
- Noctourniquet (2012)
- With Bosnian Rainbows
- Bosnian Rainbows Live At Clouds Hill (2012)
- Bosnian Rainbows (2013)
- TBA - Bosnian Rainbows' 2nd LP
- With Big Sir
- Before Gardens After Gardens (2012)
- Digital Gardens (2014)
- With Flying Lotus
- You're Dead! (2014)
- Flamagra (2019)
- With Le Butcherettes
- A Raw Youth (2015) ("La Uva" w/ Iggy Pop)
- With André 3000
- New Blue Sun (2023) LP
Filmography
- Feature films
Deantoni, along with Nicci Kasper, composed music as WE ARE DARK ANGELS for the film Dog Eat Dog (2016). This movie was directed by Paul Schrader and starred Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe. Deantoni Parks and Nicci Kasper also scored the final scene of Paul Schrader's film First Reformed.
Deantoni also appeared as an actor and drummer in Mark Ruffalo's first movie as a director, Sympathy for Delicious. He was in the movie with Juliette Lewis, Laura Linney, and Orlando Bloom. He also played on the main song for the movie with Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez from The Mars Volta. Deantoni's music was also on the soundtrack for the documentary The Radiant Child, with Michael Holman and Jean-Michel Basquiat's band, Gray.
- Short films
Between 1998 and 2009, Deantoni traveled a lot and recorded many hours of video. In 2009, he used this footage and photos to create a series of ten short videos. These videos are part of his DaDa YaYa video series. Each short film is three to ten minutes long. They are designed to be shown as Sound Art, Installation, or Performance Art pieces. The whole series will have ten installations, one for each film. There will also be a special event where all the films are shown together.
- Music videos
- Playing House (2005) for KUDU
- Bar Star kudu - bar star (2006) for KUDU
- Boom Boom Kudu Boom Boom (2006) for KUDU
- Collaborations
- In 2007, Deantoni played drums for a WORLD'S END music video called "Sialagogue." It featured Japanese supermodel Rila Fukushima and was directed by Bruno Levy. Bruno is known for his video scratching. Bruno and his partner, Blake Shaw, have a project called SWEATSHOPPE. Together with Deantoni, they are planning large events under the WORLD'S END series.
- Deantoni helped write the music for the song "Party In My Pants" with Doron Braunshtein, also known as Apollo Braun. This song was featured in the 2008 film Religulous, directed by Larry Charles.
Band history
- Astroid Power-up!
- Kudu
- The Mars Volta
- Omar Rodríguez-López
- Bosnian Rainbows
- John Cale
- Meshell Ndegeocello
- Moby
- Lenny Kravitz
- Alice Smith
- Cody Chesnutt
- Gray --Basquiat's Industrial Noise Band--*
- Sade
- Marc Ribot
- Vato Negro
- We Are Dark Angels (With Nicci Kasper)
- World's End
