Michale Graves
Throughout the history of music, people will find faces and names of artists that are automatically connected to songs that have inspired them in some way. These musical geniuses have been able to invoke emotions of comfort, happiness, solace, serenity, joy, and even anger into their listeners. As a common belief in music, it a form of expression that everyone can relate to on some level through the musical sound, and most importantly, the lyrics. Of these musical artists that are always remembered for their contribution to the musical scene, Michale Graves sits among the greatest in the world of the metal genre in his starting appearances in the legendary metal band, The Misfits.
Before Michale Graves was the lead singer of the band, The Misfits, he was was Michael Emanual. Born in March of 1975, in New Jersey, Graves always showed musical promise from singing around the house and listening to the metal bands that existed during that time. In the 1990's was when Michale Graves would see his opportunity to taking his musical talents to higher levels. He was approached by a friend of his with his band during that time, the Mopers, and informed him that the band, The Misfits, were holding auditions for a new lead singer. With some doubts in his mind, Graves went for the audition anyway. Before going on to the audition, Michale Graves admits that he had never once heard a song performed by The Misfits before, so he bought one of their CD's and sat, and learned their songs to get a feel for their tone and style of music. After his quick bit of educational tutorial, he was ready for the audition. Upon his audition, the band immediately held their arms open to him welcoming him into the band as their lead singer. One of his first friendships that he established within the band was the drummer, Dr. Chud.
During his time with The Misfits, Michale Graves immediately caught on to learning the songs that the band was well known for. Along the way, the writing and singing talents of Graves were quickly put to use. Though his writing talent was used at first, as the band already had songs that they hadn't yet to release publicly yet, he was still sitting and writing whenever the chance came around. His first performances were spent with Graves singing back up vocals for some of their songs, such as "Monster Mash", and "Cuts from the Crypt". All the while he was singing back up for some of the songs the band performed, Graves would also sing lead on the other songs that he knew very well, such as "American Pyscho" which was one of the biggest hits for the band. All the writing that Michale Graves did on the side was eventually used by the band, as they put together songs from his writing such as "The Haunting", "Fiend Club", "This Island Earth", "Witch Hung", and many more. When he wasn't writing their songs, he was assisting with the production of song lyrics with the bands writers. Through his time with the band, he also went on a number of tours that took him all around the world, and back the U.S. again. In the year of 1996, Graves left the band and went on to pursue other musical projects.
In 2000, Michale Graves and his drummer friend, Dr. Chud came together to form a band of their own, known as the Lost Boys. Their band only featured the two of them, with Graves on the guitar and Dr. Chud on the drums. At the time of their performances, they were only playing songs from their previous band, The Misfits, of course these were songs that Graves wrote himself and had permission to use. According to reports, their band only had two performances before they started to change up their shows to include more musical variety. Though they were still singing songs from The Misfits, they were singing songs that the band created in the bands earliest stages, from the years of 1977 and 1983. In changing their musical sound, Graves decided to start playing the electric guitar as opposed to the acoustic guitar he was playing before. Soon after some of their short lived performances together as the band, Lost Boys, they came together to form the band Graves. Together, they would create an album titled, "Web of Dharma". Before the album could be finished recorded to the final bits and pieces, Graves rejoined The Misfits, but he was only them with some of their songs as he was the guest vocalist for The Misfits tour. He only did this for a month before returning to his other project. Before too long, Graves and Chud were working on a second album, but it was never completed. The reason for the second album not being finished was due to issues that could not be resolved between Graves and Chud, so Graves left to move on to the band Gotham Road.
In forming the band Gotham Road, Michale Graves included other members Loki, JV Bastard, and Paul Lifeless. Together, they were able to put together a 5 song demo album that would be used to help them create and finish their first album. Some of the songs had already been heard from the previous songs that Graves and Chud worked on, and other songs were those that Graves wrote himself. On his spare time from working with Gotham Road, Michale Graves would produce other albums of up and coming metal bands. Of these groups his produced, there was Streesbomb, with their song "Self Medicate" which became a big hit on the metal charts. Before the band could make another album, they took a break to allow Michale to go on to join the Marines. Before he left, he was able to write a dozen songs that would be used for Gotham Road, later renamed Gothan Rd., would perform on tours and record. Some songs were used from his previous projects, and others would be used through his work done through his own written work. Another project that Graves enlisted on doing before he was left a solo project. After his run with the Marines, Graves was honorably dishcarged from the Marines for injurying his back.
His return with the injured back did not stop him from his true passion, creating music for his fans. During his time back, he recorded songs to add to his solo album, which was a great success, and produced other artists and bands. From these projects, Graves was still able to find time to write songs for other bands, as well as, write songs that would be used by other artists, even The Misfits. Scheduled for this year, Michale has announced that he is releasing a second solo album with all the songs written by himself.
