was a four piece
Nu Metal /
Hard Rock band hailing from
California ,
USA .
Part of the band formed in 1998 when guitarist Danny Hartwell and drummer Brandon Brown met at the Ratt Show on the Sunset Strip. They later met up with then-vocalist Judd Gruenbaum. They called themselves Beyond Control.
After forming, the guys caught the attention of a Warner Brothers A&R Executive, Jeff Blue (responsible for
Linkin Park ), who then signed the band to a development deal. He also found a new lead signer for the band in Jeff Gutt (from
Detroit ).
In an interview with the website
A&R Online , Mr. Blue described Dry Cell as: "they’re like
Metallica meets
Incubus meets Linkin Park but heavier. No DJing, no rapping, very melodic and the kids are just phenomenal musicians."
Mr. Blue also goes on to tell how he was approached by them: "A friend of mine told me about the drummer who was 11 at the time and said how amazing he was. I ended up hearing a demo that wasn't very good but because I was right down the street from where they were playing I went up and saw them and was actually very impressed. I made a development deal and have now been working with them for over a year and a half. I'm with them six hours, six days a week. I have them in a rehearsal room right next to Warner Brothers."
The band broke up late 2005, after members Danny and Jeff left.
Dry Cell were signed to Warner Brothers Music, and went to work recording their debut album. The end result was a twelve track album titled Disconnected.
The album's track listing is as follows:
- 1) Slip Away (3:56)
- 2) Under The Sun (3:30)
- 3) Body Crumbles (3:03)
- 4) Last Time (3:10)
- 5) Sorry (3:31)
- 6) Silence (3:01)
- 7) So Long Ago (3:42)
- 8) Forever Beautiful (2:47)
- 9) Disconnected (2:46)
- 10) Ordinary (4:19)
- 11) Brave (2:58)
- 12) Last Time (Reprise) (3:35)
The album's original release date was 07/16/02, which was then pushed back to 08/27/02.
However, the band split from Warner prior to the release of their album, which was never to be released.
The only place Disconnected was sold was at the 2002 Locobazooka Festival. On very rare occasions, copies are sold on
EBay . However, advanced copies of the album are more regularly found on eBay.
The band always stated there was no chance of releasing Disconnected, even if they were to land a new record deal.
Only two Dry Cell songs have made it onto a released CD. They are:
- The band's first and only single, which features on the Queen Of The Damned soundtrack (released 02/19/02). It was also previously featured on Rob Zombie's sampler disc Calling All Maniacs which circulated with his '01 release The Sinister Urge.
- Features on the NASCAR on Fox: Crank It Up compilation CD (released 05/21/02).
Also, they have contributed to the soundtracks of two
Electronic Arts video games:
The band uploaded four unreleased tracks on their MySpace account after they split up. They can be obtained from
here .
Dry Cell featured in a New York Times article regarding their brief stint with Warner. It can be read
here .
- Jeff Gutt (Vocals)
- Judd Gruenbaum (Bass, backup Vocals)
- Brandon Brown (Drums)
- Danny Hartwell (Guitar)
