DEATH SHIPS

Our cd 'Seeds of Devastation' is here, shipped to your door for 12 bucks!



'Seeds of Devastation' is on ITunes!



Death Ships set sail in 2001, When undergrad/founder Dan Maloney was living in the basement of the notorious Iowa City punk house Theta Beta Potata. Armed with an acoustic guitar, Maloney started writing a collection of rock, folk, pop, & country tunes under the name Death Ships, a name that objectifies Maloney's own fascination with nautical lore, and his own sense of humor for what many will think is surely a metal band. What seemed like a college bedroom project morphed into a full steamed band, culminating in a debut release Seeds of Devastation, recorded in Atlanta in 2006 with Matt Malpass at Marigolds & Monsters and self released on Faithful Anchor. On the strength of that release the band toured a lot in the midwest and finally both coasts, supporting former Wilco member Jay Bennett (RIP). In 2007, Maloney moved back to his hometown Chicago, while most the other members resided still in Iowa City. After awhile like most long distance relationships, Maloney realized he had to reconfigure the band so all members reside in a Chicago zip code. While many bands crumble under the circumstances of graduation or real world obligations and goals, Maloney soon realized he could not stop making and playing music. The band reassembled in Chicago after several years and released an Itunes EP called Maybe Arkansas recorded between Iowa City (Flat Black, Luke Tweedy) and Chicago (Black Sheep, Josh Shapera) in 2010, featuring keyboard work from Pat Sansone of Wilco. Currently the band has finished recording a second full length titled Circumstantial Chemistry recorded once again in Iowa City (Flat Black, Luke Tweedy) and Chicago (Get Small, Dan Agosto), and mixed in Atlanta by Matt Malpass at Marigolds & Monsters. After what seemed like the bands own Chinese Democracy, Death Ships will release Circumstantial Chemistry in the spring of 2011. Over the years the band has supported many high profile acts like The Decemberists, Low, Delta Spirit, Pinaback, Tapes 'N Tapes, and Blind Pilot, and has played many festivals like CMJ, SXSW, Mission Creek, and Milwaukee's Summerfest. The bands music has also been placed in several TV shows like Vampire Diaries (CW), Teen Mom (MTV), 16 & Pregnant (MTV), T.O Show (VH1), Hellcats (CW), and Cho Show (VH1). Despite the ever changing musical climate, Death Ships has continued on its own course and will continue for the forseeable future.
Selected Reviews:
"Even in demo form, the Death Ships' song "It Remains To Be Seen" (streaming at myspace.com/deathships) is exceedingly lovely, built around a breezy guitar line and front man Dan Maloney's earnest vocals. The same could be said of the piano-flecked "Maybe Arkansas," a tune that -- much like the Dave Eggers penned "Away We Go" -- alternates between hope ("We'll plan a way back to the stars") and heartbreak ("It hurts like hell")."
Chicago Tribune (November 6th 2009 by Andy Downing)



"Seeds of Destruction is a lovely album—ripping in places, but mostly the hot swallow of booze from a jug on a stiff night—but as anyone will tell you (as Gram Parsons as their witness) Dan Maloney and his Death Ships are Midwestern weather when they're on the stage, emulating the topsy-turvy form the skies take on all occasions where they're from and where we're from. Obviously, we have to respect that."
Daytrotter (April 2007 written by Sean Moeller)



"Maloney is without question a talented songwriter and the guitar play between himself and lead guitarist Randall Davis was exquisite. The band walks an interesting line between John Mellencamp and the Counting Crows and I found myself thinking "America, Fuck Yeah!" at a couple different points in the set, but it worked for them."
The Tripwire Live Review (Jan 2007 written by Matt Dufour)
"In Iowa City, the Death Ships squeeze all the imaginative sparks from the form. Songwriter and singer Dan Maloney tunes his voice to the pigeons cooing outside his working-stiff-apartment window, his band vaults from pretty drone to prettier piano pop, and "like a dreamer without a dream, a schemer without a scheme," they all find reveries in landlocked malaise. The Death Ships' melancholy is pure country, its rhythms are pure rock — and its willingness to take risks sets the band quite apart."
Riverfront Times St. Louis (April 2007 written by Roy Kasten)
"Starting off the show was Death Ships, an alt-country quartet from Iowa City. With a name like Death Ships and a debut album titled Seeds of Devastation, you would expect the Midwest's answer to Finnish super metal band Lordi. (We just had to throw a Lordi reference in there). Instead, lead singer and guitarist Dan Maloney crooned over slide guitar-filled ballads and upbeat rockers about the complexities of relationships and politics. Maloney's singing and songwriting carried the band, especially his vocal work on "Little Mystery."
Dcist Live Review (May 2007 written by Matt Sedlar)
"Primary singer-songwriter Dan Maloney's impressive control over his songs, wringing maximum emotional weight out of a riff or a phrase, is all the more impressive when considering this is Death Ships first release. The bar has been set high."
Pop Matters Slipped Disc Feature (Jan 2007 written by Peter Funk)
"Seeds of Devesatation is a solid, promising record that has the potential and passion to be someone's very favorite record, or at least one that they hide from friends and keep to themselves, a personal little gem that's a confession from the inside out."
New City Chicago (Jan 2007 written by Tom Lynch)
"Seeds of Devastation is a type of still-life with accompaniment. With impressive scope and musical dexterity, it shifts its focus (perhaps unconsciously) from peep-hole to bird's-eye-view, from charged political narrative to musings on cities and relationships, offering us a varied and refreshing perspective on modern life. Replacing postmodern distance (okay, the name is certainly a joke) with a sense of place and honesty, Death Ships debut is a vessel that should carry them well beyond the confines of Iowa City."
Cokemachineglow (August 2006 written by Craig Eley)
"Why you should know them: Because their as-yet-unreleased debut, Seeds of Devastation, is itching to be your soundtrack for watching leaves change color later this year(here's hoping it finds a label home before then). The bands mature alt-pop style is wise beyond its years-and is completely unsuited for a band as heavy as the Death Ships."
Alternative Press (May 2006 written Scott Heisel)
"The Death Ships have very quickly become the most talked about band in Iowa City, and it's clear that it won't be out little secret too much longer. Dan Maloney and company have created nothing less than the best record to come out locally in a decade or more, although to think of them as local is unncesessary, with something so unniversally appealing."
The Little Village (October 2006 written by William Fare)
"Seeds of Devastation is a pop album shimmering with easy confidence and solid melodies. Singer Dan Maloney's olive-oil voice inhabits a slim juncture between David Bazan and Evan Dando, and the arrangements have a real eye for the radio in the right way, with lap-steel fills and full-sounding choruses. It's a surprisingly mature effort for a debut album."
Mammoth Press (September 2006 written by Aric Annear)
"Leave it to a band with a moniker and album title that suggest some kind of shrieking, hell-bent Finnish metal act begging for an assisted suicide lawsuit to create one of the year's most elegant and sophisticated indie-pop albums. Bottom line, "Seeds of Devastation" is a triumph in every way."
Press Citizen (August 2006 written by Jim Musser)
"I usually don't have an addictive personality, or if I do it's only at intermittent times. Everyone goes through their phases of different addictions (love, alcohol, sex, whatever), my only constant addiction being music. Over the past month, that addiction has been with two songs from one band: Death Ships."
I Guess I'm Floating Blog (March 2006 written by Nathaniel)



E-Mail:
Booking: deathships@gmail.com
Licensing:
Ken @ Pravda Licensing: pravda@pravdamusic.com (Seeds of Devastation)
Chris & Hannah @ Ghost Town Licensing:
Chris@ghost-town.com, Hannah@ghost-town.com
(Maybe Arkansas EP)



All Songs Published under Faithful Anchor Music (ASCAP)