Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life. Now Available on iTunes and at CDBaby.com
Synthetic Division CD, Get with the Programs, IS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE on iTunes! Or go to CD Baby for an old-fashioned compact disc that you can cuddle.
"Like a bastard child of Erasure and DEVO; it (Get With The Programs) has the quirkiness of the latter, yet the sentimental grace of the former." - ReGen Magazine Online
"A heavy Depeche Mode vibe. Synthetic Division will get you moving!" -C-VILLE Weekly
"Synthetic Division might be your new key to happiness. This is dance-able in the same kind of way that Wolfsheim and Covenant are." - Gothic Angst
"Quality material worthy of label attention." - Godsend Reviews
"Synthetic Division have learned how to appeal to the head and heart as well as the ass." - The Chicago Reader (A. Sterzinger)
"Get With the Programs’ goodness is really refreshing. Each song creates a swirly, decadent atmosphere." - Maxine Nation for Machinerie
"Plenty of infectious vocal hooks and synth lines. this release looks as good as it sounds." - The Core, WNRN 91.9
The Synthetic Division Saga
Born with hemophilia and diagnosed with HIV as a child, Shawn Decker had the opportunity to meet anyone in the world through the Make-A-Wish Foundation: he chose Depeche Mode. "Jim Morrison got his songwriting powers as a child, when his parents drove past a car accident and the spirits of dead Native Americans lept into his soul," Decker says. "I got mine by shaking the hand of Martin Gore."
In high school, Shawn refused to give his medical dramas any power over his life, and didn't talk about them even to his closest friends. Instead, he turned to electronic music, which spoke to him on a deeply personal level. “When I put on the headphones to listen to my favorite bands,” says Decker, “everything else felt secondary, and manageable as a consequence.”
Synthetic Division is now making the music. In 2006-07, Shawn collaborated with Richmond-based electro musician Kyle Wiggins, and together they produced Get with the Programs, recording the album at Final Symphony Studios in Charlottesville, Virginia, by Micah Consylman of Bella Morte.
In late 2007, former In Tenebris keyboardist, Marshall Camden, joined Synthetic Division to add a dynamic presence to the live show, helping to deliver the dance-heavy tunes that move your heart as well as your feet. Josh D'Elia has also stepped up to play keyboards on tour, and Mike Johnson of Ego Likeness has been known to sit on drums from time to time.
2010 offers a new LP, A Symptom of Life, which commemorates Decker's now 20-year old dying wish, and a tour with Bella Morte. Look for more from Synthetic Division in the months to come!
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Synthetic Division's debut full-length CD, Get with the Programs, is now available on the official web site and on iTunes. The CD was recorded in 2007 at Final Symphony Studio in Charlottesville, Virginia, and was produced by Micah Consylman and Synthetic Division.
Shawn's memoir, My Pet Virus: The True Story of a Rebel Without a Cure, was published by the Penguin Group in September of 2006.
WHAT BADASSES ARE SAYING ABOUT THE BOOK:
"Shawn Decker has a way of making us thickblooded negatoid musicians feel like limp dicks for not making the most of our talent and our lives." - Jeff Diehm of The Last Dance
"I picked up My Pet Virus and didn’t set it down ‘til I was done, and I’m a busy guy. Shawn Decker’s getting more attention for this book than Britney Spears’ got for forgetting her panties. I dig it, and I’m damned sure you will too!"
- Andy Deane of Bella Morte
"Shawn Decker is the King of the Thinblood Hotties!" - Augusten Burroughs, author of Running With Scissors
What the hell is all this "thinblood" and "negatoid" nonsense? Pick up My Pet Virus at your local bookstore and find out!
You can find Shawn gigging as Synthetic Division, on TV and at college campuses talking about HIV/AIDS or hounding his friends in Bella Morte as BMTV.
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