THE BEAST

In the wake of the tragic, untimely death of longtime drummer Dave Castillo on November 12th, underground icons Deceased have announced their new touring drummer, Amos Rifkin, as well as structural changes to their recording lineup. Deceased founder and vocalist King Fowley says the following: "Deceased recently lost our drummer and dear friend Dave Castillo. He sadly drowned while visiting family in El Salvador. Deceased is a band that is all about family and friendship above all. The shock is still fresh in our systems as we decide how to proceed with the band's future. After a few weeks of letting everything sink in, it is now a fruition. Deceased is continuing on! We all know in our hearts Dave would be the very first one to tell us to keep on rocking. The plan now is for me to go back to playing drums on the studio records, and we are bringing in a friend to play live drums for us."

Continuing, King says, "Finding the right guy to play drums for us wasn't easy. There's a lot to what we do drum-wise in the band, and we need a heavy, precise hitter whose 110% always reliable and ready to rock at the drop of a hat. Oddly, how we found this guy is kinda 'haunting,' keeping in a Deceased career-long off-kilter kind of way. A few months ago, while playing on tour, Dave fell in love with a band called Death of Kings that were supporting us. He totally enjoyed their in-your-face thrash attack and really dug the drumming in the band. The two bands became good pals and metal brothers over the almost-two-week jaunt. At our last show of the tour in Detroit, Michigan, Dave told me, 'If anything ever happens to me, you gotta get this motherfucker on drums - he kicks ass!' Hauntingly enough, we stand here today finding a replacement for Dave. Talking amongst band members, a name kept coming up in every conversation. I put it at my top of the list of things for me to look into. Weirdly, at this same time, I was asked for my address by the guy and a letter came to my house. The letter was a handwritten two pages expressing condolences and had a genuine honesty to it that immediately made me take notice. He wrote of how much he enjoyed playing together on the tour and how Deceased was a powerful entity in the underground music world. About two thirds through the letter, he started to talk of offering his playing skills to the band to keep the entity rolling on. I called him up, and we talked for a good while. I explained how things work in the band and what we'd need and expect from him. He was all in, as were we. Deceased has people living all over the world anymore, it seems, so him being four states over from us is nothing. Homework is the most important thing in this band, and you come in ready in full. After a few video tryouts of him playing to our music, it is exactly as expected - full-hearted and played with passion, and a knack for understanding the wacky traits that are Deceased drums. The band will rehearse throughout winter and into 2019. Look for our first shows April 14th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Decibel music festival, quickly followed on April 19th at the Milwaukee NYDM spring bash."

Concluding, "So here we are, about to go into our 34th year as a band. And I now introduce you to our new touring drummer, and fellow maniac for the music, Amos Rifkin. UP THE TOMBSTONES!"

Deceased's long-awaited eighth album, Ghostly White, is out now via Hells Headbangers. It features Dave Castillo's final performance with the band, and can be heard in its entirety HERE at Hells Headbangers' Bandcamp.

DAVE CASTILLO
November 25th, 1974 - November 12th, 2018

MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/DECEASED-UP-THE-TOMBSTONES-OFFICIAL-BAND-PAGE-309398579508

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