Dead Heavens

Dead Heavens
Drew Thomas, Paul Kostabi, Nathan Aguilar, Walter Schreifels
Background information
Origin	New York, NY, United States
Genres	blues rock, Psychedelic rock, alternative rock
Years active	2015-present
Labels	Thrill Me Records, Velvet Elk Records, One Little Indian Records
Website	deadheavens.com
Members	Walter Schreifels Paul Kostabi Nathan Aguilar Drew Thomas

Dead Heavens is a New York-based blues rock band formed in 2015. It consists of guitarist and vocalist Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand, Rival Schools), guitarist Paul Kostabi (Youth Gone Mad, White Zombie), drummer Drew Thomas (Youth of Today, Into Another, Bold) and bass guitarist Nathan Aguilar (Cults).

Dead Heavens started out life as Walter Schreifels' backing band during the 2013 tour with Nathan Aguilar on bass and Drew Thomas on drums. Upon returning from the tour Aguilar acquainted Schreifels and Thomas with the owner of Thunderdome Studios, Paul Kostabi. It was at these studios the quartet started jamming and recording ideas together, and with Kostabi's massive collection of 70's recording reels from the likes of The James Gang, Sabbath, and Hendrix running in between takes the inspiration began to flow.

Continuing into the Spring 2014, Kostabi joined the other three and performed on guitar at Walter Schreifels live band shows, under the guise of Walter Schreifels Band. Mixing some of Schreifels hits along with new blues inspired jams.

Over the course of Summer 2014 the four piece now with heavier and dual guitar leads, started to morph from a live project into a band and by October 2014 the name Dead Heavens started to be used.

It was not until February 2015 that the band were to be billed as Dead Heavens, dropping Walter Schreifels name. Performing at Brooklyn's St. Vitus Bar with a full set of new material. From here the band went on to do a full tour of the States.

In an interview vocalist and guitarist stated the name Dead Heavens came to him while watching the 1970s film An American Hippie In Israel. In the film the lead character Mike meets up with three Israelis. They jump into their convertible and head to the sea where they join a larger group of hippies and decide to form an isolated community on a deserted island. Here they hope to begin a new “free” society, their idea of heaven. In the process they lose their raft, the waters around the island are shark infested, there’s no drinkable water or food save a single lamb which the hippies ultimately fight to the death for. Their ambitions of building heaven become dead..