The Dear & Departed

The Dear & Departed
L-R: Cortney, Keath, Dan, Darren, Jimmy
Background information
Also known as	TD&D, D&D, Dear and Departed
Origin	Auckland, New Zealand. Orange County, California, U.S.
Genres	New wave, gothic rock
Years active	2006 - 2012
Labels	Science Records Equal Vision Records
Website	thedearanddeparted.com
Members	Dan Smith Darren Parkinson Scott Sprigg Jimmy Walsh Keath Moon
Past members	Simon O'Gorman Joel Bourne Lisa Marx David Williams

The Dear & Departed is a rock band from Orange County and Los Angeles, California, founded by Dan Smith. Founded in 2006, the band went on the Vans Warped Tour and released their debut album Something Quite Peculiar that same year. In 2007 the band again played on the tour, and some other tours followed. After releasing an EP in January 2010, the band went into the studio in late 2010 to work on their next full-length album titled Every Waking Moment which was released on Equal Vision Records on November 8, 2011. As of July 13, the band have split with no real reason behind it. A message broke the news on their Facebook page.

Dan Smith (aka Dan Under) made his mark growing up in New Zealand. There, his music career blossomed playing for countless bands in the NZ punk/hardcore scene and Smith was active in both show promotion and underground record labels. Dan left New Zealand in 2001 to pursue his music further and also his rapidly growing tattooing career. After spending 2 years mostly in Australia, he migrated to the United States in 2005. Dan continues to return to New Zealand regularly and is a spokesperson for the country on the world-famous TLC hit TV show LA Ink.

The band was signed by Science Records, going on the Vans Warped Tour and working with other experienced artists and producers. Working with producer Chris Vrenna, they recorded their debut album, Something Quite Peculiar, in December 2006. Vrenna has worked with such bands as U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Killing Joke, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson and Gnarls Barkley.