The Birthday Massacre

The Birthday Massacre is a synth rock band, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The band was officially formed in 1999, known at that time as Imagica. The band consists of Chibi (vocals), Rainbow (guitars and programming), Michael Falcore (guitars), Owen (keyboards), O.E. (previously drums, now bass), and Rhim (drums). Their sound is mostly a fusion of retro electronica and dynamic contemporary songwriting. Elements of children’s fiction and adult fantasy are combined with twisting distortion and euphoric melody to create a unique and original sound dubbed “post-retro”. This sound is also affiliated with “synth rock” a rising genre influenced by elements 80’s synthpop, industrial, and gothic rock. The group originated in London, Ontario under the name Imagica.

The group’s original line-up consisted of: Chibi, Rainbow, Michael Falcore, and Aslan Osiris (bass). Dank played live keyboards and O.E. joined the group on live drums. A seven-song limited edition demo was released. In 2001, Dank left the group, and the others relocated from London to Toronto, Ontario, to begin recording. There, they recorded another limited edition demo, this time with five songs. Shortly thereafter, the band adopted the name The Birthday Massacre. In July of 2002, The Birthday Massacre independently released a limited edition CD entitled “Nothing and Nowhere”. In 2003, Adm joined the band on live keyboards and Rhim on drums. On July 20, 2004, The Birthday Massacre released a nine song EP entitled “Violet” and at the end of the year, re-released “Nothing and Nowhere” with new sleeve artwork. Adm soon left thereafter to explore his own projects. In the fall of 2004, the band was signed to Repo Records in Germany, and released a remastered and expanded version of “Violet” in Europe, including updated album art in a digipak case. In 2005 the band signed to Metropolis Records and released “Violet” in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and most of South America. Owen joined on live keyboards and in August, the band began a series of international tours taking them to Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Belgium. Also in August, a DVD consisting of a video for the song “Blue” was released.

It also included behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, a studio performance of “Nevermind” as well as live performances of “Violet” and “Video Kid”. The centerpiece of the DVD was the Dan Ouellette-directed video for “Blue”. In early 2006, the Birthday Massacre toured North America, playing across Canada, the United States, and Mexico on their “Broken Minds” tour. They also played Europe in the summer of 2006. In June 2007, it was announced that the band was working on a new record with Canadian producer/engineer Dave “Rave” Ogilvie (producer of many industrial acts such as Skinny Puppy, not to be confused with Kevin Ogilvie, frontman of Skinny Puppy) and that bass player Aslan Osiris had left the band for his own project. Aslan has been replaced on bass by former drummer O.E.. The demo version of the first single, “Kill The Lights”, was released on Vampirefreaks and MySpace for streaming on January 1, 2007. “Looking Glass” (another single from “Walking With Strangers”) was released for streaming on August 1, 2007 for Vampirefreaks and MySpace. On September 11th, 2007 the band released “Walking With Strangers” in North America, entering at #10 on the Billboard “Top Heatseekers” chart for September 29th. The album was released in Europe on September 21 and in the UK on October 22