Sexart
SexArt was an American nu-metal band that formed in 1991.
SexArt - Band
- Jonathan Davis - vocals
- Dennis Shinn - drums
- Ray Solis - guitar
- Ryan Shuck - guitar
- Dave DeRoo - bass
- Richard Morrill - vocals
Career
They are best known for being the band that Jonathan Davis was in, before he became the singer for Korn in 1993.
SexArt: Official music group line-up; Jonathan Davis vocalist / singer, David DeRoo played bass, Dennis Shinn played drums, Ray Solis, and Ryan Shuck played guitar.
Ty Elam appeared as a guest vocalist, sharing vocal duties on the only released SexArt track, "Inside", which featured on the Bakersfield Ca. compilation cd Cultivation '92 on the indie label "A Kick Produkt".
SexArt performed shows often, and throughout the course of two years. SexArt participated in both the 1993 Kern County, and Fresno County "Battle Of The Bands" contests, and won them both.
Jonathan Davis left the band in early 1993. Following Davis's departure, Richard Morrill auditioned and became the new singer for SexArt.
Richard Morrill previously sang for Bakersfield music group L.A.P.D... The SexArt, along with Richard Morrill, relocated from Bakersfield, to Los Angeles, Ca. Where they changed the group name to SuperModel.
SuperModel
Formed late 1993, SuperModel joined with ex-singer L.A.P.D. member, Richard Morrill, and moved from Bakersfield Ca. to Los Angeles, Ca. After a year, on the later side of 1994, the band relocated to Huntington Beach Ca.. The band maintained a steady live performance all around Southern Ca. until they broke up in early 1996. SuperModel had seven songs. None of which were released, nor professionally recorded.SuperModel (post SexArt)
- Richard Morrill - vocals
- Dennis Shinn - drums
- Ray Solis - guitar
- Ryan Shuck - guitar
- Dave DeRoo - bass
Post-SexArt / SuperModel
In 1996 the band "SuperModel" had dissolved. From that point Dennis Shinn had met up with Jay Gordon, and Jay Baumgardner to secure them on behalf RoadRunner Records, becoming the production team to produce the debut LP for the band Coal Chamber. From there, Dennis Shinn teamed up with Jay Gordon to start a new band. Dennis Shinn -, Ryan Shuck -, and Jay Gordon -, becoming the early stages of the music group Orgy. Later, Dennis Shinn departed from the group to focus on music production. Ryan Shuck remained in the band, and Orgy, were signed onto the Elementree label shortly after Shinn's departure. In 1998, Orgy released their debut album "Candyass", RIAA Certified Platinum, selling almost two million copies worldwide.
Ryan Shuck later departed from Orgy, to start Julien-K. Shuck also made one album with Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, titled Dead By Sunrise. Julien-K remain active. In 2019, Ryan Shuck became the singer for Adema.
As "SuperModel" dissolved in 1996, David DeRoo and Ray Solis returned to Bakersfield and created a new band, titled "Juice". Juice recorded a few demos and played shows extensively for a couple of years. The band dissolved in 1999 due to creative differences.
Following the break-up of Juice, David DeRoo along with bandmate Tim Fluckey joined Mark Chavez to form Adema. The band garnished a stellar recording contract with Arista Records in 2001. Adema released their self-titled debut LP, peaking at number 27 on the Billboard Top 200.
Adema became RIAA certified Gold in the US and sold over 1 million copies worldwide.
Adema remain active.
In 1997, following drum duties and his early departure from Orgy, Dennis Shinn carried out his passion for artist development, and producing music. Over the years Shinn has helped develop numerous new music groups, rap artists, and singers, securing them with record labels. From 1999 thru 2010 Shinn also fronted a post-punk music group as the lead singer. Dennis Shinn remains a music producer under the name "AKA MENACE", and has signed 7 new artist's whom he is also producing. Among them is the hiphop singer Matt Craven
Band Break-Up
During the years 1992–1993, the band SexArt had been gaining momentum, local buzz, crowd attendance, as well as local radio support.Around this time is also when the band members of Korn went to watch a show by SexArt, where they spotted Jonathan Davis singing. Davis was approached by the band members of Korn to depart from SexArt and join in a band with them. This was before their very last live performance. SexArt's last show they performed with Jonathan as their singer was "Bakersfield's Battle of the Bands". A few weeks later, the band all came together to do one last recording of three songs. Immediately following the last SexArt studio session, the band re-joined without Davis, in search of new singer.
Discography
SexArt were never signed to a record label, although creating around fifteen songs. Six of the songs were recorded at the Rick Davis recording studio called "Fat Tracks". The others were recorded on boom box, and/or 4-track recorders. The only released song by SexArt was entitled "Inside", which featured Ty Elam from Videodrone taking on the vocal duties, as Jonathan Davis appears at the ending of the song. The song was released on the Cultivation '92 compilation CD, from the label "A Kick Produkt". The band had 15 songs all together and had only semi-professionally recorded six songs over the course of three recording sessions from 1992, thru 1993. The recordings were produced inside the Rick Davis recording studio "Fat Tracks" - Bakersfield Ca. The songs chosen to be recorded; 1: Blind, 2: Follow Me, aka: Daddy, 3: I Wanna Know Why, 4: Give Up, 5: Waste My Time, and 6: Inside.The songs "Follow Me -, and Blind", represented by Korn, were originally written by Dennis Shinn. Both songs had been re-produced, and featured on Korn's 1993 demo tape Neidermayer's Mind, as well as their debut album LP self-titled 1994 debut.
Civil Matter
Although not heavily publicized, it's very well known that Dennis Shinn had written the song Blind entirely, the music composition, lyrics, and melodies. And as a co-writer on such songs as "Alive, Daddy, and Predictable". These are the 4 songs that made up Korn's 1993 demo tape "Neidermayer's Mind" which placed Korn into their record label recording contract. Korn's debut LP 1994 featured 3 of the 4 songs that Shinn helped create. The song "Alive" came a decade later landing on Korn's "Take A Look In The Mirror" album LP. As explained by Dennis Shinn, it was the band Korn and Jonathan Davis who had failed to credit the writers. Or in other words "stole or lifted" the material that Shinn had created. Because of this, Shinn was forced to hire legal counsel and was then able to fetch a small portion of his rightful credits once Korn surrendered from the lawsuit. "Blind and Daddy" are the two songs Korn settled the civil suit with by giving Dennis Shinn credits. Ryan Shuck was also granted a portion of credit, even though the debut Korn LP hadn't featured any of his work. During SexArt, Shuck had added one musical piece to the pre-existing song by Shinn "Blind". The same music piece also appeared on Korn's 1993 demo tape. However, Shuck's minor contribution was removed once Korn had re-recorded "Blind" for their debut album LP in 1994.Accolades
SexArt's "BLIND" went on to become Korn's most iconic song. Not only was it the song that secured Korn major label recording contracts, and becoming the very 1st single and music video to ever be released by Korn. The song appears on many products, films, video games, live concert and music festival DVDs.Collectively selling more than 12 Million units WorldWide. Debut Korn LP selling 10 Million World Wide, 4 Million in the U.S. RIAA Certified 2X Platinum.
Online Presence: "Blind" has cleared 90 MILLION Video views, and 120 MILLION Audio streams. Coming up on 30 years, it's known that "Blind" is the song that forged the "Nu-Metal" hard rock music genre. Countless magazines have declared "Blind" as the best Nu-Metal song, and Guitar of all time.
SPIN Magazine - Korn songs, Best Hits List 2019 "BLIND #1"
ROLLING STONE - Korn's 1994 Debut LP: The Oral History of the Most Important Metal Record of the Last 20 Years
METAL HAMMER - The 100 best metal songs of the 90s "BLIND #1"
GUITAR WORLD - The 100 best metal songs of the 90s "BLIND #1"
AXS - Top 10 Best Korn Songs "BLIND #1"