Josh Brown (musician)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joshua Brown (born 1976), of Jackson, Tennessee, is the lead singer of the Christian rock band Day of Fire, was the lead singer of the mainstream rock music band Full Devil Jacket, and is featured on the Fireflight hit song You Decide.
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[edit] Early life
Josh Brown wanted to be a rock-star at a very early age. He began songwriting at the age of 14, forming a band called Fork. At the age of 15 he was already partying, doing drugs, and drinking heavily. He started a new heavy metal band called the Voodoo Hippies in 1993 (they changed their to name to Full Devil Jacket in 1995 after discovering a Detroit band already had that name).
In late 1998 the band signed to Island/Def Jam Records after playing in the Tampa, FL area. They were on tour with bands such as Creed, Nickelback, and Type O Negative, playing at Woodstock '99. Shortly afterwards they released their album "A Wax Box...". On March 7, 2000 the band released their debut album "Full Devil Jacket" which has 11 tracks. They were featured in the Tattoo the Earth tour with many bands such as such as Mudvayne, Slipknot, Sepultura, Slayer, and Coal Chamber with Metallica headlining one show. Their song "Wanna Be Martyr" was put on the Scream 3 soundtrack in 2000, while "Green Iron Fist" (released April 2000) made MTV's Heavy Metal 2000.
While on tour with Creed in 2000, Brown suffered a severe heroin overdose - he nearly died. Many people say this was when he started to turn his life around through a combination of rehab and prayer.
In March of 2001 the band was supposed to be flying to L.A. to start recording their second album. During the writing of the second album, Brown officially returned to his faith in God, said he felt "no peace" in making the second album and left the band. He had a nervous breakdown and was unable to write or sing. The album was unfinished and remains unreleased to this day. Once Brown announced he was leaving, Michael Reaves also decided to leave. The band was supposed to go back on tour in September/October of 2001. Some projects the band was working on at the time included "Shelter", "Superdysfunctional Hero", "All Apologies", "Bottle", and "Black Days".
The band broke up in 2001.
[edit] Recovering and Starting a new life
Brown and Adrianne had been married for a month when they moved back to Jackson, TN after the breakup of Full Devil Jacket. He left the music industry and he worked for a time as a dishwasher at a nursing home while trying to beat his drug addiction. He was still drinking, but started attending a church in Jackson, TN called Jackson Family Worship Center and listening to christian rock. He couldn't stay away from music, and when he went on tour with Third Day he began to see music a different way. Once it was known that he was back in the music industry he had many choices to make, and offers from a few different bands, but he still suffered songwriter's block. According to one of his interviews he said "Everytime someone wanted me to write and I played my guitar I felt like I was holding a dead body". It was not yet the right time to resume playing. During this year, his daughter was born.
[edit] Birth of Day of Fire
At a different interview, Brown said "God told me that he wanted me to make music". Soon after, Essential/Sony BMG Records contacted him and they were interested in hearing him record. So he took his guitar and some material he had written before, and met with his church guitarist Gregg Hionis to write some new songs.
Eventually a new band was formed, Day of Fire, and they began working on their first album. Josh Brown is the lead singer, Joe Pangallo plays guitar, with Chris Pangallo on bass and Zach Simms on drums. In 2004 they released their debut album "Day of Fire" which it got them on tour with TobyMac, and Third Day. Their debut won a Dove Award for Rock Album of the Year and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album.
Recent releases include "Cut and Move" in early June of 2006.
Josh Brown has also provided vocals for Fireflight on their lead single, "You Decide". The song was the top request at tvu music television in August through October 2006, and the second most played song on Christian Rock radio stations according to the September 1, 2006 R&R magazine airplay chart.
Some former members of Full Devil Jacket had formed a band called Waxbox but were short-lived and never released an album.
