One Last Caress

One Last Caress

Genres: deathrock

About One Last Caress

One Last Caress is a Deathrock band from Fresno, CA. Founded in 2005 by Batlord Carcas, along with a few friends, began to develop their sound into what became their dark, sullen, and daringly said engergetic expression rooted in their punk attitude. Founded in 2005 by Batlord Carcas, it was the beginning of summer. And at that time, Fresno's street punk scene was thriving. . . . . but there weren't any dark punk or deathrock bands performing, or even existing, in the area at that time. Batlord Carcas had met a young man named Zach McGraw at an all ages Goth event, and they became friends. They decided they wanted to start a band together, an d within that month, Batlord Carcas met Drake Batelaan - whom he also befriended - and that's when the steps got closer toward making things come together. With Batlord Carcas as Vocalist and songwriter, Zach on Guitar, and Drake on Bass, that was the starting point for the newly-formed group. On June 6, 2005, Batlord Carcas and his newfound bandmates performed on stage at an Open Mic Night at The Starline. That was the very first gig. Just before the gig started, they acquired their first drummer, Jonathan Rivas (who later moved to Bassist). Batlord Carcas and Zach McGraw chose the name "ONE LAST CARESS" as a name to symbolize the last dying breath of lovers or victims of a tragic death, as well a nod to The Misfits song "Last Caress". The influences everyone agreed upon would be rooted in punk, but dark(er), and more mutated compared to what was commonly accepted in the ears of the locals. The early songs were somewhat similar to the dark, noisy Batcave-oriented sound akin to Nick Cave & The Birthday Party. One Last Caress performed these Open Mic gigs through summer/ fall 2005, with Shadow making an occasional guest appearance as an additional guitar. Unfortunately, the songs lyrics and musical composition were never recorded, and were later lost in time and memory after the band suffered a little break-up when Zach and Drake had some personal differences, and left the band. What was lost from the lyrics and musical composition was then re-written by Batlord Carcas, and became more focused as opposed to the early incarnation of One Last Caress. By the Summer of 2006, the band had reformed with Shadow on Guitar, Drake on Bass, and Jonathan Rivas on Drums. They did Open Mic nights at Starline once again, then did gigs in 2007, with another line-up change by the Summer of 2007, when Tyler Eroh joined on Drums, moving Jonathan Rivas to Bass. During that period it was a strong & unified time for the band, as they performed the songs "Chainsaw Maniacs" and "Black Wizard." People at The Starline became fans, and it was motivation for the band to keep alive. Batlord Carcas did some demo version recordings of "Chainsaw Maniacs" and "Black Wizard", but the quality was too low to become an album-worthy release. Instead, the songs were posted onto the One Last Caress MySpace page to help promote to potential fans, in hopes to later make a quality album. Drake became a fill-in, as he chose to focus on fronting A.G.F. which was his Punk Rock band with Tyler Eroh, Jonathan Rivas, and Shadow during times that OLC didn't have gigs. One Last Caress did get to perform one song (Chainsaw Maniacs) for a backyard show in Fresno before the Police came and pulled the plug. 2008 was more of a hiatus for the band, only doing a small number of gigs. 2009 was when things started to become more lively for One Last Caress, and they started to practice regularly. Upon February 2010, One Last Caress performed live at the Chinatown Youth Center in Fresno, CA. It was the next step in getting out there and standing out from the crowd. The next gig after that was on March 5, 2010-- Opening for a hardcore band by the name of Grave Maker. At that show, One Last Caress made the crowd go insane - doing walls of death, circle pitting, slam dancing, singing along - all good review. The promoters started to book more shows with OLC opening up! April 4th @ Chinatown Youth Center had received good review, too. Pinky by then had joined, which gave OLC dual vocals - further bolstering the dark power of the band. With One Last Caress performing shows at Chinatown Youth Center, the word spread about a DEATHROCK band in Fresno, of all places. By the fall of 2010, the band was thrown through another loop, losing both Tyler Eroh and Jonothan Rivas - initially after the farewell show of A.G.F., which ended up becoming a collaboration set with OLC. There was even a backyard show w/ the Velisha near the end of 2010, in which Drake Batelaan once again took up bass - leaving the drum seat once again to Shadow as the Batlord took up guitar & vocals for the night. . . . after a short set, Shadow took back his guitar as the Batlord took bass. An instrumental set was played, and "Zombies II" was born - later being incorporated into the band's setlist. Against the odds, One Last Caress pushed on, recruiting Seth Carlock / Cesspool on bass, and 3 shows featuring guest drummers - with Shadow as their coach. By early 2011, Bryan Macabre grabbed his kit and answered to OLC's call for a drummer. With a new lineup, and a more defined sound, the band came back with a bang as they blew away the crowd with their by-then expanded list of songs - as well as their ever-faithful fan favorites (including a speed-bullet version of "Chainsaw Maniacs"). With the release of their debut Live DVD and Live album, and with a studio album being published in mid-October, this will be a testimony to the heart and soul of this band's members, their passion for Life, and understanding with Death.

Taken from Last.fm

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