Gods Child was an American rock band from New York City, New York, formed in 1991 by Chris Seefried (lead vocals and guitar) and Gary DeRosa (keyboards and background vocals). Steve Tayler Barrett, the band's manager, was an integral part of the creative as well as the business side of the band. His input included lyrics, song titles, song structures, styling, band personnel and creative ideas.
Gods Child gained popularity following the release of their debut album, Everybody (1994), which featured the hit single "Everybody's 1". Their second album, Aluminum, was a critics' choice but less of a radio hit.
After touring for this album, the band relocated to Los Angeles and changed their name to Joe 90. They went on to make debut record Dream This for Geffen Records, along with other independent releases.
The band's influences include T.Rex, Lou Reed, Prince, Patti Smith, Sly and The Family Stone, The Doors, Curtis Mayfield, U2, early Blue Öyster Cult and The Beatles.
History
Formation
Singer/guitarist Chris Seefried and keyboardist Gary DeRosa both grew up in Dix Hills, New York, and played in local bands Mercury and Random Speed.
After graduating from Long Island University and Hofstra University, respectively, Seefried and DeRosa moved to Manhattan and started the duo Brother Brother. Playing gigs all around the city and surrounding boroughs by night and recording demos during the day, they set up shop in the Westbeth building on the Lower West Side. The basement of this artist enclave housed studios for various artists and musicians, including The Lounge Lizards and Suzanne Vega.
DeRosa and Seefried had an 8-track recording studio where they recorded their Brother Brother demos with DeRosa engineering (and where Luscious Jackson recorded their debut record, In Search Of Manny). The demos wound up in the hands of British hit maker at the time, Michael Baker. Having had platinum success with British neo-soul band Wet, Wet, Wet, Baker saw Brother Brother as an American followup, and signed them to his production company Simple Simon, which resulted in a singles and album deal with Chrysalis records U.K. The duo released two charting singles in the U.K., "Temptation Eyes", a cover of the 1960s song by The Grass Roots, and the Seefried-penned "All American". A full-length album was recorded but not released.
After the experience of making major label pop-oriented music, Seefried and DeRosa vowed to have complete control of their music and production from then on. Seefried met Steve Tayler Barrett, an Englishman who worked for HMV group and was looking to start an artist management group. He helped change the band's musical direction to something more akin to his personal taste, which was steeped in the early glam rock traditions of T.Rex. This, coupled with Seefried's love of Lou Reed and Patti Smith formed the foundations of the Gods Child sound.
After settling on a still temporary but powerful group that included Shawn Pelton on drums and Mark Plati, who had mixed the Brother Brother album, on bass, the newly named Gods Child started playing shows in Manhattan at CBGB and opening for national groups at Irving Plaza and the Academy.
After the positive response to the new material, Seefried and DeRosa went back into their Westbeth studio and recorded seven songs. They took these 8-track recordings to various studios in the city and had Pelton overdub drums and percussion. With a residency in the Czech Republic coming up, Seefried and DeRosa took the tapes to Arthur Baker's Shakedown studio in New Jersey and again had Mark Plati do the mixing. As the last mix for the song "Reachin" (with Frank Funaro on drums) was being printed, Seefried and DeRosa left to play the Czech Republic.
During this time Tayler Barrett created a bidding war among major labels for the album, and, having spoken to Hugo Burnham (A&R at Qwest, Quincy Jones' label), started to form a lasting relationship which would lead to Gods Child eventually signing with Qwest/Warner Bros.