Band Biography:
Children Of Perdition is a musical project created by David Sinclair-Smith as a medium to express his musical creativity. David grew up in the industrial seaside town of Wollongong where he performed and recorded in local metal bands such as Galgotha, Awakening and The Kindred. Over a period between 1992 and 2015, David composed his own songs and began recording these in private for his own satisfaction. Although some of these songs ended up being played live or recorded by Galgotha, Awakening, or The Kindred, they were never performed in the manner that David originally intended.
Children Of Perdition was created in order to play heavy music genres in the style of David’s favourite bands, and so David complied the best of his catalogue of over 30 songs and re-structured and rerecorded as private demos for potential live performance with friends.
The name “Children Of Perdition” came from a phrase in an Occult Book which noted a Gustav Dore artwork showing robed figures walking in formation: “Behold the followers of the Anti-Christ; the Children of Perdition.” The title of this book has since been forgotten, but David remembered the phrase and image that stuck with him since his early teen years.
The sound of Children Of Perdition evolved over the years, and although a predominantly “Death Metal” band, some other genres of metal and other music were incorporated. This was to ensure that Children Of Perdition retained melody and enough variance to make the songs both heavy and catchy. First and foremost Children Of Perdition is all about a good riff. Children Of Perdition’s riffs and styling are intentionally designed to be homages to David’s favourite bands.
Lyrically, Children Of Perdition song content is strongly influenced by Satanism and the writings of Anton Szandor LaVey and Peter H. Gilmore.
The final recording of the first Children Of Perdition album was finalised on the 31st of October 2015 comprising of 18 tracks with David playing all instruments and vocal tracks, and programming the drums and using stock sound effects. The whole album was recorded at David’s Wollongong home recording space on Apple “GarageBand,” the result is a raw compilation of sounds that became a foundation for Children Of Perdition to perform live.
Member Biographies:
DAVID SINCLAIR-SMITH:
A Generation-X child of the 1970s, David was introduced to the music and videos of KISS and the movies of Star Wars, which were to strongly influence his life. The combination of KISS’ imagery and the sweeping music of John William’s Star Wars score enhanced David’s appreciation of music and also creativity in the form of drawing. The exposure of Star Wars and KISS also lent an interest in special effects make-up and demonic-looking creatures. He preferred Gene Simmons, with his demonic costume, fire-breathing and blood-spewing, and found him more entertaining than Paul Star. And as appealing as Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi of the Star Wars mythology were, David found that Darth Vader and the Emperor were far more interesting.
During his pre-teen years, the mystical and mythical elements of Star Wars influenced his studies into the Japanese Martial arts such as Karate and Bujinkan Ninjutsu (the Art of the Ninja) in order to become as close to a Jedi Knight or Sith as realistically possible. The concept of The Force influenced his interest in the secret teachings or Ninpo Mikkyo of Ninjutsu and he delved further into the idea of focussing one’s thoughts into a crystallization of intent to cause change in the world according to one’s will.
At age nine, David’s mother worked in a private printing firm and knowing her son’s interest in art and demon imagery, brought home a spare copy of a Sydney pagan group’s publication. This publication had art by Rosaleen Norton (The “Witch of Kings Cross”), Austin Osman Spare and theories and rituals by Aleister Crowley. This embedded David with a desire to explore the Western Occult powers and rituals. Although aimed towards pagan and Wiccan (“White” nature-loving Witchcraft) interests, the magazine teemed with references to “The Devil” or darker Occult figures such as Lilith. These were the figures that drew David’s attention. Something innate within drew him to the darker or supposedly “evil” figures in mythology as opposed to the do-gooder heroes.
In 1987, David entered high school (Wollongong High) and made friends with a boy whose father was a university lecturer of classical music and his mother a music teacher. It was through this friendship that they both explored the heavier music that was shunned by their peers: Heavy Metal. The first main drawcard was Iron Maiden followed by Megadeth, Metallica, Anthrax, Motörhead, Venom and Slayer as these were the only extreme bands that were sold locally in the town of Wollongong. Gradually one local music store began to order more extreme music with bands such as Death and Obituary, but they could not order or refused to import the underground bands the David read about in magazines such as Metal Hammer and Metal Forces.
Together they decided to form a band and David’s friend was beginning to learn the guitar, so he suggested that David take up Bass Guitar (as his friend’s mother informed him that bass guitarists are hard to find). So, David purchased a Bass guitar and amplifier and started to take simple instruction from his friend on playing and then purchased Michael Bay books on Electric Bass and became self-taught. They formed a band with two other friends called “Death Merchant” that manifested in theory more than actual jamming or performances. David did take the band seriously and began his hand at song-writing and designing art and logos at age twelve.
In 1988, David’s friend’s family purchased a Video player and David bought the Metallica VHS Video “Cliff ‘em All.” They watched this religiously imagining what it would be like to play live and live the life that Metallica lived. The VHS also enabled them to enjoy horror movies from their local video stores including Damon Santostefano’s “Scream Greats, Vol 2: Satanism and Witchcraft,” which gave a relatively accurate account of not only Wicca (Witchcraft), but the often misunderstood religion of Satanism. The ideas expressed in the interviews with Church of Satan High Priest, Anton LaVey (the founder of Satanism as a codified religion) and Satanist Paul Valentine struck a strong chord with David and his interest in the Occult and Satanism in particular was goaded.
1988 also introduced David and his friend to an underground Heavy Metal import store in Sydney: Utopia Records. Paradise was found! Here was a store than held albums of underground bands like Mortal Sin, Hobb’s Angel of Death, Armoured Angel, Celtic Frost, Death, Obituary, Kreator, Destruction, Overkill and countless others on the rise during Thrash and Death Metal’s golden era.
Eventually leaving school in 1990 and studying Fine Art at a local Wollongong College in 1992, David and his friend decided to start writing songs in earnest and form a band with two friends that David met outside of their school network. The band was called Galgotha (spelt differently to the spelling of the place where Jesus Christ was supposedly crucified), from a suggestion by the drummer. They went on to record a five-song demo at Wollongong’s Main Street Studios and released it in local stores (Redback Music and John Howarth’s Rock Asylum) and sold copies via post after a review in the original Australian Heavy Metal magazine: Hot Metal.
Galgotha played their first show at the North Wollongong Hotel supporting other local bands, Preacher and Maleficarum (Eventually to become The Kindred). The band went through various line-up changes and David left to join The Kindred in 1993 playing Bass and taking on the stage name “Jeisman Rubicante” which he also used as a title in the media when representing his active involvement in Satanism as a Church of Satan member.
The Kindred went on to support bands such as Mortal Sin, Misery and Seggression amongst other Australian Death and Thrash Metal bands.
In 1999, David became focused on martial arts and work and was asked to leave The Kindred due to his inability to commit time to the band.
David continued performing live briefly with another Wollongong band called Awakening before focusing on martial arts and establishing himself in the corporate world.
David continued to work on songs and formed the project Children Of Perdition to capture the ideas in various formats from early 2000. Children Of Perdition went through various incarnations as an actual band, however only solo demos were recorded with David playing all of the instruments (and programming the drums) himself. These demos were used to show the other band members songs to which they could rehearse with. Beside a handful of performances at private parties, Children Of Perdition never played an official live set at a public venue between 2000 and 2015.
Over the fifteen-year period, David accumulated over 30 songs that he culled down to 17. Unable to wait for band members to form a stable line-up, he decided to lay down these tracks himself as a cathartic process and recorded the debut Children Of Perdition album finalising it on Halloween the 31st of October 2015.
David has been involved in the following recordings:
Band: Galgotha Recording title: The Welcome (Demo) Role in band: Vocals/Bass (under the name “David Smith”) Year: 1993
Band: The Kindred Recording title: Do What Thou Wilt (Demo) Role in band: Bass (under the name “Jeisman Rubicante”) Year: 1996
Band: The Kindred Recording title: In the Company of Rats (Debut Album) Role in band: Bass/Vocals (under the name “Jeisman Rubicante”) Year: 1998
Band: Children Of Perdition Recording title: Children Of Perdition Role in band: Vocals/Bass/Guitars/Keys/Drum programming (under the name “David Sinclair-Smith”) Year: 2015-Present
First Album: John Williams "Star Wars" Soundtrack First Concert: Sepultura (Beneath the Remains tour, 1992)
MURPHY:
Murphy has been passionate about music since he was very young. He began playing guitar when he started high school and soon formed a band with friends. He played in various bands over the following decade and was a local community radio DJ for 10 years.
In 2003 Murphy began studying composition and music production at university. While at university Murphy became interested in electronic instrument design and circuit bending. He hosted a series of sound concerts in 2007 and started focusing on improvisation and feedback soundscapes.
For the last few years Murphy has written and recorded for a new, as yet undisclosed project. During this time he has continued to perform as a solo artist, and in small ensembles.
Amongst others, Murphy has been involved in the following bands:
Band: Nether Recording title: Now With Pure Lard Role in band: Vocals/Guitars Year: 1999-2004
Band: Happy Noodle Boy Role in band: Vocals/Guitars Year: 2003-2007
Band: Jub Jub Role in band: Keys/Programming Year: 2006-2012
Band: Children Of Perdition Role in band: Guitars/Keys/Vocals Year: 2015-Present
First Album: Megadeth "So Far, So Good... So What!" First Concert: The Angels (Storm Aid Festival, 1998)
BRENDAN DYSON:
Brendan Dyson was influenced by his parent’s music tastes from a young age. Brendan’s exploration into the music realms included Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Mike Oldfield and Jethro Tull.
Australian band silverchair introduced Brendan to heavier sound with their song “Madman.” From the band’s debut album Frogstomp. In 1996, he heard the aggressive stylings of Fear Factory, Type O Negative and Napalm Death through the video game Mortal Kombat.
His musical interests evolved to include Alestorm, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Cryptopsy and Devin Townsend.
Band: Metal Penguin Role in band: Drums Year: 1996-1998
Band: Children Of Perdition Role in band: Drums Year: 2015-Present
First Album: Fear Factory "Demanufacture" First Concert: Strapping Young Lad (2001)
