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David Marchand (born David Passaro, on November 20, 1975, in Rochester, New York) more commonly known by the stage name Davey Havok, is the lead vocalist of the American rock band AFI. He follows a straight edge lifestyle as well as a vegan diet.

Biography

Havok was born in Rochester, New York and is of Italian ancestry. At the age of three, his father died and when his mother, Penny, later remarried he took on the surname of his stepfather, Marchand. When Havok was six years old, he and his family moved from Rochester to Ukiah, California. There, Davey attended Catholic school in Ukiah until the eighth grade. He has a brother named Mike.

Music career

For more information please see AFI.

During high school, his friends Mark Stopholese and Vic Chalker wanted to start a band (which would later become AFI). Unfortunately, they had several problems; chief amongst them was their lack of a drummer. Mark suggested that his friend Adam Carson fill the position of drummer in the band. However, they didn't know how to play any instruments, but they knew that Davey had a good voice and that Adam had a drum set.

Shortly after high school, the band broke up and Davey moved to Berkeley, California, where he attended UC Berkeley, planning to double major in English and Psychology. He began constantly writing lyrics to songs that would eventually appear on the albums Answer That and Stay Fashionable and Very Proud of Ya.

In a memorable reunion, the band played at the Phoenix Theater for several hundred fans. Following the good reception from the fans, they decided to reunite and record an album. In 1995, the band's first album Answer That and Stay Fashionable was released on Wingnut Records and in 1996, their second album Very Proud of Ya was released on Nitro Records. In 1997, the band released their third full length album, Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes, in which Davey started getting more serious about his lyrics. He started singing about religion, humanity and other more serious issues.

The next release was the A Fire Inside EP. It featured covers of The Cure's "The Hanging Garden", in which Davey got to flaunt Robert Smith influences, and "Demonomania" by The Misfits. In 1999, the band released Black Sails in the Sunset, which was the first album to include the current line-up: Havok, Carson, Hunter Burgan and Jade Puget. In the fall of 1999, they released the All Hallows EP, which has gathered a cult following among the fanbase, and is perhaps their most popular EP.

In 2000, they released The Art of Drowning to fair record sales, and great acclaim by fans of the band. The group had toured with one of Havok's favorite bands, Samhain, on their reunion tour. Havok later joined three Samhain musicians, Steve Zing, London May and Todd Youth, and recorded an album in the vein of Samhain under the name Son of Sam, entitled Songs from the Earth.

Following Davey's work with Son of Sam, AFI continued to tour for a few years and released a few EPs along the way. In 2003, the band's first major label release, Sing the Sorrow, was released, attaining great record sales.

On June 6, 2006, Decemberunderground was released on Interscope Records. Havok, along with AFI, is currently on tour promoting the new album. Along with this concert series, AFI's first DVD, I Heard a Voice was released on December 12, 2006, containing the live concert from Long Beach Arena from September 15, 2006.

On August 14, 2007, Havok's new electronic side project with AFI guitarist Jade Puget, Blaqk Audio, released their first album, entitled CexCells.

Clothing lines

Glitterboy

Glitterboy Clothing was a short-lived fashion line created by Havok. It was partly inspired by the 70s glam music scene, among other things. The line was canceled due to creative differences between Havok and Serious. Havok is now working on his new clothing line Paden.

Paden

On July 31 it was announced live on KROQ that Havok's clothing line Paden would be released on August 30, 2007 and sold exclusively at Fred Segal vendors in Southern California. However, the release has yet to happen due to differences in the direction of the clothing line.

"Tokyo Hardcore"

On September 3 Jeffree Star posted a bulletin on MySpace, stating that he and Davey had modeled the whole of Tarina Tarantino's brand new jewelery line, "Tokyo Hardcore". The catalogue is scheduled to come out in September and a teaser video was posted on Buzznet along with a journal by Tarantino.

Discography

With AFI

Albums

• Answer That and Stay Fashionable (1995)
• Very Proud of Ya (1996)
• Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes (1997)
• Black Sails in the Sunset (1999)
• The Art of Drowning (2000)
• Sing the Sorrow (2003)
• Decemberunderground (2006)

EPs

• Dork (split with Loose Change) (1993)
• Behind the Times (1993)
• Eddie Picnic's All Wet (live) (1994)
• This Is Berkeley, Not West Bay (1994)
• Bombing the Bay (split with Swingin' Utters) (1995)
• Fly in the Ointment (1995)
• AFI/Heckle Split (split with Heckle) (1995)
• A Fire Inside EP (1998)
• Black Sails (1999)
• All Hallow's EP (1999)
• The Days of the Phoenix (2001)
• 336 EP (2002)

With Son of Sam

• Songs from the Earth (2001)

With Blaqk Audio

• CexCells (2007)

Guest appearances

Havok has appeared as a guest vocalist on releases from various other bands, including:

• Background vocals on Tiger Army's Tiger Army, Tiger Army II: Power of Moonlite and Music from Regions Beyond.
• The Transplants song "Quick Death" from their self-titled album.
• The Nerve Agents track "Jekyl and Hyde" from their second release, Days of the White Owl.
• Backing vocals for The Offspring albums Ixnay on the Hombre and Americana.
• The Dance Hall Crashers song "I Don't Wanna Behave", from the album Lockjaw.
• The Fury 66 track "Blue Strip".
• The Heckle cover of The Misfits song "Astro-Zombies".
• Havok also appears on Bleeding Through's DVD, Wolves Among Sheep.
• Sang the Operation Ivy song "Knowledge" with Tim Armstrong and "Radio" with Rancid on the Give 'Em the Boot DVD

References

1. Davey Havok at Notable Names Database
2. http://tarinatarantino.buzznet.com/user/journal/

External links

• Davey Havok at IMDb

• AFI members
• 1975 births
• Italian-American musicians
• Living people
• American male singers
• American vegans