Atheist (band)

Tony Choy played in a number of other bands, like Pestilence and Cynic. Multi-Instrumentalist James Arthur Payne tours with the band, fills in vocal, keyboard, guitar, and harmonica parts, and is a fan favorite. Kelly Schaefer played with Neurotica until 2002. Original drummer, Cary Bonnecaze, left the band after the release of Deluxe. Original lead guitarist, Joel Rundell, committed suicide in 1990. Atheist disbanded for the first time in 1992, the band reunited in 1993 and recorded their last album Elements before disbanding for the second (and last) time. In addition to vocalist and guitarist Kevin Griffin, the current members of Better Than Ezra are bass guitar player Tom Drummond and drummer Travis McNabb. In 1991, bassist Roger Patterson died in a car accident and Atheist recruited Tony Choy to record their second album, Unquestionable Presence. Better Than Ezra's independence and survival in a business that has chewed up and spat out many bands they used to jockey for chart position with seems to indicate that the band will be around to satisfy their fans' rapacious appetite for their music for many years to come.

They recorded their first album, Piece of Time, in 1988, but had to wait until 1990 to release it. It is in large part due to this relentless touring schedule and the fan base it engenders that Better Than Ezra has managed to continue to produce new music, and remain extremely viable well past what many critics projected to be their shelf life. They combined brutal riffs with subtle latin music arrangements, much like in Cynic's cult album "Focus". Many of their fans follow the band religiously and attend scores of their performances. (which stands for Raging Atheists Voving A Gory End), whose music was highly technical and sometimes reminiscent of jazz. Part of the reason why is that the band has an extremely loyal fan base (who refer to themselves as "Ezralites") that have never cared whether radio plays the band or not. Atheist was a death metal band from Florida, founded under the name R.A.V.A.G.E. But unlike the majority of their contemporaries, Better Than Ezra has managed to avoid dropping off of the musical map or throwing in the towel.

Steve Flynn - drums. At least commercially (and in terms of mainstream radio play), the band has experienced slightly diminishing returns with each successive release. Roger Patterson - bass. Like many bands in the then-burgeoning alt-rock movement of the mid-'90s, Better Than Ezra enjoyed their period of greatest chart success in the time following their debut major-label release ("Deluxe"), which spawned their highest-charting hits. Marcel Dissantos -drums. Upcoming releases include a Greatest Hits collection (Warner Brothers, March 15th, 2005), and a new album entitled "Before the Robots" (Artemis Records, April 15th, 2005.). Tony Choy - bass. late 2004 saw the band simultaneously releasing an official live concert DVD, as well as an official live album, both entitled "Live at the House of Blues - New Orleans" (Sanctuary Records).

Frank Emmi - guitars. The band also released the B-Sides and rarities collection "artifakt" on its own "Ezra Dry Goods/Fudge" label in 2000. Rand Burkey - guitars. Subsequent album releases include "Friction, Baby" (Elektra, 1996), "How Does Your Garden Grow?" (Elektra, 1998), and "Closer", (Beyond Records, 2001). Kelly Shaefer - vocals, guitars. That same year, "Good" became a major pop hit, reaching the #1 position on the Billboard chart. Elements (1993). It was released on 2 different labels, the independent Swell Records first, and later national label Elektra Records.

Unquestionable Presence (1991). In 1994 they released their first album Deluxe in 1995. Piece of Time (1989). In 1989 the band released a cassette-only album, Surprise. By 1988 Better Than Ezra had released a demo cassette tape, Chime Street Studio Demo Tape. The band was formed in 1987 by Kevin Griffin while he and the other original members were attending college at Louisiana State University.

Better Than Ezra are an alternative rock trio based in New Orleans, Louisiana. For help, see How to Edit a Page and the Style and How-to Directory. After the article has been cleaned up, you may remove this message. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of article quality.