Damien Moyal

Damien Zev Moyal (born September 25, 1976) is an American vocalist, lyricist, musician, songwriter, and designer. Born in Amstelveen, North Holland, Netherlands, he moved to the United States as a child and grew up in Miami, Florida, where he notably fronted such hardcore punk, metallic hardcore, and melodic hardcore bands as Shai Hulud, As Friends Rust, Morning Again, Culture, Bird of Ill Omen, and Bridgeburne R. Moyal has been based in Ann Arbor, Michigan since 2006, and is the founding member of the semi-eponymously named gothic rock/post-punk band Damien Done.

Moyal's early musical projects include the hardcore punk act U.S. Decline (1992–1993), the hardcore group Insist (1993), the metallic hardcore band Reach (1993–1994), and the groove metal project HandOverFist (1994). He next joined established vegan straight edge metallic hardcore band Culture, which he fronted from 1994 to 1995, then again from 1996 to 1998, recording music for such record labels as Uprising Records, Good Life Recordings, Toybox Records, and Conquer the World Records. Moyal later took part of Culture's reunion from 2012 to 2016, which saw material released through Eulogy Recordings. Following his first exit from Culture in 1995, he co-founded the melodic metallic hardcore band Shai Hulud (1995–1996), participating in its demo recording and helping the band get signed to Revelation Records. Moyal's vocal and lyrical contributions to Shai Hulud were released by such record labels as Revelation Records, Crisis Records, Asian Man Records, Sub City Records, Trial & Error Records, and Metal Blade Records.

While still in Shai Hulud, Moyal teamed up with ex-Culture members to launch the metallic hardcore band Morning Again (1995–1996). The band recorded material for Conquer the World Records and Good Life Recordings, which again lead to getting signed by Revelation Records. Moyal has since performed with Morning Again at a handful of reunion shows in 1999, 2002, and 2014. After quitting Shai Hulud and being fired from Morning Again, Moyal started the sludge-metallic hardcore band Bird of Ill Omen (1996–1997), but left before any studio material could be tracked. Moyal's lyrics were later used by Bird of Ill Omen's second vocalist for material released by Eulogy Recordings. While still in Bird of Ill Omen, Moyal joined the melodic hardcore side-project As Friends Rust (1996–1997), which broke up after recording a demo tape.

In 1997, Moyal relocated to Gainesville, Florida, where Culture had moved the year prior, and there reformed As Friends Rust (1997–2002), which quickly became his principal project for the next five years, releasing music through such labels as Good Life Recordings, Doghouse Records, Initial Records, Defiance Records, and Equal Vision Records. Moyal again reformed As Friends Rust in 2008, and the band has remained active into the 2020s. When Culture broke up in 1998, Moyal and several of its members teamed up with members of Assück to form the short-lived metal band Some Sort of Radio (1998–1999), and in 1999, he and members of As Friends Rust and Speak 714 formed the old-school hardcore punk side-project Bridgeburne R (1999–2000). Following his departure from As Friends Rust in 2002, Moyal founded the semi-eponymously named gothic rock/post-punk solo project Damien Done, which eventually expanded into a full band. After returning to Miami in 2004, he took part of the acoustic folk duo Goodnight at the End of the Tunnel with Kaleb Stewart (2005), and the short-lived metallic hardcore band Best Wishes (2006). In 2006, he moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan and formed the DJ duo Old Man Underground (2008). Moyal reunited with ex-Culture members in the hardcore band On Bodies (2009–2017), which released music through Eulogy Recordings and Demons Run Amok Entertainment. Since 2022, Moyal has been part of the death metal band Ekstasis with drummer Fred Estby, and the heavy metal band Caskette.

Background

Early bands: U.S. Decline, Insist, Reach, and HandOverFist (1992–1994) Moyal's first band was named U.S. Decline, a hardcore punk group based in Miami, Florida, which he joined in 1992, at the invitation of his friend, drummer Steve Blanchard. Although the band recorded rehearsal demos with Moyal, U.S. Decline would not perform any shows, nor enter a studio to record a proper demo tape (The Empty Fight for Freedom), until mid-1993, by which time Scott Pellicane had been recruited as lead vocalist. Insist played its first and only show on September 11, 1993, sharing the stage with U.S. Decline (with Pellicane on vocals), Sloth and The Staggers. Reach also included drummer Louie Long (who would later play in Culture and Morning Again) and co-lead vocalist Joel Pelkey, both of whom had played in another metallic hardcore band, Organized Pain, with guitarist John Wylie (who also later played in Culture and Morning Again). Reach played its first and only show on November 27, 1993, again sharing the stage with Sloth and The Staggers, and with Tension (the latter of which featured guitarist Wylie and bass guitarist Matt Fox, with whom Moyal would later play in Shai Hulud). In the summer of 1994, Moyal briefly sang in the groove metal project HandOverFist, which featured former Trauma members, guitarist John Paul Guy and drummer Alex Garbutt. The band was formed by ex-Timescape Zero and Ego Trip guitarist Richard Thurston, along with drummer Joshua Williams and original vocalist Mark Mitchell in December 1993 and had already gone through several member changes, including three prior vocalists, and then included ex-Tension and Organized Pain guitarist John Wylie.

With Moyal newly on board, Culture embraced a vegan and straight edge identity and recorded its debut album Born of You with Staska. Unsatisfied with the first-recorded version, Culture wrote a handful of new songs and returned to re-record the full-length two more times within two months with Staska. One of the songs from this recording session was used on the Laguna Beach, California-based record label Uprising Records' Various Artists compilation Ceremony of Fire. and was reissued a number of times by such record labels as Good Life Recordings, Demons Run Amok Entertainment and Contraband Goods. Following a poorly-received tour in the summer of 1996, promoting the band's Deforestation EP (which featured lyrics written by Moyal prior to his departure), Culture relocated to Gainesville, Florida and asked Moyal to return as the band's vocalist. In September 2012, a compilation of previously unreleased material and demos, titled From the Vaults: Demos and Outtakes 1993–1998, was released by Eulogy Recordings on compact disc and Ghetto Josh Records and New Ethic Record Co-Op on 12-inch vinyl. Twelve of the nineteen songs on the compilation feature Moyal on vocals. In March 2015, the band recorded a new EP for United Kingdom-based record label Carry the Weight Records.

Shai Hulud (1995–1996)

In the late summer of 1995, Moyal joined up with guitarists Matt Fox and Dave Silber and drummer Jason Lederman to form metallic hardcore band Shai Hulud. Lederman was quickly replaced by Steve Kleisath and rhythm guitarist Oliver Chapoy joined when Silber moved to playing bass guitar. With this line-up, Shai Hulud recorded 6 songs with producer Jeremy Staska at Studio 13 in Deerfield Beach, Florida, and shortly after played its first show at a Halloween party on October 31, 1995, at Discount's rehearsal warehouse.

Shai Hulud's demo tape was received by Rob Moran, an A&R representative at Revelation Records' subsidiary Crisis Records (and who also played bass guitar for metallic hardcore band Unbroken). The band was promptly signed in early 1996 and a 7-inch vinyl of the recorded material was planned, but tensions between Moyal and Fox led to Moyal's voluntary departure. In August 2001, Sub City Records and Asian Man Records released the song "Sauve Qui Peut" from Shai Hulud's 1995 recording session on their Various Artists compilation Plea for Peace/Take Action.

All of the original 1995 recordings were later included on the band's compilation album, A Comprehensive Retrospective: or How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Release Bad and Useless Recordings, which was first announced in 2000 and planned for release through Fox's record label, Ides of March. After considerable delay, the compilation was ultimately released through Revelation Records and Fox's renamed label, At Dawn We Wage War, on January 25, 2005. In addition to the demo, the release also includes four rehearsal recordings with Moyal on vocals and a phone message left by Moyal on Fox's answering machine.

Moyal has since provided guest vocals on Shai Hulud's song "Medicine to the Dead", which appeared on the band's fourth studio album Reach Beyond the Sun, released on February 15, 2013, by Metal Blade Records.

Morning Again (1995–1996, 1999, 2002, 2014)

Moyal (top left) performing with Morning Again at Cheers in Coconut Grove, Florida on June 11, 1996.

In December 1995, while Moyal was still a member of Shai Hulud, he was recruited to front a new metallic hardcore band formed by ex-Culture members, guitarist John Wylie and drummer Louie Long. Two months later, the band returned to the same studio to record two songs for an eponymous 7-inch vinyl for Intention Records. Moyal's songs were repackaged again on the 12-inch vinyl compilation I, released by Germany's Demons Run Amok Entertainment on September 25, 2015.

Moyal has sporadically performed reunion shows with Morning Again

In January 2026 it was announced that Moyal would be filling in for Kevin Byers on Morning Again's European tour later that year.

Fork in the Road and Bird of Ill Omen (1996–1997) Two months after being dismissed from Morning Again, Moyal formed North Miami, Florida-based sludge metal/metalcore band Fork in the Road, which quickly changed name to Bird of Ill Omen. The band was named after lyrics from the song "Now Ruin Is", penned by Moyal in 1995, originally planned as a Shai Hulud song, but ultimately used as a Bird of Ill Omen song. By the spring of 1997, this incarnation of As Friends Rust had fallen apart as Moyal dedicated more time to Culture and Bird of Ill Omen; Olmino, Gomez and Crum opted to continue playing together in the bands Red Letter Day, and later, The Rocking Horse Winner and The Darling Fire, while Gomez also played with Poison the Well.

Moyal reformed the band after moving to Gainesville, Florida, with then-members of Culture. The new song was combined with four songs from the 1996 recording session to make up the band's debut EP, The Fists of Time, released by Good Life Recordings on compact disc and 10-inch vinyl in July 1998. The cover art of The Fists of Time was designed by Moyal. The tour included stops to perform at such festivals as More Than Music in Columbus, Ohio, Tin Can Full of Dreams in Lawrence, Massachusetts and Wilkes-Barre Festival in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The two bands toured Europe from December 1998 to January 1999, in promotion of the release and accompanied by Swedish hardcore band Purusam. In the spring of 1999, As Friends Rust was signed to American record label Doghouse Records and a month later returned to Goldentone to record six songs with McGregor. The new material was released on a self-titled compact disc and 8" vinyl by Doghouse Records in September 1999; the European version was erroneously promoted under the title God Hour by Good Life Recordings during the summer of 1999.

As Friends Rust toured the east coast of the United States during three weeks in June 1999 accompanied by acoustic musician Keith Welsh. The band quickly followed up with a five-week European tour in July and August 1999, playing at such festivals as Good Life Midsummer Hardcore Festival in Kuurne, Belgium, Festival Hardcore in Sant Feliu De Guíxols, Spain and Ieperfest in Ypres, Belgium. In December 1999, the band played Gainesvillefest in Gainesville, Florida. A December 1999-January 2000 tour with The August Prophecy and Dragbody was booked but cancelled at the last minute. In June 2000, Doghouse Records re-issued The Fists of Time: An Anthology of Short Fiction and Non-Fiction on compact disc, 12-inch vinyl and digitally. As Friends Rust immediately embarked on a four-week tour to promote the release, playing shows across the entire United States with Virginia hardcore band Strike Anywhere. The tour included such festivals as Mixed Messages in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Pheer Festival, in College Park, Maryland and Hellfest 2K in Auburn, New York (which As Friends Rust did not play due to a last-minute change in venue).

In July 2000, Good Life Recordings invited As Friends Rust back to Europe for a week's worth of shows in Belgium and the Netherlands, including a performance at Dour Festival in Dour, Belgium and another at Metropolis Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands. In mid-August 2000, the band returned to Europe for a full five-week tour, which included a handful of cross-over shows with Canadian hardcore band Grade and New Jersey hardcore band Ensign. This European tour also included stops at Ieperfest in Ypres, Belgium and TurboPunk Festival, in Poznań, Poland. Tensions during the European tour caused three of the five members of As Friends Rust to quit the band.

Moyal performing with As Friends Rust in promotion of Won at Underground in Cologne, Germany on November 4, 2001.

Moyal again reconstructed the band, recruiting former Culture, Crucible and Morning Again bass guitarist Christopher "Floyd" Beckham, former Twelve Tribes drummer Alexander Vernon and future Rehasher bass guitarist Guillermo Amador. After further line-up changes, As Friends Rust record its debut full-length Won in July 2001, with producer James Paul Wisner at Wisner Productions. Former As Friends Rust drummer Matthew Crum contributed additional percussion, while backing vocals were provided by Further Seems Forever bass guitarist Chad Neptune.

As Friends Rust began touring full-time in support of Won, starting with an American summer tour supported by Vangard, Keepsake and Further Seems Forever in August and September 2001. The last leg of the American tour was cut short due to the September 11 attacks in New York City, In promotion of these shows, British record label Golf Records reissued the band's earlier compilation album Eleven Songs on compact disc. A highlight performance at London, England's Camden Underworld from November 16, 2001, was filmed and later released on video and DVD by British record label Punkervision in December 2002. As Friends Rust played its last show of 2001 at Gainesvillefest in Gainesville, Florida.

In February 2002, As Friends Rust recorded six songs at Wisner Productions with producer James Paul Wisner, as part of a one-off loan-out to Equal Vision Records. At the time of his departure, As Friends Rust was already in the midst of booking an entire year's worth of tours. As Friends Rust continued on with Beckham initially taking over vocal duties, until Adam D'Zurilla came in as proper vocalist.

Moyal performing with As Friends Rust at the band's first reunion show on August 15, 2008, at The Atlantic in Gainesville, Florida.

In March 2008, Moyal announced that As Friends Rust would regroup for a series of European shows. It was further revealed that the band would be performing with its 1998–2000 line-up, for a total of six European shows (including Ieperfest) and a single American show in Gainesville, Florida. In 2011, Moyal announced that As Friends Rust had begun to demo new material, though the band was not satisfied with the material. In 2014, As Friends Rust travelled to Asia for the Japan Tour 2014, which spanned from June 12–15, 2014, supported by Japanese hardcore bands Endzweck, Noy and Nervous Light of Sunday. In promotion of the tour, Japanese record label Cosmic Note released a compact disc best of compilation titled Greatest Hits?, which included a selection of the bands recordings from 1996 to 2002, hand-picked by Moyal. The compilation was also released on compact cassette by Indonesian record label D'Kolektif in December 2014, and on 12-inch vinyl by Dutch record label Shield Recordings in April 2015.

As Friends Rust played three shows in 2015: the first at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, New York; the second at Groezrock in Meerhout, Belgium; the last at The Fest in Gainesville, Florida. In May 2015, German record label Demons Run Amok Entertainment released The Porch Days: 1998 to 2000 on 12-inch vinyl. The release compiled all of the band's studio recordings from 1998 to 2000, as well as previously unreleased live recordings of two of the three songs composed-but-never-properly-recorded by the band with that line-up. Later that year, they recorded two new songs, their first in nearly two decades, which were released in July 2020 on the 7-inch vinyl Up from the Muck by Unity Worldwide Records. In September 2021, Moyal revealed in an interview that As Friends Rust was working on a new full-length album.

Bridgeburner R (1999–2000) In the summer of 1999, Moyal teamed up with As Friends Rust bass guitarist and backing vocalist Kaleb Stewart, Radon drummer Bill Clower, and ex-Speak 714 guitarist Eryc Simmerer, to form the hardcore punk band Bridgeburne R. The band recorded eight songs at Goldentone Studios with Rob McGregor in September 1999: "T.V. Gone Awry", "Girls Up Front!", "OK, One Positive Song, But That's It.", For the Kidding", "Hardcore Means I'm Not Allowed to Smile", "Myth of Terrorism", "Holocaust Revisionism" and "We Mean Business". The material would only be released an entire year later by Belgian record label Genet Records, on the band's sole album, a compact disc titled What Do You Know About Bridgeburne R? 1986-1992 The Singles Collection.

To market the release, the band took on a fictional persona as a defunct hardcore punk act from Texas, once active from 1986 to 1993 (according to the album liner notes), or 1984 to 1994 (according to the press release). The liner notes proclaimed the release as a collection of songs lifted from its out-of-print records from the late 1980s and early 1990s, including split 7-inch vinyls with Born Against and Nausea. Stewart, however, quit the band a week before the tour (at the same time as he quit As Friends Rust); Mykel Tre Beaton replaced him as bass guitarist for the tour. Moyal began working on solo material under the moniker Rubbers. Rubbers was renamed Damien Done and the band was immediately signed to Belgian record label Good Life Recordings. Handling vocals and acoustic guitar, Moyal recruited drummer and keyboardist Matthew Crum, then member of The Rocking Horse Winner; electric guitarist Juan Montoya, formerly of Floor and Cavity and later of Torche; and electric guitarist and bass guitarist James Paul Wisner to record the six-song debut EP Love Thongs in September 2003.

Moyal (right) and Andrew Dempz (left) performing with Damien Done at Whiskey's Unrockbar in Osnabrück, Germany on August 11, 2018.

While awaiting the release of Love Thongs, Moyal recruited several new musicians, including former I Hate Myself drummer Jon Marberger; former Shai Hulud, Cavity, 108, Against All Authority and Where Fear and Weapons Meet drummer (and then-member of Hazen Street and Until the End) Jason Lederman; former Where Fear and Weapons Meet, Dashboard Confessional and Seville bass guitarist Dan Bonebrake; With Arro, Damien Done recorded a cover of Integrity's song "Eighteen", which was released on Escapist Records' Various Artists compilation Harder They Fall: Tribute to Integrity in February 2007.

Love Thongs was eventually renamed Stay Black and was finally released on 12-inch vinyl by German record label Demons Run Amok Entertainment in July 2016. Demons Run Amok Entertainment simultaneously released a 7-inch vinyl of two newly recorded Damien Done songs: "He Really Tried" and "And Now the Rain" The new songs featured drummer Timothy Kirkpatrick, formerly of Moments in Grace; bass guitarist Mike Hasty, formerly of Walls of Jericho; and electric guitarist Juan Montoya. In 2017, the band was signed to California-based record label Mind Over Matter Records, Damien Done follow-up with Charm Offensive, the band's first full-length album, released on 12-inch vinyl by Mind Over Matter Records in March 2018. The album was released on 12-inch vinyl in Europe by Belgian record label Hypertension Records, and promoted through a nine-date European tour in August 2018. The band kicked-off their European tour by playing at Ieperfest in Ypres, Belgium, followed by shows in Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria and England.

On Valentine's Day 2020, Damien Done released the digital EP Baby, Don't Hearse Me; an 11" screen-printed vinyl version was released by Mind Over Matter Records a month later. The band quickly followed up with the To Night EP, released digitally in May 2020; a tape edition was released by Contraband Goods in October 2020, while Mind Over Matter Records and Speedowax Records co-released a double 7-inch vinyl version a year later in October 2021. In November 2020, Damien Done released the three-song EP Demos from the Year 2020, which includes working versions of the band's forthcoming full-length album, Total Power. In February 2021, Damien Done released the single "Nightclubbing", a cover of the 1977 Iggy Pop and David Bowie song. On January 31, 2023, "Pray for Me", the first single from Total Power, was released; the album is scheduled for release through Mind Over Matter Records on May 19, 2023.

On Bodies (2011–2017)

On Bodies performing at Nishi-Ogikubo Flat in Tokyo, Japan on March 5, 2015. From left to right: Moyal and Richard Thurston.

In 2011, Moyal rejoined former Culture member Richard Thurston to start up the hardcore band On Bodies, which the pair had been discussing since 2009. After tracking nine songs as a two-piece for their debut EP Planet Hospice (with Thurston playing all the instruments), the band was immediately signed to John Wylie's record label Eulogy Recordings. On Bodies recruited drummer Julio Marin and guitarists Richard Walbert and Chad Kishick (with Thurston assuming bass guitarist duties) in time for the EP-release shows in February 2012.

The full band next recorded five songs for their sophomore EP, The Long Con, released after some delay in May 2013 on vinyl through German record label Coffee Breath and Heartache, and much later, again on vinyl through American record label Irish VooDoo in March 2015. Irish Voodoo also released the band's third EP, Unremarkably Mortal, on vinyl in August 2015, which was again recorded as a two-piece band (with Thurston playing all the instruments). the material was eventually released as the band's debut extended play, Paralyzing Impermanence, on cassette tape and digitally through American record label Unspeakable Axe Records, on October 28, 2022. Moyal also contributed vocals to a number of songs on the release. In May 2005, Moyal produced and contributed vocals and synthesizers to Stewart's acoustic project Bread Riot.

In March 2002, shortly after departing from As Friends Rust, Moyal contributed guest vocals to Gainesville pop punk band Loyal Frisby's song "Deceitful Happiness and Made Up Pain". The song was recorded at Goldentone Studios with Rob McGregor and was released in May 2002 on Loyal Frisby's split CD with Rick Derris and Mindlikewater.

In 2006, shortly before relocating to Ann Arbor, Michigan, Moyal briefly played in the Miami, Florida metallic hardcore band Best Wishes. The band included guitarists Richard Walbert and Ariel Arro, bass guitarist Chad Kishick, and drummer Brian Ray.

Throughout 2008, Moyal (under the pseudonym DJ Done) and Nik Fortman (under the pseudonym Dead Nik) hosted a series of old-school punk and metal nights named Old Man Underground. In 2016, Moyal contributed guest vocals to French metalcore band Lazare's song "Mass Murder of Clear Minds"; the track was released on the album From Hate... With Love, through French record label Terrain Vague on October 14, 2016.

In 2019, Moyal contributed guest vocals to American artist Nathaniel Shannon & The Vanishing Twin's song "Mater Suspiriorum", which appeared on the concept EP The Three Mothers, released by Aqualamb Records on October 20, 2020. In 2021, Moyal contributed guest vocals to American electro-pop artist La Femme Pendu's song "La Somnambule", which appeared on her album Vampyr, released on October 22, 2021.