Die Sektor

Infobox musical artist
Name = Die Sektor


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Genre = Aggrotech
Years_active = 2002-present
Label = NoiTekk
Gravitator Records
Associated_acts = Auspex
URL = [http://www.versionfiv.com/mp3/ds Fan site]
[http://www.myspace.com/diesektor Official MySpace]
[http://vampirefreaks.com/DieSektor Official VampireFreaks Profile]
Current_members = Scott Denman (2002-)
John Gerteisen (2003-)
Alan Smith (2003-)
Randall Smith (2007-)
Past_members = Daniel Gant (2002-2005)
Notable_instruments =

Die Sektor is a band with members from Atlanta, Georgia, Starke, Florida, and Jacksonville, Florida. Their music is categorized as Aggrotech and takes an influence from a variety of sources including Psytrance, Rock, and Pop.

History

2002-2005 "Scraping the Flesh" and Reformation

Die Sektor began when longtime friends Scott Denman and Daniel Gant began experimenting with electronic music under various names. Together they produced several tracks and sent them to friends and put them on soulseek. Eventually John Gerteisen and Alan Smith, who were in the band Auspex at the time, heard the tracks and convinced Scott and Daniel that they could help Die Sektor get a better sound if they came to Starke to produce their demo in the Auspex studio.

On January 2, 2004 Daniel and Scott drove to Starke to work on what would later become "Scraping the Flesh." In a marathon recording session lasting a little over 48 hours they recorded 4 tracks, "Motionless," "Lust Angel," "Scraping Flesh," and "Electronic Saviour," with Alan, John, and Scott doing the recording and mixing while Daniel finished up the lyrics and performed the screaming. "Electronic Saviour," would not make it onto the demo and became available as a download only.

A month later Daniel and Scott returned to Starke for another marathon recording session, this time recording "Pain Killer," and "Your Deception." Alan and John had been interested in the German label NoiTekk for their own project, Auspex, and advised Scott and Daniel to send Noitekk a copy of "Scraping the Flesh" Two weeks later Die Sektor was signed to Noitekk.

After their signing Scott decided to move to Starke to work on Die Sektor's debut album full time and also learn mixing and production techniques from Alan and John. During this time he switched from using a Yamaha Motif 6 to Emagic Logic Pro 6. While in Starke, Scott wrote the music for "When Porcelain Bleeds," remixed "Scraping Flesh," and co-wrote "Revelation None" with John. After a few months Scott felt that he had to be closer to Daniel in order to make the band function better so he moved back to Atlanta. John and Alan moved along with him to help produce the album.

While working on the debut album Daniel was often unavailable due to school commitments. In order to remain productive Scott and John began to produce IDM flavored tracks, and although they had no intention of using them for Die Sektor, two of these tracks, "All Turns White," and "Through Glass," made it onto "To Be Fed Upon." After a few months of working on these instrumentals, Scott began to grow anxious and wanted to finish the debut album. He had no choice but to replace Daniel with John (who was the current vocalist of Auspex) and along with John, Alan also became an official member.

2005-2006

The reforming of the band brought morale to an all time high and the trio concentrated all of their efforts into Die Sektor. Since Daniel was no longer in the band, they could no longer use his tracks, so all new material had to be written. Up until this time Alan and John had continued to write material for Auspex, but with joining Die Sektor, Auspex was laid to rest. Two songs originally intended for Auspex "Deathkill" and "The Beating of Broken Wings" were used but not until after they were majorly overhauled. During this time period Die Sektor produced "Mother Hunger," and "In The Arms of Eternity," and made new versions of "Follow the Screams," and "To Be Fed Upon." In late 2005 the trio made a trip to Tampa, Florida to see their labelmates Grendel perform and to meet the owner of Noitekk, Marco Gruhn, who was Grendel's tour manager at the time, they also met Chris of Life Cried who was at the show.

In March 2006 Die Sektor made their stage debut in Mexico City at DaDaX shortly after finishing their debut album which was now titled "To Be Fed Upon". Also billed for this show was Ayria and Tactical Sekt. Marco Gruhn was now playing live keyboards for Tactical Sekt and was there also. He gave the band a master copy of their debut which was mastered by Kolja Trelle of Koltron Media and the band Soman.

2006-2007 "To Be Fed Upon" and Beyond

On June 16, 2006 "To Be Fed Upon" was released and entered the Deutsche Alternative Charts at #6, the following week it moved up to #5, then #3, then #1 staying at number 1 for four weeks, staying on the DAC the maximum allowed 8 weeks and becoming the first band on Noitekk to ever hit #1. During this time period they played a few shows in support of the album and continued to work on new material.

In 2007 Die Sektor inducted Randall Smith of Hexen Prozess into the band as a live member. Randall is also Alan Smith's younger brother and a longtime friend of John Gerteisen. With Randall in the band they went on to play more shows, doing a stint in Florida, and a very successful show in San Antonio, Texas with labelmates Dawn of Ashes.

Live Performance

Die Sektor is known for their energetic live appearances where they throw mutilated barbies into the crowd and smash keyboards that they have customized and covered in broken mirror. The barbies and bits of mirror have become sought after Die Sektor collectibles

Members

*Scott Denman - programming, live drums
*Alan Smith - programming, sound engineering
*John Gerteisen - vocals, programming, guitar
*Randall Smith - live support

Discography

*Scraping The Flesh demo (2004)
*To Be Fed Upon NoiTekk (2006) Gravitator Records (2007)

Remixography

*Interface - Angels In Disguise (Guardian Mix by Die Sektor) Disguised As Angels 2003
*Grendel - Remnants (Die Sektor Remix) Harsh Generation 2CD Limited Edition 2007
*Dawn of Ashes - Nail Driven (Die Sektor Remix), Compilation release TBA

Compilation Appearances

*The Beating Of Broken Wings - Rape This Industrial World Vol.1 2008
*Warsong - United Vol 2 2007
*When Porcelain Bleeds - Black Rain 'A Compilation Vol.2' 2007
*Follow The Screams - Schwarze Nacht Tanz 1 Limited Edition CD2 2006
*Mother Hunger - Endzeit Bunkertracks [Act 2] 2006
*Scraping The Flesh - United Vol 1 2005
*Scraping The Flesh (Alternate Mix) - Endzeit Bunkertracks [Act 1] 2005
*Lust Angel - deCODEr v2.0 2004

Other Appearances

*Dawn Of Ashes - Where Angels Die (guest vocals by John Gerteisen) The Crypt Injection (2007 NoiTekk, Cop)

External links

* [http://versionfiv.com/mp3/ds/ Fan site with "Scraping The Flesh" demo download]
* [http://noitekk.de/ NoiTekk]