About Brainclaw
Brainclaw began as an ongoing experiment in composing aggressive electronic music, born at Ithaca College in 1989, as an effort to coalesce several random electronic music experiments into a focused project with solid goals.
Pennsylvania, USA native David Giuffre decided to begin composing polished compositions with the end result of publishing a full album of this electro-industrial music, using the large body of mostly unfocused and unfinished work he had created up to that point, from 1985 to 1988.
He continued to accumulate new music gear and build what would eventually become Studio Auroviral.
The result of this work was an album of music called Infrastrukture. Six more albums followed, (Painselectiv - 1991, Shrieking In Standby - 1992, Sect - 1994, Treason - 1996, Strange Protection - 1997 and the aborted half album, Bodyhorror - 1998) each building on the work of the previous one, slowly refining both recording technique and compositional structures.
A few half-hearted attempts to put this music out occurred, until the original mp3.com website actually allowed Brainclaw music to get out to the world.
The Brainclaw project went on hiatus for nearly six years after David was recruited to write and play in the Philadelphia Goth Rock outfit, Carfax Abbey. David gained valuable live playing experience with this hard working band, as well as recording and producing albums for them. After the band began moving in a different, more radio-friendly direction, and some major life changes happened to him, including the divorce of his first wife, David parted ways with Carfax in early 2002, to rejuvenate the Brainclaw project with a vengeance.
Things really got going in earnest when best friend Tara Giuffre came on board, and began co-writing songs with David. She provided a level of accountability, quality control and new concepts that truly complimented David’s dark vision of music. David and Tara were married in May of 2004.
Brainclaw songs began topping electromusic charts on the internet and alternative radio stations in many parts of the world. A massive promotional push began, with CD press kits going out daily. The rest of 2002 was spent writing songs, getting press and club/radio spins and promoting at events.
2003 began with new photoshoots by Philadelphia photographer Kyle Cassidy, further modifications and upgrades to the Official Brainclaw Website and a re-uniting with old bandmates in Carfax Abbey, who approached David and Tara with the idea of fleshing out and recording songs for Carfax’s then-upcoming full-length release, Second Skin.
The latter half of the year saw increased activity in the press, with many solid reviews of Brainclaw’s Promo EP CD, especially a great review in Industrial Nation magazine. They finished up the Carfax Abbey CD as the year closed, having recorded and produced six new songs, and began preparations for the release of their own full-length CD, called Insekt/Angel.
As the year ended, some truly spectacular news came to light: Warner Brothers, turned on to Brainclaw music because of the Spiderbite compilation appearance of a year ago, licensed the song “When The Dark Rains Come” for use in the DVD release of Matrix Revolutions.
The new Brainclaw CD was finally released to an increasingly interested electromusic community, and reviews and support began arriving from the U.K., Japan, Germany, Canada, and many other places around the world, including many places in North America. Then, the INSEKT/ANGEL CD was picked up for distribution by Metropolis Records. 
Good friend James Sewell of Divers Lust came on-board as live hybrid kit drummer. Synthesist Lorie K of Suture Seven also joined the live Brainclaw show.
The Insekt/Angel Summer 2004 tour was a great success, with a somewhat lighter schedule for the summer 2005 tour, to allow for the writing of a follow-up album to INSEKT/ANGEL. Warner Brothers also licensed four more songs from IINSEKT/ANGEL for the Matrix DVD Box Set.
Several bands remixed Brainclaw songs, and Brainclaw remixed many other bands and their own songs as well. Several more BC songs appear in independent films across the country. Lorie K. had a wonderful opportunity in early 2006 to relocate to Germany to pursue other projects, so the search began for a new live synthesist.
Brainclaw then inked a deal with BLC Productions. The Brainclaw CD called DEAD MONSTERS was released on BLC in both North America and Europe to rave reviews. New press opportunities presented themselves, with interviews and reviews in such publications as UK Kaleidoscope and European Side-Line magazines.
Studio Auroviral, Brainclaw’s in-house recording facility, was re-built again, this time around a brand new Mac Pro computer. The sultry and mysterious Miss Kimberly joined up as synthesist for the live shows, and the Brainclaw Website was completely rebuilt around a totally interactive blog format. Later that year, James made the decision to relocate to New York State, and Brainclaw decided to slim things down on-stage with the addition of a DAT machine that would handle the live drumming tasks with digitally recorded backing tracks.
Brainclaw’s cover of “Work Hard” was selected to appear on the Cryonica Music Depeche Mode Tribute CD, Bright Lights, Dark Room in the UK.
Work began on the third album, DECEPTOR, in summer 2007. Songs took shape slowly, as David and Tara wanted these tracks to be the best they possibly could be, with much higher quality control than on the previous two albums, the inevitable rebuild of Studio Auroviral around the then state-of-the-art Mac Pro Quad-Core Intel computer.
Eight new songs were completed between 2007 and 2009, when Brainclaw decided to add real guitars into the mix, resulting in the addition of ex-Carfax Abbey guitarist and founding member John Ruszin to the band’s lineup. John recorded guitars for most of the new songs, and Carfax Abbey frontman Gary Billings added vocals to a brand new version of the song Dysciple. Gary Billings and David also began a two-man project called God Shaped Void that specialized in more peaceful original songs, with delicate instrumentation on synthesizer and acoustic guitar. They began touring the project on the East Coast.
Work on the nearly completed DECEPTOR album continued sporadically until May of 2009, when Tara suddenly revealed that she was going through serious changes, and needed to completely change her direction. She and David sadly but amicably parted ways and were divorced later that year.
In the interim, GOD SHAPED VOID began writing and performing new material, and then something unexpected happened. David, at the urging of good friend and bandmate Gary Billings, reunited with the remaining members of Carfax Abbey, and began writing, recording and playing out with them in late 2010. As of March 2011, David was writing, recording and producing songs for Carfax Abbey, God Shaped Void, Raichyl Sinversa and Ian Haag.
David again rebuilt Studio Auroviral to handle the busy writing and recording schedule, beefing up the Studio by going completely digital, removing the old analog mixing board and routing all instruments directly into the Mac via high-end firewire audio interfaces, adding more external data storage, installing MOTU’s Digital Performer 7, Steve Slate Drums and the Darkside virtual instruments, and adding FiOS 30 mbps wireless internet access.
David’s ex-wife and Brainclaw partner, Tara Lessard, (with whom he remained friendly all through their divorce and the following two years) began writing NEW Brainclaw material and revamping the old DECEPTOR tracks, and the dynamic duo again began booking dates in Studio Auroviral to complete the long-awaited DECEPTOR album. John Ruszin is on-board to help with the guitar tracks as well. The long-sundered partners were writing again, and the album looks to be the best yet, by far. Expect something extra special very soon!
D E C E P T O R • I S • C O M I N G . . .
