Deantoni Parks

Deantoni Parks (born November 2, 1977) is an American new wave/avant-garde/experimental drummer, songwriter, actor and record producer. He is the founder, producer and drummer of the New York band KUDU, and one half of the writing duo We Are Dark Angels with composer, producer and keyboardist Nicci Kasper, also a member of KUDU. He was a member of progressive rock band the Mars Volta, and is currently a member (together with Kasper) of the alternative rock band Bosnian Rainbows.

Based in Brooklyn, New York, he is a vested partner in a developing audio/visual communications agency. In between writing and performances he has been participating as part-time faculty at Stanford Jazz Workshop, Berklee College of Music and NYC’s Drummers Collective.

Deantoni was born and raised in Newnan, Georgia. His family’s musical preferences leaned towards funk, Southern soul and gospel and with their full support he began playing drums when he was two years old. He was put in the national spotlight before the age of five as a result of his practice and performance with the Newnan High School band. Xernona Clayton from The Xernona Clayton Show broadcast on WAGA-TV in Atlanta interviewed him for a national broadcast segment that aired in 1982.

He later explored jazz as a teen with Delbert Felix and chose to enroll at Berklee College of Music, where study with Lenny Nelson and exposure to Photek, Squarepusher, and Hidden Agenda turned his focus to the mechanistic beats of electronic music.

KUDU

In 1998 while living in Boston Deantoni drafted the Now Wave Manifesto. It was these beliefs that provided the foundation for the core song structures that ultimately led to the recording of the KUDU demo. He founded KUDU with his then girlfriendSylvia Gordon, Nicci Kasper.

KUDU was performing Photek, Roni Size and Cujo covers at venues (name specific venues or shows with select acts) around Boston. Due to Deantoni’s ability to play these hyper/punk/virtuosic rhythms live, KUDU inspired and influenced many American drummersand live drum and bass acts from 2000 forward. Bill Laswell, Vernon Reid (Living Colour) and Jojo Mayer, were all seen at early KUDU shows after the band relocated to New York City in 2000.

Kudu released their self-titled debut on Velour Recordings, a New York-based label, in 2001. The band eventually agreed to terms with Nublu Records and in 2006 the label released their Death of the Party album. NuBlu also released Back for More: A Remix Collection. The album featured a cherry-picked selection of unreleased tracks, B-sides, rare recordings and remixes by Armand Van Helden, Tommie Sunshine, Sinden, Drop the Lime, King Britt, Curtis Vodka, Hess Is More, LingLing and others.

Between summer 2006 and the fall of 2007 they performed at the Roskilde Festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark, Delta Tejo Festival in Portugal and Transmusicales held annually in Rennes, Brittany, France.

Their last public performance was opening for Me'shell Ndegeocello at the Highline Ballroom in the fall of 2009.

Despite KUDU’s early success the group has not released an album since 2008’s Back for More. Nicci Kasper, Sylvia Gordon and Deantoni have all continued to write and produce tracks for other artists including John Cale and Me'shell Ndegeocello. In early 2009 Deantoni and Nick Kasper began collaborating as the writing duo, We Are Dark Angels.

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group / The Mars Volta / Bosnian Rainbows

Parks briefly joined The Mars Volta in September 2006, following the departure of Blake Fleming. Touring with the band for two months, Parks was subsequently replaced by Thomas Pridgen. Regarding his exit from the band, Parks stated, "I was already working heavily with John Cale at the time, and also KUDU. And, to be honest, at the time, I was just more loyal to them, obviously. And, you know, [The Mars Volta] were looking for drummers too. I was just there to fill-in, or whatever. I mean I clicked really, really well with Omar and I always remember that so I never blocked out the idea of working with them again. It was just that time, it was a weird time for me to join then so that’s why it didn’t happen."

Deantoni joined the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group on their autumn 2010 tour across Japan, the US and Russia. He has also recorded on many of Omar's albums since 2008's release Old Money, for which his contribution had been recorded when Deantoni first joined The Mars Volta in 2006. He rejoined The Mars Volta in late 2010 and stayed until their dissolution after 2012's Noctourniquet.During this timeframe he was also working on music with TMV members Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Juan Alderete on their respective projects, although none have yet to see release besides Deantoni making appearances on Big Sir records.

Together with Rodriguez-Lopez, singer Teri Gender Bender of Le Butcherettes and his KUDU/Dark Angels bandmate Kasper, Parks formed a new band called Bosnian Rainbows in 2012. Their first full-length, self-titled album was released on June 25, 2013.

Deantoni maintains part-time work as an instructor at Stanford Jazz Workshop, The Drummer's Collective NYC, and Berklee College of Music. He has been involved with each of these institutions since 1998.

Solo Work

• Touch But Don't Look (2012) on Sargent House/Rodriguez-Lopez Productions
• Technoself (Leaving/Stones Throw; 2015)
• WALLY (2016)
• Deanthoven (2016)
• Look This (2016) as WE ARE DARK ANGELS
• ELEVENELEVEN (2017)
• Dog Eat Dog (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2017)
• Homo Deus (Leaving/Stones Throw; 2018)
• Augusta (Humani Machina Records, Alpha Pup Records) 2019
• Westwave (2019)
• Silver Cord (Humani Machina Records, Alpha Pup Records) 2020

Session Recordings

• Flying Lotus - You're Dead! (2014)
• Flying Lotus - Flamagra (2019)

Collaborations

• Last Night – Moby (2008) – contribution to an LP
• The Biggest Piano In Town - Grand Pianoramax on ObliqSound (2008), Leo Tardin - keyboards, Deantoni Parks - drums, Adam Deitch - drums, Mike Ladd - vocals, Celena Glenn - vocals, Invincible - vocals, Spleen - vocals

With Astroid Power-Up!

• Google Plex (2003) - LP

With Gray

• 1979 (Unreleased) - LP
• Shades of... - (2019)

With KUDU

• Kudu (2001) - LP
• Death of the Party (2006) - LP
• Back for More: A Remix Collection (2008) - LP

With John Cale

• Circus Live (2007)
• Extra Playful (2011)
• Shifty Adventures in Nookie Wood (2012)
• MFANS (2016)

With Meshell Ndegeocello

• The Article 3 (2006)
• The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams (2007)
• Devil's Halo (2009)
• Weather (2011)
• Pour une Âme Souveraine: A Dedication to Nina Simone (2012)

With Omar Rodríguez-López

• Old Money (2008)
• Solar Gambling (2009)
• Dōitashimashite (2010) - Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group live release
• Un Escorpión Perfumado (2010)
• Noctourniquet (2012) - The Mars Volta's 6th LP
• Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar (2012)
• Bosnian Rainbows Live At Clouds Hill (2012)
• Unicorn Skeleton Mask (2013)
• ¿Sólo Extraño? (2013)
• Bosnian Rainbows (2013) - self-titled debut
• A Raw Youth (2015) - Le Butcherettes's 3rd LP
• Sworn Virgins (2016)
• Blind Worms Pious Swine (2016)
• El Bien Y Mal Nos Une (2016)
• Cell Phone Bikini (2016)
• Zapopan (2016)
• Nom de Guerre Cabal (2016)
• Some Need It Lonely (2016)
• A Lovejoy (2016)
• Roman Lips (2017)
• Zen Thrills (2017)
• Chocolate Tumor Hormone Parade (2017) - Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group live release
• Azul, Mis Dientes (2017)
• Gorilla Preacher Cartel (2017)
• Killing Tingled Lifting Retreats (2017)
• Solid State Mercenaries (2017)
• Doom Patrol (2017)
• TBA - Bosnian Rainbows' 2nd LP

With Juan Alderete

• Before Gardens After Gardens (2012) - Big Sir's 3rd LP
• Digital Gardens (2014) - Big Sir's 4th LP
• TBA - Vato Negro's 2nd LP

• Astroid Power-up!
• Kudu
• The Mars Volta
• Omar Rodríguez-López
• Bosnian Rainbows
• John Cale
• Meshell Ndegeocello
• Moby
• Lenny Kravitz
• Alice Smith
• Cody Chesnutt
• Gray --Basquiat's Industrial Noise Band--*
• Sade
• Marc Ribot
• Vato Negro
• We Are Dark Angels (With Nicci Kasper)
• World's End