September 10, 2025 – James recently traveled to visit Alex in South Carolina with plans to work on several more songs that will eventually be recorded, but for now will be used to bulk up a set of songs so the band can play live, probably early next year and most likely in San Francisco. The two guitarists worked quickly to nail down two more songs from back in the day, including ‘War Of The Ring’ and ‘The Last Judgement’ as well as a new Alex-penned song tentatively titled ‘The Viking Song’. Two surprise cover songs are also being targeted which will give the band a minimum of ten songs for their initial live performance. Alex has plans to travel to the Bay Area in mid-October for a week of rehearsals and to tighten up the old, new and cover songs. Homework will be done individually in advance of Alex’s visit, and the band expects to be firing on all cylinders by the time he arrives.

August 30, 2025 – The ‘Mordred Is Born’ EP has finally been mixed, mastered and prepared for release to the public. The final product is heavy and sounds amazingly authentic to what the early days of thrash metal were generating – perhaps because the songs were written at that time. Now, with more modern production, the earliest Mordred material is finally getting its due with a proper recording that rings true to the band’s legacy. Although not yet available on CD or vinyl, the EP has been made available on all of the streaming platforms, including Spotify, YouTube Music, Pandora, Apple Music/iTunes or wherever you stream your music from, so if you haven’t already, go have a listen! Plans are in the works for a promotional CD to be released this fall with vinyl available soon after.

August 10, 2025 – An old friend of the band dating back to the very beginning, Eric Crane, has completed a fantastic book called ‘Faster Than The Speed Of Sound –Vignettes from the Bay Area Thrash Metal Scene’ in which he documents in great detail what it was like growing up in San Francisco’s Richmond District (where Mordred was born), interspersed with essays on the formation of thrash, starting with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands and tying the Bay Area thrash metal roots to early British metal acts like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Tank, Angel Witch, Venom, etc. Also included are more global bands like Accept from Germany, Mercyful Fate from Denmark and Loudness from Japan. He describes in detail the early 80’s rock clubs in San Francisco and the bands that were cutting their teeth at those very clubs (Exodus, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, etc.). His research is meticulous and some of the anecdotes of our teenage years are straight-up hilarious. There is an entire chapter dedicated to Alex Gerould, the brains behind the formation of the original Mordred band, and current leader of Deaths Dawn. The book is available on Amazon and I encourage anyone interested to order a copy today!

June 20, 2025 – The plans to enter the recording studio came to fruition at the beginning of June, and after only a handful of rehearsals, the band were ready to go with five songs from the original set of Mordred tunes. That meant relearning and reworking material that is literally 40 years old! The songs selected include ‘The Labyrinth’, ‘Mordred’, ‘The Black Vigil’, ‘Persecution’ and ‘Burned At The Stake’. It was decided that these five songs would comprise an EP release, and several potential titles for the EP were suggested and bandied about before settling on Alex’s suggestion that we call the EP ‘Mordred Is Born’, connecting the current Deaths Dawn lineup with the original Mordred band that played these songs as part of their live set in the mid-1980’s. The band entered Trident Studios in Pacheco, California for four days on June 6, 7, 8 and 9 with the ambitious goal of completing the recording of all five songs in just four days. The sessions were engineered by Trident head honcho Juan Urteaga, who has previously worked with Exodus, Heathen, Machine Head, Testament and many other Bay Area thrash metal bands. Juan also provided a handful of production ideas, most of which were ultimately used on the recording. The goal was met just under the wire, and the final notes were recorded at the end of the final day on June 9^th, including all vocals and guitar solos. The band’s hard work in preparation for the project paid off and everyone was at their peak performance. Plans are to have the songs mixed, mastered and then released in various formats, including CD, vinyl and streaming platforms, hopefully by the end of the summer.

January 31, 2025 – A few months off for the holidays gave the band plenty of time to work on things behind-the-scenes like new gear, upcoming rehearsal schedules and strategic planning for the recording project. Chris has been using the time to focus on the lyrics and doing his best job of representing Steve’s legacy. Most exciting is the news that, after months of development, the DEATHS DAWN website is finally prepared to launch this week at deathsdawn.net, featuring band news, music, photos, flyers and lots more!

October 31, 2024 – Full DEATHS DAWN band rehearsals commenced with Alex’s recent visit to San Francisco. The band convened for several rehearsals at Secret Studios, highlighted on the final day by appearances from old Mordred scenesters Hiro Makino, Eric Hajek, Anthony Alonzo, Pete Schnell, Dave Quon and TImi Devlin. The first session was understandably rocky, but the band quickly found their rhythm and by the third night of jamming, the potential for a powerful reunion was beginning to come into view.

September 30, 2024 – After several decades, Erik and Alex reunited to work on music for the DEATHS DAWN project. Erik flew to South Carolina for a week that included a visit from Hurricane Helene, affording the pair ample time to “couch rehearse” and work on arrangements for ‘The Labyrinth’, ‘Mordred, ‘Persecution’ and ‘The Black Vigil’. The songs have taken on new life and the excitement is building for rehearsal with the full band when Alex comes to San Francisco in October.