Formed by drummer
Mark Edwards in August 1984 after the breakup of the Cleveland band Riot Architecture,
My Dad Is Dead has remained his solo project -- with occasional help from a revolving-door cast.
Edwards learned to play guitar during late 1984, and played his first show the following year with a backing band consisting of a drum machine. He recorded his first LP, And He's Not Gonna Take It Anymore, at a friend's home studio, and released it in May 1986 on St. Valentine Records. After a lengthy tour supporting
Modern English and then
the Butthole Surfers, he released
Peace, Love and Murder in May 1987.
Edwards signed a contract with Homestead Records early the following year, and released
Let's Skip the Details in May 1988. Soon after, he added the first bandmembers to
My Dad Is Dead: bassist
Jeff Curtis and drummer
John McEntire (later to gain fame in
Tortoise).
The Best Defense, an album of material from the previous album's sessions, was released on Homestead in December 1988.
With
McEntire gone on to
Bastro and
Curtis unwilling to tour,
Edwards recruited the
Prisonshake rhythm section --
Chris Burgess on bass and
Scott Pickering on drums -- for a 1989 tour of Europe. The group's fifth album, a 1989 double LP titled
The Taller You Are, the Shorter You Get, was its last for Homestead. With yet another lineup (this time guitarists
Tim Gilbride and
Doug Gillard plus
Burgess on bass),
My Dad Is Dead moved to Scat Records in April 1990 for the
Shine EP. The band's first album for Scat,
Chopping Down the Family Tree, was released in October 1991. Over two years later,
Out of Sight, Out of Mind also appeared on Scat, credited to
MDID.
Edwards and company moved to Trance Syndicate the following year, and released
For Richer, for Poorer in 1995.
–
John Bush, Rovi