Death from Above 1979

Early career (2001–2003)

Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler reportedly met at a Sonic Youth concert, they sometimes jokingly claimed to have met in prison, on a pirate ship, or in a gay bar, leading some journalists and fans to believe these stories.

On December 15, 2002, the band released their debut EP, Heads Up.

You're a Woman, I'm a Machine and break up (2004–2006)

The band began recording for their debut album, You're a Woman, I'm a Machine from February to April 2004 at The Chemical Sound in Toronto. Additional recording was done at Studio Plateau in Montreal and the album was engineered and produced by Al-P, with the exception of the Montreal sessions which were engineered by Drew Malamud. The album was released on October 26, 2004. The band released three singles to promote, You're a Woman, I'm a Machine, these singles where "Romantic Rights"on November 4, 2004, "Blood on Our Hands" on February 17, 2005 and "Black History Month" on June 13, 2005. In 2005, the video for "Blood on Our Hands" won a VideoFACT award at the MuchMusic Video Awards. They played "Romantic Rights" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, with Grainger drumming for the first half of the performance and Late Night's Max Weinberg on the same drum set for the second.

As of August 3, 2006, the band officially disbanded. Keeler posted the following message on the official Death from Above 1979 forum:

On MuchMusic's television program The New Music, Keeler further explained why the band split. He claimed it was due to disagreements with bandmate Grainger on many levels, including creative differences and musical style.

Reunion and The Physical World (2011–present)

On February 4, 2011, Grainger announced on the band's website that they were reforming. Along with this blog post, the band's official website was updated. They performed a new song while performing at EdgeFest on July 14, 2012 at Downsview Park in Toronto. On September 18, 2012, a Canadian tour was announced; the band revealed that they had written new songs, but needed to perform them live in order to "make them any good". On October 28, 2012, the band's blog was updated in lieu of excitement for their string of shows around Canada. In the post, Grainger cited that they were "coming to share new material, and to work out the kinks". The band was originally scheduled to perform at Governors Ball Music Festival in June 2013, but later announced that they were having unexpected trouble while working on new music and cancelled their appearance. On July 11, 2013, the band confirmed that a new record is in the works on their Facebook page after cancelling European shows due to a "medical emergency". They did, however, perform at Wakestock Music Festival in August and Rifflandia in September.

On July 8, 2014, the band released a single, "Trainwreck 1979", and announced more details of their upcoming studio album The Physical World. On September 9, 2014 the band released their second album, The Physical World.

The band released a documentary Life After Death From Above 1979. It was released on October 7, 2014, which chronicled the history of the band and their reunion. It was directed by Grainger's wife, Eva Michon.

On April 14, 2015, the band announced that they would be playing Glastonbury Festival 2015.

On April 22, 2016, the band released their live album Live At Third Man Records which was recorded in 2015 at Jack White's Third Man Records headquarters in Nashville.

Death from Above 1979 is part of the Wayhome summer 2017 line-up in Oro-Medonte, Ontario.

Discography

Studio albums

Remix album

Live album

EPs

Singles

Music videos

In media