The Secret Origin Of STACHE!
At a young age Dennis Warren found himself gifted with abilities far beyond those of mere mortals. Excelling in music, art, and athletics, Warren developed his talents with goals toward fulfilling dreams ..... heavy metal music as a teenager in the 1980s. In the early 1990s he toured the east coast in the USA with southern thrashers Play War. By the late 1990s into the year 2000 he had recreated himself as "Dionysis Metalcult" and was with the unique heavy metal band Cryptameria. He performed with them at Milwaukee Metalfest and the New Jersey Metal Meltdown festivals.
Warren continued creating metal music and performing as Dionysis Metalcult, and in 2006 he formed his own band, The Cult of Dionysis aka Metalcult. The band recorded, self-produced, and released several singles, EPs, full length recordings, even comic books. They also toured VA, WV, TN, NC, SC in the USA and were active until 2016.
During this decade long campaign the band would survive multiple lineup changes, bad record deals, backstage soap opera drama, and an unfortunate lack of music industry support. They endured it all and managed to create a diverse catalogue of material, while also delivering consistently solid live performances.
DISCOGRAPHY:
2007 - "CCCXXXIII" featuring Trevor Carter (Guitar/Bass/Drums) and Dionysis (Vocals).
2010 - "Alchemy" featuring James Huff (Bass/Vocals), Grayson Flippen (Guitars), Matt Dowling (Vocals), Dionysis (Drums, Vocals).
2012 - "Behind The Mask" single, featuring James Huff (Bass/Vocals), Scott Mays (Guitars), Scotty McMeans (Guitars), Dionysis (Drums/Vocals).
2014 - "Transfiguration" featuring James Huff (Bass/Vocals), Scott Mays (Guitars), Heath Hash (Guitars), Dionysis (Drums/Vocals).
2016 - "Arcanum" collecting rare, out of print, and previously unreleased material, remastered digitally by Matt Miller, includes the albums "CCCXXXIII", "Alchemy" the "Behind The Mask" single + rare material never heard before this recording.
Dionysis also created, wrote, illustrated, and published a comic book series titled "Metalcult Comix". The series chronicled the semi-autobiographical fantasy & sci-fi adventures of the Cult of Dionysis. The series debuted in January 2011 and directly led to a crossover marketing phenomenon. A large percentage of metal heads are also comic book fans, and as a result the band became known in comic book shops and at comic conventions as much or more so than at rock clubs. Comic sales eventually far outpaced sales of records or other merchandise. Thus far, the following books have been published:
- Metalcult Comix #1 (January 2011)
- Metalcult Comix #2 (August 2011)
- Metalcult Comix #3 (April 2012)
- Metalcult Comix #4 (August 2012)
- Metalcult Comix Special #1 featuring Riffomaximus and The Soldiers of Fortune (August 2013)
- Metalcult Comix #5 (July 2014)
- Metalcult Comix Special #2 featuring Thundrazoid and The Planet of Beer (July 2015)
- Giant-Size Metalcult Comix #1 collecting issues 1-5 + Metalcult Comix Special #1 (October 2015)
- Metalcult Comix #6 (January 2016)
- Metalcult Comix #7 (July 2016)
Though the band enjoyed incredible talent and creativity + had an amazing variety of merchandise and material to consume, it would not be enough to keep the group alive. Even with the massive support of fans and friends who believed in the group, the operational costs to keep Cult of Dionysis running became unsustainable. No matter how many comic books, CDs, T-shirts, or downloads the group sold, it never paid for the cost to produce these products or cover the band's travel and living expenses.
The delicate balance of working day jobs, living a "normal" life, touring, recording, and trying to keep the band running eventually took the ultimate toll on Dionysis and His Amazing Friends. During the final days there was an embarrassing lack of interest in the band from it's own membership. The band also had no management, no label support, no booking agent, and absolutely no interest at all from corporate music distribution organizations. As a result, Dionysis fired the surviving band membership in December 2015. With middle finger held high, he made his exit from the "music industry" that had ignored him for far too long.
The compilation album ARCANUM was released in 2016 as a testimony to the unique musical contribution Cult of Dionysis has made to the underground heavy metal community. Also in 2016, Dionysis aka Dennis Warren performed live on the drums for a final time, not with Cult of Dionysis, but with his former band Play War at a benefit show in Galax, VA.
A decade of Dionysis music came to an end in 2016, but Dennis Warren's creative efforts continue. Today the founding member of the Metalcult aka Cult of Dionysis is best known as the illustrator for the hit children's comic book series Flippy The Dachshund. In 2017 Warren began training with WWE Hall of Famer Handsome Jimmy "The Boogie Woogie Man" Valiant at his wrestling school to become a professional wrestler/manager.
In 2018 Warren graduated from Valiant's school and now performs as the pro wrestling personality "The Spectacular Stache". Warren is also an author of weird supernatural tales and recently had his first story published in 2019 via the scary mystery magazine Who Knocks?.
Warren continues to dabble in metal music independently and undoubtedly will have more to contribute to the world of heavy metal in the future. He also plans to continue the comic book series Metalcult Comix to finish telling the story of the band right up until the very end. The series will eventually culminate with the final issue + death of the comic book's main characters.
Recently Warren's "The Spectacular Stache" full color comic strip has been appearing in issues of the world's greatest online heavy metal mag Metalheads Forever Magazine. Check it out! You can read all the latest metal newz + enjoy new comics featuring The Stache on a semi-monthly basis.
The future of the band Cult of Dionysis is uncertain. However, a summary of the band's past is very certain: METALCULT KICKED ASS!!!!
Follow the adventures of The Spectacular Stache and get more updates and info about Cult of Dionysis here:
www.metalcult.net
www.reverbnation.com/cultofdionysis
www.facebook.com/cultofdionysis
www.facebook.com/MetalcultComix
www.facebook.com/metalcult