Death Ships set sail in 2001, When undergrad/founder Dan Maloney was living in the basement of the notorious Iowa City punk house Theta Beta Potata. Armed with an acoustic guitar, Maloney started writing a collection of rock, folk, pop, & country tunes under the name Death Ships, a name that objectifies Maloney’s own fascination with nautical lore, and his own sense of humor for what many will think is surely a metal band. What seemed like a college bedroom project morphed into a full steamed band, culminating in a debut release Seeds of Devastation, recorded in Atlanta in 2006 with Matt Malpass at Marigolds & Monsters and self released on Faithful Anchor. On the strength of that release the band toured a lot in the midwest and finally both coasts, supporting former Wilco member Jay Bennett (RIP). In 2007, Maloney moved back to his hometown Chicago, while most the other members resided still in Iowa City. After awhile like most long distance relationships, Maloney realized he had to reconfigure the band so all members reside in a Chicago zip code. While many bands crumble under the circumstances of graduation or real world obligations and goals, Maloney soon realized he could not stop making and playing music. The band reassembled in Chicago after several years and released an Itunes EP called Maybe Arkansas recorded between Iowa City (Flat Black, Luke Tweedy) and Chicago (Black Sheep, Josh Shapera) in 2010, featuring keyboard work from Pat Sansone of Wilco. Currently the band has finished recording a second full length titled Circumstantial Chemistry recorded once again in Iowa City (Flat Black, Luke Tweedy) and Chicago (Get Small, Dan Agosto), and mixed in Atlanta by Matt Malpass at Marigolds & Monsters. After what seemed like the bands own Chinese Democracy, Death Ships will release Circumstantial Chemistry in the spring of 2011. Over the years the band has supported many high profile acts like The Decemberists, Low, Delta Spirit, Pinback, Tapes ‘N Tapes, and Blind Pilot, and has played many festivals like CMJ, SXSW, Mission Creek, and Milwaukee’s Summerfest. The bands music has also been placed in several TV shows like Vampire Diaries (CW), Teen Mom (MTV), 16 & Pregnant (MTV), T.O Show (VH1), Hellcats (CW), and Cho Show (VH1). Despite the ever changing musical climate, Death Ships has continued on its own course and will continue for the forseeable future.