Bruce Falkinburg

Bruce Falkinburg
Falkinburg with Thee Iron Hand.
Background information
Birth Name	Timothy Bruce Falkinburg Jr.
Died	12 July 2022
Occupation	Musician, Producer, Art Teacher
Genres	Doom Metal, Stoner Metal, Hard Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Instrument(s)	Bass, Guitar, Vocals
Years active	late 1980s - 2022
Labels	Southern Lord Records, Exile on Mainstream
Associated acts	The Hidden Hand, The Obsessed, White Chocolate, Thee Iron Hand

Bruce Falkinburg was a musician, producer and art teacher based out of College Park, Maryland. While best known as the bassist for the Wino-fronted band The Hidden Hand, he is largely known as an audio engineer in the Maryland scene. He had co-owned the now-closed studio Phase Recording (located in College Park, MD) and Bruce's Barn Studio. He engineered sound for numerous acts in the scene such as Spirit Caravan, Sixty Watt Shaman, Black Manta and War Injun among others.

Biography

Falkinburg was born in Vincentown, New Jersey. At some point in his life he was briefly involved with a New York alternative band known as White Chocolate before relocating to Maryland and producing records, the earliest known being around 1998.

The Hidden Hand formed in 2002 not long after Spirit Caravan had broken up in May of that year. Announcing the demise of the band, Wino asked Falkinburg if he was interested in doing a little jamming. Bruce was already playing in a DC band with drummer Dave Hennessy and thought he would be perfect for the project despite being both unaware of Wino's style of playing at the time. Sometime after the formation the band would record at least twelve songs in that time frame. Leading up to the band's first shows it was announced they would release the De-Sensitized 7" in March of 2003. The Hidden Hand's first live performance was on 23 March 2003 at the Velvet Lounge in Washington D.C. (With Solace and The Rubes as support). A string of shows would follow with Clutch and Five Horse Johnson along with an appearance at Emissions from the Monolith. The band would then announce the release of their first album Divine Propaganda in the fall of that same year along with a tour of Europe.

The band would follow up in 2004 with a split EP with Wooly Mammoth and eventually the band's second album Mother, Teacher, Destroyer after signing to Southern Lord Records in 2004. The Hidden Hand would tour the United States and Europe in support of the album. Tours of the United States and Europe would follow throughout 2004 & 2005, though dates in 2005 would be more sporadic after February that year. Dave Hennessey would be replaced by Evan Tanner at some point in 2004.

The band's second release on Southern Lord would be a limited CD/DVD Dualdisc entitled Devoid of Color, released in late 2005. Along with five new songs the EP's video side featured a full set at The Black Cat in Washington D.C. in July that year. The band would begin work on their third album soon after. On 20 February 2007, The Hidden Hand would release their third (and final) album The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote via Southern Lord. A tour of The United States and Europe would follow throughout the winter and spring that year. The Hidden Hand would disband later in 2007, as stated by Wino.

Falkinburg would reconnect with Wino years later and join The Obsessed in 2016. On 31 October 2016 The Obsessed would announce a new four-piece lineup featuring drummer Brian Costantino, Falkinburg and guitarist Sara Seraphim (Arsantiqva, Armageddon, Ghost Ship Octavius). It would be the first time the band would be a four-piece in 35 years. The first show with this lineup would be on 26 November 2016 at Kung Fu Necktie in Philadelphia, PA. What would follow would be a strong of shows throughout the fall including a performance opening for Clutch on 27 December. By the end of the year, Falkinburg and Seraphim would leave The Obsessed, with the lineup only playing a handful of shows. Notably, the band would play the Hidden Hand song "De-Sensitized" on these string of shows.

Falkinburg would also form a project with Dee Calhoun (Iron Man, etc.), Matt Crocco and Patrick Kennedy of the Maryland doom scene in Thee Iron Hand. This project would do a handful of shows, the debut on 14 July 2017 at The Shamrock Inn with Mangog and Weed is Weed. The project did only a few more shows, the last one in 2018 as a tribute to Al Morris III of Iron Man.

Falkinburg would pass away on 12 July 2022. News of his passing would be public on 22 July via Southern Lord Records and other sources.

Bands

• White Chocolate - Guitar, Vocals (late 1980s / early 1990s)
• The Hidden Hand - Bass, Vocals (2003 - 2007)
• The Obsessed - Bass, Vocals (2016 - 2017)
• Thee Iron Hand - Bass (2017 - 2018)

Discography

With The Hidden Hand

• De-Sensitized (7" Single) (2003, McCarthyism)
• Divine Propaganda (2003, MeteorCity Records)
• Mother, Teacher, Destroyer (2004, Southern Lord Records)
• Night Letters (Split with Wooly Mammoth) (2004, Meteorcity)
• Devoid of Color (EP/DVD DualDisc) (2005, Southern Lord Records)
• The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote (2007, Southern Lord Records)

Other Releases as a Performer

• White Chocolate - Ear to The Street (Compilation) (1990, MBT)
• Sixty Acres - Good Ethel (Guitar, Percussion, Producer) (1998, Dren)

Selected Discography as an Engineer / Producer

to be added

External Links

• Discogs
• Thee Iron Hand on Facebook