Savannah Metal Vocalist Victoria Scalisi Dies

Victoria Scalisi, vocalist for the influential Savannah sludge/metal band DAMAD, died in the early morning hours of August 2nd at age 53. She was diagnosed last year with colorectal cancer that subsequently spread to her liver.

Formed in the early ‘90s, DAMAD released two albums, three EPs and several splits with other bands. By the turn of the century, that group went on hiatus while DAMAD guitarist Phillip Cope, bassist Brian Duke and drummer Christian Depken joined forces with guitarist Laura Pleasants to focus on their new group, Kylesa, which went on to significant worldwide success. Duke died in June 2001 (just four days after Kylesa’s first show), and Kylesa underwent numerous lineup shifts during its existence, with only Cope and Pleasants remaining from the founding members. With Kylesa currently shelved for an open-ended break, DAMAD had been playing selected reunion shows, and had booked a northeastern tour set for early this year that was scrapped after Scalisi’s condition grew more serious.

In the years since DAMAD’s initial run, Scalisi had a band called Karst, and more recently was fronting a new group called Lies in Stone, which had played two shows. DAMAD played what would be their last Savannah show in October at The Jinx.