EGO LIKENESS
Current line up LIVE:
Steven Archer – Guitar / Programming / Music & Words / Vocals
Donna Lynch – Lead Vocals / Piano / Synths / Words & Music
Mike K. Johnson – Drums
Mindcage Rick (Mindless Faith, Chemlab) – Drums
Studio Members:
Dan Clark (The Dark Clan)- Production/ Co-writer
Ego Likeness was created in 1999 by artist Steven Archer, a DC native, and writer Donna Lynch in Baltimore, Maryland. Taking their name from Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction novel ‘Dune’, the band began as an experimental/ dark trip hop project. A demo called ‘Songs From a Dead City’, recorded on a four track, was released in 1999.
By 2000, Archer and Lynch were moving the project in a darker electronic/ dance direction, resulting in a self-released full-length album entitled ‘Dragonfly’.
Ego Likeness signed with Dancing Ferret Discs for the release of 2004’s ‘Water to the Dead’. This album featured the band’s electronic roots while exploring a heavier rock sound.
2005 saw the band tour Germany, Luxembourg, and the continental US with label mates The Cruxshadows, and their first album ‘Dragonfly’ was re-released on Dancing Ferret Discs.
In 2006, EL toured Germany once again with The Cruxshadows, performed at Dragon*Con in Atlanta GA, and released their third full-length CD ‘The Order of the Reptile’ (DFD), as well as their first video for the track ‘Aviary’ (directed by Lynch, Archer, and late Baltimore photographer Lauren E. Simonutti).
The winter of 2006-2007 saw another US tour with The Cruxshadows and Ayria.
In late autumn of 2007, EL was back in Germany, as well as Poland, and the UK with Alfa-Matrix act Ayria (Canada) and Australia’s Angelspit (DFD). The band also released the first of four limited edition EP’s entitled ‘South’.
In early 2008, they headlined a warm-up tour of the US and performed at Black Sun IV before setting off with Voltaire in the spring for his month-long Maiden Voyage Tour. EL performed once again at Dragon*Con 2008 in Atlanta GA.
In 2009, the single ‘The Lowest Place on Earth’ was released, as well as the ‘West’ EP.
Their fourth full-length album, ‘Breedless’, was released on Metropolis Records in 2010, as well as the ‘North’ EP.
The band continued touring throughout the US in 2010 and 2011, performing a third time at Dragon*Con 2010.
2012 saw the release of the final compass EP, ‘East’, and a second re-release of the now-out-of-print album ‘Dragonfly’. A new single and video (directed by Kyle Cassidy, Lynch, and Archer), ‘Treacherous Thing’, will be released in the fall.
The fifth full-length, ‘Know Thine Enemy’ is scheduled for release in early 2013.
In addition to touring extensively with The Cruxshadows, Voltaire, Ayria, Angelspit, The Ludovico Technique, EL has had the honor of sharing the stage with The Damned, Peter Murphy, Chris Connelly, Collide, Razed in Black, Bella Morte, Das Ich, Rasputina, Iris, Decoded Feedback, The Azoic, More Machine Than Man, In Strict Confidence, Combichrist, Stromkern, New Model Army, And One, Seabound, Attrition, Assemblage 23, Nitzer Ebb, Aesthetic Perfection, Terrorfakt, The Gothsicles, and many others.
EL has performed at festivals throughout the US and in Europe, including Dragon*Con (Atlanta GA), Convergence 11 (San Diego CA), Dracula’s Ball (Philadelphia PA), Ring Con (Fulda, Germany), Balticon (Baltimore MD), Black Sun Festival I (New Haven CT), Freaks United (DC), Eccentrik Festival (Raleigh NC), Reverence (Madison WI), Wicked Faire (Somerset NJ), WTII Mini-Fest (Chicago IL), several Electronic Saviors Benefit shows, and others.
They have appeared on numerous compilation CDs, including Electronic Saviors 1 and 2, several Asleep by Dawn and Hot Topic releases, and ‘Where’s Neil When You Need Him?’ (a tribute to the work of author Neil Gaiman, DFD 2006); released remixes for The Cruxshadows (Cassandra-Fortress in Flames), The Last Dance (Terribly When- Reflections of Rage), Thou Shalt Not (Inside of You, In Spite of You- The Projectionist), Black Tape for a Blue Girl (Tarnished- Scarecrow), Information Society (This Way Tonight- Synthesizer), Angelspit (Vena Cava- Krankhaus, Girl Poison- Black Kingdom Red Kingdom , Ditch the Rest- Carbon Beauty), and many more, and have been remixed by acts such as Komor Kommando, Bella Morte, Angelspit, Terrorfakt, and many others.
Archer and Lynch appear on Voltaire’s album ‘Then and Again’, and Lynch has lent her vocals to tracks on The Dark Clan’s ‘Dance Magic Dance’, Angelspit’s ‘Hideous and Perfect’, and Aiboforcen’s ‘Dedale’.
EL has been featured in publications such as Gothic Beauty, Outburn, ABD, Sideline, Pollstar, Sonic Seducer, and COMA to name a few.
The band works extensively with renowned Philadelphia photographer Kyle Cassidy, one of his photographs of Archer and Lynch appearing as “Photo of the Day” on Wikipedia’s main page in 2012.