Locals Only: dED and BURYd are more than just a rock band

Apr. 7—When Ed Malaker and Nancy Bury started dED and BURYd in 2009, it was originally a game-making company before they began producing melodic goth rock music. Now, you can catch their latest songs on 979X's "Locals Only" show on Sundays starting at 7:00 p.m.

dED and BURYd is dark, moody, and melodic with an 80s punk attitude that takes me back to that underground goth club my study group accidentally walked into after a fancy Vienna opera. What I found compelling is that their lyrics are so macabre, they actually feel light-hearted — similar to the humor The Addams Family accomplishes.

"Due to our name, most of our themes are related to horror in some way. Most have elements of the macabre, sadness, loss, loneliness, etc. There are also monsters, aliens, and other fun stuff," explained Malaker. "We didn't want to be a band with a dark name that didn't have dark music."

Ed Malaker and Nancy Bury formed their dynamic brand in 2009. At the time, they were involved with other bands but still found the time to create video games, like Horror Trivia which can be played today on itch.io. When those other bands went to the wayside, Malaker and Bury began creating music together and kept it under the dED and BURYd umbrella.

They released their self-titled record "Burnt Offerings" before adding drummer and childhood friend of Ed's, Matt Neilsen. Neilsen recorded many songs with dED and BURYd which can be heard on their collection, "Songs from the Morgue" on Spotify.

When Neilsen went on to other projects, Bury and Malaker spent less time playing shows and more time recordings songs. Frank Baransky, who played with Malaker in the bands Steel Knives, Walter Prez and The Awesome, as well as others over the last thirty years, began writing with them and became a full-fledged member around the time of COVID.

Since early 2022, dED and BURYd have been releasing a single every other month. The group is currently working on their next song planning to be released in early June, as well as a music video to accompany it.

"We have several singles on the way, and each will get a video. We are also constantly creating new content on our social media pages, so we hope the people of NEPA will come and say hello so we can entertain them."

Their unique voices set dED and BURYd apart from other bands. They take full advantage of having two male singers and a female singer. Also, both Malaker and Baransky are long-time songwriters, so writing new material is just part of any ordinary day for them

"We like to get everyone together to see what we can do, and it's always exciting to see how it turns out. Frank is a great lyricist, and Nancy has a good ear for chord progressions," said Malaker. "A lot of the inspiration for the themes and lyrics in our songs comes from old horror movies that we still enjoy watching, along with real horror topics like mental illness, drug abuse, etc."

They say Frank loves being in front of the camera, making it easy to create new videos. Ed produces all of dED and BURYd's music at his home studio, giving their band its signature noir rock sound that they have been unable to replicate anywhere else.

In addition to creating cool music for general consumption, dED and BURYd also works on audio and music for film and video games. They've worked on several projects including fan-made Doctor Who and Star Trek podcasts, an animated featured called"Arbitarium" still in production, and an untitled independent live-action film also in production.

They also made "Dr. Physt," a short horror-comedy film that you can watch on their YouTube channel. A sequel to this is already in the works. dED and BURYd enjoys working with animation. Bury is a wonderful artist, which allows their band and brand to do cartoon animation, often featured in their videos and as seen above in "Soft Kiss."

Despite playing hundreds of shows, dED and BURYd say they're all shy cat people (Chester and Odin can even be seen in some of their film/video work). However, even though their music deals with dark and extreme topics like murder, they're friendly and easy to get along with. They're always open to collaboration with any creatives, whether it's instruments or acting.

Give dED and BURYd a follow and shoutout on Facebook and listen to their song hit the radio live on-the-air during 979x's "Locals Only" show with Lazy E on Sundays from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.