CYBER ANGELDUST: KLAYTON (a.k.a Circle of Dust/Celldweller/Argyle Park/...)

Klayton (born Scott Albert) is a multi-instrumentalist musician formerly of New York City and currently of Detroit, Michigan who has led several cult status underground bands and has performed under a variety of stage names since the early 1990s. He is best known for his current project, Celldweller which has been widely successful.

As a teenager, Klayton listened to a lot of metal, only later being introduced to electronic music through bands such as Depeche Mode and Skinny Puppy. All of these would influence Klayton's musical output in the early and mid 1990s, as he melded heavy guitars with layered samples and synths in the handful of industrial metal bands that he formed. In later years, Klayton has referenced European drum'n'bass and Goa/psychedelic trance as influential on the sound of his project Celldweller.

1995 would prove to be a busy and chaotic year for Klayton; he toured and released a complete re-recording of the self-titled Circle of Dust album while R.E.X., it turned out, was losing its distribution deal. This caused the label, who refused to release any of their signed bands from contract, to slide into bankruptcy. Essentially, Circle of Dust was trapped on a sinking ship, unable to record and release new music but also prevented from signing to any other label. Later that year, Klayton decided to end Circle of Dust and find new means of creating and releasing music.

While Circle of Dust was touring in 1994/1995, Klayton had been contacted on a number of occasions by illusionist Criss Angel, who wanted to collaborate on a magic show. When R.E.X.'s legal troubles prevented Klayton from recording or touring in 1995, he put the band to rest and began writing with Angel. The two combined their names and called the band Angeldust and spent upwards of two years creating a live theatrical show that would feature "Illusions, a live band, avant-garde characters that roam the landscape, robotic lighting, television monitors and projectors, performance art pieces and more." They released their first album, Musical Conjurings from the World of Illusion, in 1998, the same year as the final Circle of Dust album. However, by 2000, all mention of Klayton had been erased from the Criss Angel website and a complete trilogy of albums, including a re-issue of the first album, were released only under the name Criss Angel as the extended soundtrack for his Amystika show.Klayton later explained that it had become apparent to the two that they were better off working on their own projects. Several years later, however, it appeared that the two had made amends, as Klayton recorded and remixed a new theme song for Angel's Mindfreak show in 2006. This collaboration represents Klayton's final contribution to the discography of Criss Angel.

By 1998, when Klayton had begun working with Criss Angel, he had changed his name from Scott Albert to Klay Scott, explaining in an interview that the name had been given to him by Angel for his ability to "take sounds and shape them as if they were clay"

Klayton, previously having used Celldweller only as an occasional production moniker, turned the entity into a full-fledged solo band after parting ways with Criss Angel in 1999 and released a five song limited edition teaser EP that same year. Interest ran high, with several Celldweller demo songs and remixes earning high marks on the charts on the old Mp3.com. A number of setbacks, including attempts to find backing by a major label that fell through, caused the debut eponymous Celldweller album to be delayed by two years.It was independently released in 2003 and has made a number of achievements such as reaching the 17th spot on Billboard's Internet Sales Chart,winning a number of 2004 Just Plain Folks Music Awards,and having every track present on the album being licensed to appear in movie trailers, television shows, or computer games, a feat only previously accomplished by Moby and Crystal Method.

Names: Klayton, Scott Albert, Klay Scott, Dred, Deathwish, Tox.

Occupations: Multi-instrumentalist, Singer-songwriter, Record producer, Performer, Programming (music), Remixer.

Bands/Projects: Celldweller, Circle of Dust, Angeldust, Criss Angel, Brainchild, Argyle Park, Chatterbox, AP2, Scandroid, Immortal, Rivot.

Instruments: Multi-instrumentalist, Electric guitar, Synthesizer, Bass guitar, Acoustic guitar, Percussion, Drums, Turntables, Piano, Violin.

Genres: Industrial Metal, Electronic Rock, Electro-Industrial, Alternative Metal, Nu Metal, Drum and Bass, Psy-Trance, Progressive Techno, Trance, Orchestal,.... Cyber Industrial Thrash Metal (CoD, Angeldust).

Discography

Immortal

Dead and Buried (1990) Demo tape, Klayton's first band.

Circle of Dust

Circle of Dust (1992)
Metamorphosis (1993; Split Album with Living Sacrifice)
Brainchild (1994)
Circle of Dust (1995)
Disengage (1998)
Machines of Our Disgrace (2016)

Argyle Park

Misguided (1995)
Suspension of Disbelief (2000, released under the name AP2)

Angeldust/Criss Angel

Musical Conjurings from World of Illusion (1998)
System 1 In The Trilogy (2000)
System 2 In The Trilogy (2000)
System 3 In The Trilogy (2000)
Mindfreak (2002)

Celldweller

Celldweller [EP] (2000)
Celldweller (2003)
Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head Vol. 01 (2008)
Wish Upon a Blackstar (2009-2012)
Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head Vol. 02 (2010-2012)
End of an Empire (2014-2015)
Soundtrack for the Voices in My Head Vol. 03 (2013-2016)

Klay Scott played multiple insruments in addition to performing in the theatrics of the Criss Angel: World of Illusion Show at New York's Madison Square Garden' in 1998.