Parris Mitchell Mayhew (born 1964) is an American musician, songwriter, director and camera operator.[1]
Parris Mayhew | |
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Birth name | Parris Mitchell Mayhew |
Born | September 28, 1964 New York City, New York, US |
Origin | New York City, New York, U.S. |
Genres | Hardcore punk, punk rock |
Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, director, camera operator |
Instrument(s) | Guitar, bass guitar, piano, tenor banjo |
Years active | 1979–present |
Labels | Profile, Universal Music, Cro-Mag |
Website | www |
He is best known as co-founder and songwriter of the New York Hardcore band Cro-Mags.[2][3][4] He has played in a number of bands, including White Devil,[5] the MAD, Sămsära, Psychic Orgy, and Aggros.[6][7]
Mayhew also directed numerous music videos and later worked as a motion picture and television camera operator.[8]
Parris Mayhew was born and raised in New York City, New York. His father Aubrey Mayhew worked in the music industry and sparked Parris' interest to music in 1970's.[9][10] Mayhew cited Jimmy Page, Steve Howe, Alex Lifeson and Joe Perry as his early music influences when he learned to play guitar.[11] Mayhew graduated from the High School of Art and Design and from The School of Visual Arts, New York City in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts Film.[10] His music career began in 1979 at age 15, when he joined NYC punk staples The MAD. He now lives with his wife Barblin Mayhew in Brooklyn, New York.[5][10]
While making music in Cro-Mags, Parris began directing music videos, first for Cro-Mags and then for other music bands, including Anthrax, Biohazard ("Shades of Gray", "Punishment", "Tales From The Hard Side", "After Forever"), Onyx ("Slam"), Run DMC ("Ooh Whatcha Gonna Do?"), Type O Negative ("Black No. 1"), Public Enemy, Sepultura, Nuclear Assault, Flotsam and Jetsam, Gang Green, among dozens others.[5][11][12]
From 2003, Mayhew worked as a camera operator in many projects for the International Cinematographers Guild (also known as "Local 600).[13][14] He is a member of the Society of Camera Operators and co-founder of Wildfire NYC, where he also works as director and cameraman.[15]
Mayhew is a founding member, songwriter and guitarist of Cro-Mags, where he created music and played from 1980-1990 and 1996-2001.[16] He is also a founding member of White Devil.[5] He played in other music bands including Sămsära and Psychic Orgy. In 2020, Mayhew founded Aggros, a new instrumental hardcore/metal band based in NYC.[17] The band's first single "Chaos Magic" was released without label via Mayhew's YouTube channel in October 2020.[7][18][19]
Cro-Mags domain name ownership was a matter of dispute when Savoia NYC, an entity related to Harley Flanagan, filed the complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). As Domain Name Wire states: " Mayhew was co-owner of an entity with Flanagan that held a trademark for Cro-Mags when he registered the domain name in 1999." However WIPO rejected to grant domain name to Flanagan citing abuse of policy.[20][21] As a result, Mayhew remained the owner of the original Cro-Mags website.[22]
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