Ryan J. Downey

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Ryan J. Downey or Ryan Downey is a writer, reporter, musician and founder of the Superhero Artist Management company, representing several bands including Bleeding Through, Throwdown, Demon Hunter and Tiger Army. As an on-air reporter, he has appeared on E!, VH1 and MSNBC. He is a former writer and producer for MTV News and has written for All Music Guide, Alternative Press, Chord, Circus, City Search, Metal Maniacs, Nuvo Newsweekly, OC Weekly, "Premiere", Punk Planet, Rockpile the San Francisco Chronicle and other publications. Downey is the former singer for Burn It Down and now fronts new musical projects, including the Misfits tribute band Die, Die My Darling with members of Eighteen Visions and Bleeding Through.

1 Biographical Information
2 TV Appearances
3 Additional Television Credits
4 Discography
5 Discography (As Guest Vocalist)
6 Discography (Liner Notes)
7 Activism
8 Additional Facts
9 Sources

[edit] Biographical Information

Ryan Downey founded Superhero Artist Management in 2003 while working as a writer/ producer for MTV. His roster of bands make regular appearances on tours like Ozzfest, Sounds Of The Underground and Warped Tour and in magazines like Spin, Revolver and AP. Artists he represents include Bleeding Through, Demon Hunter, Throwdown, Tiger Army and Zao.

Downey covered all of the major awards shows and guest-hosted "Coming Attractions" for E! in 2004 and 2005, appeared weekly on two different entertainment programs on MSNBC, and continues to write for AP. While at MTV, he was responsible for the majority of the News department's movie coverage, interviewing celebrities as diverse as Johnny Depp, Quentin Tarantino and Tom Cruise. Downey also conducted the channel's first onair interviews with The Killers, AFI, The Postal Service and Thrice, and worked on shows covering the war in Iraq. He broke the news (together with another reporter) on the death of Elliott Smith as well as the murder of Dimebag Darrell, and wrote the obituaries for June Carter Cash and Herb Ritts.

Over the years Ryan has published a variety of fanzines, including Step Up!, Vanguard, Prophet, MAG and Superhero, from which his company takes its name. Downey relocated to California in 2001 after the dissolution of his Indianapolis based band, Burn It Down. Best known for their single full-length album, the band spent time on the road with In Flames, Dillinger Escape Plan, Shadows Fall and Nevermore before disbanding in the fall of 2000 and playing a "final show" at Hellfest in Syracuse, New York. Burn It Down played a reunion show in Indianapolis in the summer of 2005.

Ryan Downey grew up listening to punk, new wave, and metal and formed the high-school bands RFU, Clear Sight, and Hardball with friends, the latter of which helped build the fledgling straight edge and hardcore scenes in Indy (together with bands like Split Lip and With Authority) and released a 7" EP.

Superhero Artist Management's roster: All Shall Perish (Nuclear Blast), Bleeding Through (Trustkill), The Dear & Departed (Science Records/ Warner), Demon Hunter (Solid State/ Tooth & Nail/ EMI), Die Die My Darling, The Gates Of Slumber (I Hate), Himsa (Century Media), Sinai Beach (Victory), Soul Embraced, Sullivan (Tooth & Nail/ EMI), Telecast (BEC/ Tooth & Nail/ EMI), Throwdown (Trustkill), Tiger Army (Hellcat/ Epitaph) and Zao (Ferret Music).

[edit] TV Appearances

MSNBC's "At The Movies" (on-air correspondent Feb. 05 - Aug. 05)
MSBNC's "Entertainment Hot List" (on-air correspondent Feb. 05 - Aug. 05)
VH1 "VH1's 100 Greatest Red Carpet Moments" (onair talking head)
E! "E!'s Countdown To The 2005 Golden Globes" (onair movie expert)
E! Live Coverage of the 2005 Golden Globe Nominations (onair movie expert)
E! Live Coverage of the 2005 SAG Award Nominations (onair movie expert)
E! "Coming Attractions" (guest host July 04 - Aug 04)

[edit] Additional Television Credits

MTV News (writer/ producer 2002 - 2004)
MTV Movie House (writer 2002 - 2004)

[edit] Discography

Burn It Down - "Let The Dead Bury The Dead" (2000)
Burn It Down - "Make Them Talk" Split MCD w/ Racetraitor (1999)
Burn It Down - "Eat, Sleep, Mate, Defend" 10"/ MCD (1998)
Burn It Down - "Burn It Down" 7"/ MCD (1997)
Hardball - "Any Means Necessary" 7" (1992)
Hardball - "One On One" 7" (1991)
Hardball - "My Fist, Your Face" demo (1989)
Clear Sight - Demo (1989)

[edit] Discography (As Guest Vocalist)

TIger Army - "Music from Regions Beyond" (2007)
AFI - "Decemberunderground" (2006)
Bleeding Through - "This is Love, This Is Murderous" (2003)
Eighteen Visions - "Vanity" (2002)

[edit] Discography (Liner Notes)

Killswitch Engage - "Alive or Just Breathing" reissue (2005)
Guilt - "A Comprehensive Guide" (2001)

[edit] Activism

A long-time activist for human rights and animal rights as well as environmental causes, Ryan Downey sat in as co-producer for the radio show produced by Axis Of Justice, the organization founded by System of a Down's Serj Tankian and Audioslave's Tom Morello. A copy of that program (from October 2003 with Serj and Tom hosting and Janeane Garafalo as guest) can be found on the Axis Of Justice website. In the 1990s, Ryan Downey co-founded two different chapters of the Coalition to Abolish The Fur Trade, worked as grass-roots campaign coordinator for PeTA, worked on the "Beyond Beef" campaign, organized protests against fast-food restaurants and department store chains, and has debated the animal rights cause on the radio in Atlanta and Indianapolis.

[edit] Additional Facts

Ryan Downey is still straight edge and still believes that meat is murder. Ryan is stoked to have performed at both New York's legendary CBGBs (with Burn It Down) and at California's 924 Gilman Street (with Time In Malta). He is similarly stoked to have been quoted in both The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. A collection of his interviews for Punk Planet was included in the Punk Planet book, We Owe You Nothing. Ryan can be seen asking questions of one of his favorite bands of all time, Metallica, in the bonus features on their "Some Kind Of Monster" DVD. Ryan is a professing Christian with views that are perhaps best described by Liberation Theology, although that does not completely encompass his spiritual point of view.