Death Vessel is an American neo-traditional folk band from Rhode Island, signed to Sub Pop and ATP Recordings, and headed by Joel Thibodeau.
[1] Born in Berlin, Germany and raised in Kennebunkport, Maine, Thibodeau moved to Boston, Massachusetts as a teenager and later to Providence, Rhode Island.
While in Providence he founded the band String Builder with his brother Alec and by early 2003 was playing as part of a duo with Erik Carlson, of Area C (formerly of the Purple Ivy Shadows), who he had met while living in Boston.
A friend from his hometown, Micah Blue Smaldone, formerly of the Pinkerton Thugs and Out Cold also played with Thibodeau at this time and the two have toured as a duo as well.
With Carlson (who co-wrote the song "Deep In the Horchata"), Smaldone, Todd Barneson, Brendan Skwire (of Jim and Jennie & The Pinetops), and Pete Donnelly (of The Figgs), Thibodeau began recording what would become Death Vessel's 2005 debut, Stay Close.