MEFISTO

Founded by Christ Cooleye in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, Cooleye relocated to Nashville in 2024 and reformed the band the following year.  Cooleye is now joined by bassist J.C. and drummer Jesse Edwards, and working with Mixer/Engineer Alex Reverberi on the new album "Asclepius".  Asclepius will be the third Mefisto album pressed on vinyl (following "Our.oboros" and "Pentacle").  

They also have a series of cassette-only compilation releases such as "Zone Dwellers", "Fuzzy", and "Tales From The Ark" as well as an assortment of elsewhere unreleased material on the Hyper Fire Records youtube page.

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Cooleye (aka Chris Cooley, aka Christopher Lloyd Cooley) is originally from Portland OR, and moved to Los Angeles for work in the film industry.  Mefisto (formerly "Mephisto") was started as a one-man band recording project, while Cooleye was doing soundtrack and video editing work.

"Low Fidelity EP", "Songs of Lust and Misanthropy" and "Inevitable Human Drama" were all released under the name "Mephisto" (recorded in Berlin Germany and Los Angeles).  They would mostly be released as CDRs and sold at his independent film screenings.

While working on the album that would later become "Our.oboros", Cooleye suffered a nearly fatal motorcycle wreck.  Unable to play guitar or sing for a little over a year due to the severity of his injuries, he vowed to focus entirely on music through his rehabillitation.  (It was during this time he would start dabling with analogue synths as well).  

Once he regained his ability to play guitar and sing, he finished Our.oboros and finally achieved a lifelong dream of pressing it on vinyl.  Now under the name "Mefisto" (based on the German spelling) and with a new record pressed, Cooleye went about putting an actual band together to promote and perform the record.

He would soon be joined by drummer Clinton Cameron and bassist David Alvarado, and began performing shows in the Silver Lake / Echo Park area of Los Angeles.  (Some early recordings of which are featured on the "Zone Dwellers" cassette).

This re-vamped version of Mefisto then started gathering some attention in the area, and was invited by engineer Bradley Cook (The Dwarves, Foo Fighters) to come record at his "Pink Castle" studio in Eagle Rock.

These sessions would be the beginning of what would become the album "Pentacle"

Once the band started recording the overdubs at their home studio in Silver Lake (called "The Silver Ark") and shopping around rough mixes, they were found by multi-platinum mixer & engineer Alex Reverberi.  He liked what he heard, joined the team and took over the mix, and has been a collaborator ever since (even paving the way for Cooleye to move to middle TN, having done so himself a year prior).

Mefisto went on a bit of a hiatus during covid when they could no longer play live shows, and Cooleye began instead live-streaming music performances (and getting deep, deep into modular synths)

In 2023 Cooleye, Alvarado, & Reverberi began working on what was originally intended to become a new Mefisto album called "Slab".  It was then decided at the time this album was different enough it should perhaps be released under a different name, and though it is currently un-released, there are three songs from this album available on the HFR Youtube under the name "Daozein".

During the final stages of this album, it was learned that the house that contained "The Silver Ark" studio was being sold, and Cooleye would have to relocate, which eventually led to him moving to Nashville.

Once in Nashville, Cooleye began performing solo/acoustically as "Cooleye", and regularly attending jams and writers rounds with the intention of putting together a new lineup for Mefisto.  

In 2025 Mefisto played their first show in Nashville, and the seeds would be planted to start the new album "Asclepius".  

In early 2026, Cooleye began work on the new album, comprised half of new songs written since moving to Nashville, and half songs written since the last Mefisto release in 2020.  Collaborating again with Alex Reverberi, this time beginning recordings at his new "Upsidedown Dog Studio" in Clarksville TN, they would be joined by drummer Sean Bennet and began work on the new album.  Overdubs would be done at Cooleye's newer home studio dubbed "Illuminated Obelisk".

After a special feature show in April at the Underdog, Cooleye would finally find a consistent rhythm section again in J.C. and Jesse Edwards, each of whom came highly recommended, if not insisted upon, by each of Cooleye's two longest Nashville friends.

Now this refreshed and revitalized Mefisto lineup is playing shows regularly in the Nashville area and looking to venture out of town, and out of state, in the very near future!

Stay tuned for release dates of "Asclepius"