Jeff Kendrick was born in Newton, Massachusetts on February 7th, 1980. And is most well known for being one of the guitar players in the American heavy metal band DevilDriver.
Kendrick spent the beginning of his life growing up in the Boston area where he met bassist Jon Miller and drummer John Boecklin (both of whom would play in DevilDriver) and formed the local band Area 51. Eventually all 3 would move to California and form Grolby.
Grolby played locally in Santa Barbara for several years while Kendrick was pursuing a degree in Political Science/Pre-law. During that time he met guitarist Mike Spreitzer who along with the other 3 members of Grolby would eventually become part of DevilDriver.
In 2002 Jeff met former Coal Chamber vocalist Dez Fafara and was asked to join Deathride (which would be re-named DevilDriver.) Kendrick joined the band shortly after it’s inception in 2002 and recorded their debut album “DevilDriver.” Which was released in 2003 on Roadrunner records. The debut record was well received by fans and critics alike.
Several years later the band released 2005’s “The Fury Of Our Makers Hand” which also saw the band touring extensively around the world and gaining a strong international following.
2007’s “The Last Kind Words” would solidify the band as one of the forefronts of the America Heavy metal scene and the band toured for almost 2 years before the cycle was over.
In 2009 DevilDriver released it’s most critically acclaimed album yet, “Pray For Villains” which also charted #34 on the billboard top 200 albums and sold roughly 14,000 plus copies in the first week of release. The band embarked on successful tours of Europe, Australia and the United States several times.
DevilDriver’s 5th opus “Beast” was released on February 22nd, 2011. In which the band have progressed musically and have crafted their finest songwriting to date. Once again recorded at El Paso’s Sonic Ranch studios.
Kendrick has been a co-writer on all 5 DevilDriver albums. His strengths are primarily lead guitar and rhythm guitar playing in the style of heavy metal. Jeff’s strengths lie a lot of the time in composing accompanying guitar parts and arrangements in the bands songs. He is primarily a self-taught player. In 2010 Kendrick was nominated by metal hammer magazine in the category of “Best Shredder.” He plays ESP guitars and Blackstar amplifiers and in 2011 received a signature series guitar from ESP called the “JK-1.”