Sleeping with Sirensis an American post-hardcore band from Orlando, Florida currently residing in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Formed in 2009 by members of For All We Know, Broadway, We Are Defiance and When Statues Fall the group is currently signed to Rise Records[1] and has released two full-length albums. With Ears to See and Eyes to Hear, debuted at number 7 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart, and at number 36 on Top Independent Albums.[2]
The group is known primarily for vocalist, Kellin Quinn's very high and wide vocal ability to which even the name for the band was directly derived and inspired for his musical role. Their second album, Let's Cheers to This, was released on May 10, 2011. The first song from the album, "Do It Now Remember It Later", was released on April 7, 2011.
Current
* Gabe Barham - drums (since 2009)
* Jack Fowler - lead guitar (since 2011)
* Justin Hills - bass guitar (since 2009)
* Jesse Lawson - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (since 2010)
* Kellin Quinn - lead vocals, keyboards, programming (since 2009)
Former
* Brandon McMaster - lead guitar, backing vocals (2009–2010)
* Nick Trombino - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2009–2010)
* Brian Calzini - Vocals (2009)
The Used is an American rock band from Orem, Utah. The band was founded in 2001 and signed to Reprise Records the same year. They rose to fame in June 2002 after releasing their self-titled debut album. They followed up with their second album, In Love and Death, in September 2004 and their third album, Lies for the Liars, in May 2007. An EP, Shallow Believer, was released in February 2008 that featured most of the band's B-sides to date. They spent the entire year of 2008 working on their fourth studio album, which was released on August 31, 2009, called Artwork.[1] The band has achieved both Gold and Platinum statuses in more than six countries worldwide and has sold over 3 million records worldwide.The Used was founded in January 2001 with the recruitment of members that were a part of several other bands throughout the 1990s.[3] Founding members Branden Steineckert, Quinn Allman and Jeph Howard engaged into the plan of starting the band and had music already prepared, but did not have lyrics and required a vocalist. Auditions for singers were held at Jeph Howard's residence.[4] Upon observations, the band was not satisfied with any of the results that the vocalists displayed and described the auditions as "terrible". Although, when Allman confronted Bert McCracken, he asked if he was interested in joining the band. Upon McCracken's meeting of the other band members, he was impressed with the material they created. After being given music that the band had written, McCracken wrote the lyrics to what would become "Maybe Memories" and returned the next day to record a demo version of the song. McCracken was then officially confirmed as being the band's vocalist. Throughout all of this, the band members suffered from poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse. They even panhandled for change in order to buy food to stay alive.[5] The members decided on their band name as being "Used" when their friends claimed they felt "used" when contact was lost between them and band members due to them becoming more involved in the band.[3][6]
The Used continued to write songs together and recorded a demo album in drummer Branden Steineckert's bedroom titled Demos from the Basement. Steineckert sent their songs to producer John Feldmann from the ska group, Goldfinger. After he heard the song "A Box Full of Sharp Objects", he gained an interest into having the band signed to a label. Feldmann flew the band to Los Angeles taking them out of their home state for the first time in their lives and played the songs for various record executives to try to get them signed, however, the first few weren't interested and it left John discouraged. Eventually, many copies of the demo were received by many record label representatives who found an interest into signing them. With many labels at The Used's choice, they decided to sign to Reprise Records in late 2001.
Members
Bert McCracken
Quinn Allman
Jeph Howard
Dan Whitesides
Godsmack is an American heavy metal band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is composed of founder, frontman and songwriter Sully Erna, guitarist Tony Rombola, bassist Robbie Merrill, and drummer Shannon Larkin. Since its formation, Godsmack has released five studio albums, one EP, four DVDs, and one greatest hits collection.
The band has had three consecutive number one albums (Faceless, IV, and The Oracle) on the Billboard 200. The band also has parked a ratified 19 top ten rock radio hits, including 15 songs in the Top Five, a record amount of top ten singles by a rock artist.[1]
Since its inception, Godsmack has toured on Ozzfest on more than one occasion, and has toured with many other large tours and festivals, including supporting its albums with its own arena tours. Godsmack have sold over 17 million records in just over a decade, yet despite the decline of album sales in recent years, they have proven to be one of the highest-grossing artists in the United States.
In February 1995, Sully Erna decided to start a new band as the lead singer after playing the drums for more than 23 years, including more than two years in the now-defunct band Strip Mind.[3] His new band, The Scam, formed with Erna on vocals, Robbie Merrill on bass, local guitarist and friend Lee Richards on guitar, and Tommy Stewart on drums. The Scam quickly changed its name to Godsmack, after recording one demo.[4] The newly formed band started playing small bars in their hometown of Boston, Mass. Locally popular songs such as "Keep Away" and "Whatever" soon brought them to the top of the hit charts in the Boston/New England area.[3]
The band's name, according to Merrill in the Smack This! DVD, was taken from the Alice in Chains' song "God Smack". However, Erna stated in a 1999 interview, "I was making fun of somebody who had a cold sore on his lip and the next day I had one myself and somebody said, It looks like God just smacked you in the face for making fun. The name stuck and they went by Godsmack from then on. We were aware of the Alice in Chains song but didn't really think much about it. It's a cool song and the name had meaning for us."[5]
In 1996, Tony Rombola and Joe D'Arco joined Godsmack as the guitarist and drummer, after Richards had left upon learning he had a six-year-old child and Stewart had left due to personal differences.[6] In the same year, the band entered the studio for the first time, recording its first CD titled All Wound Up. The CD was recorded in just three days for $2,600.[3]
For the next two years, the band played throughout the Boston area. Eventually Godsmack's CD landed in the hands of Rocko, the night-time DJ for Boston radio station WAAF (FM). The radio station put "Keep Away" into heavy rotation and the song rose to the number one spot at the station very quickly.[3] Newbury Comics, a New England record store chain, agreed to sell the CD on consignment. Shortly after the success of "Keep Away", Godsmack went back into the studio and recorded a single titled "Whatever", which became the new local favorite on WAAF (FM).[3]
In an interview Sully Erna stated, "We had been selling maybe 50 copies a month at the time WAAF picked up the album. All of a sudden we started moving over a thousand records a week. It was insane. Even crazier, I was doing all this from my bedroom. After years of grinding away, things finally started taking off".
Members
Sully Erna
Tony Rombola
Robbie Merrill
Shannon Larkin
Boys Like Girls is an American rock band from Massachusetts. Formed in 2005, the group gained mainstream recognition when it released its self-titled debut album. Boys Like Girls was the co-headliner with Good Charlotte for the Soundtrack of Your Summer Tour 2008 that toured across the United States.[2] The group's second studio album Love Drunk, was released on September 8, 2009. The band is currently in the studio with producer Matt Squire in preparations to record for their third upcoming album.The group was formed in Andover, MA[3] in the final months of 2005, when vocalist Martin Johnson, formerly of the Boston act Fake ID/The Drive, wrote a handful of songs he wanted to record. He recruited bassist Bryan Donahue and drummer John Keefe. Keefe brought along lead guitarist Paul DiGiovanni, with whom he had recorded a brief demo, to complete the line-up. Some of the demos' titles were "Free", "If You Could See Me Now", "The Only Way That I Know How To Feel", and others. Some months later Keefe and DiGiovanni learned that they were distant cousins.[4][5] The group later changed their name to Boys Like Girls.
The quartet soon opened a PureVolume account to showcase their music, and uploaded a rough demo of "The Great Escape" and an acoustic rendition of "Thunder". By the end of the year, the group was on the No. 1 spot on the website's Top Unsigned Artists chart[6] and within a few months had completed nationwide tours with Cute Is What We Aim For, Hit the Lights, All Time Low, and Butch Walker.
Lead singer Martin Johnson
Eventually, in 2006, the popularity of the band was overheard by booking agent Matt Galle and record producer Matt Squire, who contacted the band about a future collaboration. With their full support, Boys Like Girls embarked on their first nationwide tour with A Thorn for Every Heart, Hit the Lights and Keating in late February 2006. Following the month-long venture, the group immediately entered the recording studio with Squire to record their debut album for Columbia Records/Red Ink.
During their time in the studio Squire introduced the band to another of his alumni, Cute Is What We Aim For, who offered Boys Like Girls an opening slot on their upcoming headlining tour. Once the album was recorded, Boys Like Girls played back-to-back tours, including the Cute Is What We Aim For tour in June, as well as a two week stint with Butch Walker in late July.[4] In between tours the band filmed their first music video for their album's lead single, "Hero/Heroine", directed by Mark Serao and Chris Vaglio of Grey Sky Films.[7]
[edit] 2006–2009: Self-titled album
On August 22, 2006, the eponymous Boys Like Girls was released. As of August 2008, the album has sold over 580,000 copies within the United States.[8] While, as the title might suggest, songs about boys liking girls clearly prevail on the album, Johnson occasionally touched upon themes such as his mother's battle with cancer, leaving home, and promiscuous adolescents. Concerning the latter, he discussed the motivation behind the song "Dance Hall Drug":
“ So many kids are growing up too fast. 13 year olds are giving each other hand jobs in the back of the bus, 14 year olds are already drinking and partying, and kids spend more time worried about growing up and being cool than they do actually growing up and being a kid.[9] ”
The song "On Top of the World" is about Johnson's late mother.
In 2007, they began with a short headlining run with Self Against City, after which the group joined Cobra Starship supporting a two-month Cartel tour in February. In between releasing their album's second single, "The Great Escape" (reaching No. 9 on the Pop 100), performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live on February 22, 2007, and eventually charting the Billboard 200 for the first time in April 2007, Boys Like Girls played their first international concerts during the Canadian leg of a North American tour with Hellogoodbye and the UK festival Give It A Name 2007.
In mid-2007, the group performed on the annual Vans Warped Tour for the first time and on July 31, 2007 the band reached the No. 1 spot on the MTV show Total Request Live. The following month, on August 20, 2007, Boys Like Girls members Johnson and DiGiovanni played a private show at 105.1 The Buzz radio station. They announced that they would be performing five shows in Japan and said how much Good Charlotte helped their career. In September 2007, Boys Like Girls released a three song acoustic set for AOL's Sessions Under Cover as an EP in the iTunes Store, containing "The Great Escape", "Thunder" and a cover of Frou Frou's "Let Go". On December 4, 2007, the band performed a concert with Good Charlotte, with opening act NLT, for New Orleans radio station B97's "The Night B97 Stole Christmas" at the New Orleans House of Blues, located in the French Quarter.
Boys Like Girls played at the Slam Dunk Festival on the Glamour Kills stage, in Leeds, on Sunday, May 25, 2008. The group shared the stage with bands such as, Cute Is What We Aim For, Kids In Glass Houses, Valencia, We The Kings, You Me At Six and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. The band was also the opening act for Avril Lavigne's 2008 Best Damn Tour throughout the majority of North America.
Boys Like Girls did not perform on the Van's Warped Tour for 2008, but instead, toured the summer, with Good Charlotte, The Maine, and Metro Station, for the Soundtrack of Your Summer Tour which was kicked off in Southaven, Mississippi with a performance named Red White and Boom hosted by Q107.5 on June 3, 2008. On July 4, 2008 they played in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee at the 2008 Starjam concert, along with Metro Station, Good Charlotte, Ace Young, and Menudo. Two months later, Boys Like Girls and Metro Station performed together at Six Flags St. Louis in Missouri on August 5, 2008. A storm flew in while the concert was in session and the show was delayed for about 30 minutes. Six Flags then chose not to endanger the band or their fans, and decided to cancel the concert altogether. In between tour dates, they worked alongside Nickelodeon pop singer Miranda Cosgrove on her upcoming debut album, due for release in 2009.[10]
In 2008, five songs that were believed to be on the band's second album leaked onto the internet. The fan based EP, entitled Heavy Heart, consists of five demo songs that were recorded, but did not make it onto the band's first album. None of the songs would appear on their second record.
Boys Like Girls supported Fall Out Boy on their UK tour in October, along with You Me At Six. A month later the band's debut DVD, Read Between the Lines, was released on November 4, 2008.[11]
In January 2009, Boys like Girls toured the UK with Metro Station and Every Avenue supporting.
Members
Martin Bennett Johnson
Paul Charles DiGiovanni
Bryan Francis Donahue
John Joseph Keefe
CONFIDE - I Never Saw This Coming
Confide was an American metalcore band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2004. They released two EPs and three full-length albums. Because the band was on a secular label they were not marketed in the "Christian" market, but their faith plays a big role in their personal lives as well as their music. The band confirmed that they will be disbanding after completing their tour of Japan tour. They plan to play a farewell show on the West Coast upon returning from their tour of Japan.Confide was originally started in August 2004 by Aaron Van Zutphen, Jason Pickard and Josh Plesh as a deathcore act. They went looking for members in their youth group. Josh knew Billy, Jason and Aaron knew Jeffrey, that's how they got their first real line-up. In this period of time, they released two EPs, "Innocence Surround" and "Introduction".
In the end of 2006, former vocalist Josh left the band, and was replaced by current frontman Ross Michael Kenyon, putting his other band Penknifelovelife on hiatus.[1] Ross moved to the United States to be with his girlfriend and went looking on the internet for bands who needed a singer. After some chatting with Jeffrey, he moved to his house and they started practicing. This line-up change also made the band shift into a purist metalcore sound. But in January 2007 Ross had to move back to Europe and started playing with penknifelovelife again, putting another band on hiatus: Confide. After one tour with And Their Eyes Were Bloodshot in Europe he stated on his bands MySpace he was leaving for Confide again. penknifelovelife split up and Confide started writing for Shout the Truth.
A Rocket to the Moon is an American rock band. The band was founded during 2006 in Braintree, Massachusetts by Nick Santino, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist. Guitarist and backup vocalist Justin Richards (also of Brighten), bassist and backup vocalist Eric Halvorsen, and drummer Andrew Cook eventually joined Santino.
Nick Santino started A Rocket to the Moon in the summer of 2006 as a musical experiment. He formerly fronted the local bands The Bad Year and The Midway Class.[1]
Santino assembled a band of musicians in early 2008 with the help of The Maine prior to A Rocket to the Moon's first major festival appearance, at The Bamboozle.[2] They then appeared on the July 10, 2008 episode of Total Request Live, performing the song "Dakota".[3] Contrary to popular belief, A Rocket to the Moon was never signed to Decaydence Records by Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy. Wentz had shown interest in the band and wanted to do a Fueled By Ramen/Decaydence split but the Decaydence side of the deal never worked out.[4][5] An official announcement of the signing to Fueled by Ramen was made in August 2008.[6] Separate tours supporting both The Cab[7] and A Cursive Memory[8] followed in the fall of 2008. They also toured with Cute Is What We Aim For, Secondhand Serenade and Automatic Loveletter.[9] On October 14, 2008 the band released their EP Greetings From... (produced by Matt Grabe), featuring the singles "Dakota" and "If Only They Knew". The record reached #21 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart.[10]
The band spent the first part of February and March 2009 in the studio with Matt Squire recording their debut full-length album.[11] They were the opening band on Alternative Press magazine's AP Tour 2009, with The Maine, Hit The Lights, Family Force 5 and 3OH!3 sponsored by Rockstar.[12] They played the May 3rd lineup of the 2009 Bamboozle festival in East Rutherford, New Jersey[13] and played select dates on the 2009 Vans Warped Tour [14] before touring with The Cab, Eye Alaska, The Summer Set and My Favorite Highway on the "What Happens in Vegas... Tour". While on Warped Tour, the band did many signings with the non-profit organization Music Saves Lives, where they met with fans who gained special access to the band by donating blood. Andrew Cook, formerly of prog-rock band The Receiving End of Sirens, was made a full-time member upon release of the band's full-length album, On Your Side' (released on October 12, 2009) .[15] In the fall of 2009, they supported Boys Like Girls along with VersaEmerge, The Maine, and Cobra Starship on BLGs' Love Drunk Tour presented by Op.
They played on the Take Action Tour presented by Hot Topic with Mayday Parade, There for Tomorrow, Stereo Skyline, and We the Kings in early 2010. In spring 2010, A Rocket to the Moon toured with Motion City Soundtrack, Sing it Loud, and Fun. They also opened for Hanson on select dates on Hanson's Shout It Out! tour. They were second on the bill next to All Time Low, Before You Exit and City (Comma) State on All Time Low's My Small Package Tour in October 2010.
Simple Plan is a Canadian pop punk band from Montréal, Québec. The band has had no line up changes since its inception in 1999. Members are Pierre Bouvier (lead vocals), Jeff Stinco (lead guitar), Sébastien Lefebvre (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), David Desrosiers (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Chuck Comeau (drums and percussion). They have released three studio albums: No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls (2002), Still Not Getting Any... (2004), and Simple Plan (2008); as well as two widely marketed live albums: Live in Japan 2002 (2003) and MTV Hard Rock Live (2005).
