The Almost is an American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band from
Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2020 census, the city had a populat ...
, fronted by
Underoath
Underoath (stylized as Underøath or UnderOath) is an American rock band from Tampa, Florida. It was founded by lead vocalist Dallas Taylor and guitarist Luke Morton on November 30, 1997, in Ocala, Florida; subsequently, its additional member ...
drummer and vocalist
Aaron Gillespie
Aaron Roderick Gillespie (born July 18, 1983) is an American musician, best known for being the original and current drummer and clean vocalist for the metalcore band Underoath and the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the alternative rock ...
. Formed in 2005 as a solo project by Gillespie, the band currently includes guitarist Jay Vilardi, bassist Jon Thompson, and drummer JJ Revell. They released three albums via
Tooth & Nail Records
Tooth & Nail Records is a Christian rock record label founded by Brandon Ebel in California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle, Washington where it is situated today. It is home to many well-known musical acts, including Underoat ...
: their debut ''
Southern Weather
''Southern Weather'' is the debut album by Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie's solo-project, the Almost.
Background and production
In October 2005, Gillespie was in New York City and had the urge to do some straight-forward rock songs. After tell ...
'' (2007), ''
Monster Monster
''Monster Monster'' is the second album by American rock band The Almost, released on November 3, 2009.
Background
The Almost released their debut album, ''Southern Weather'' in 2007. On November 9, 2008, it was announced that the band had part ...
'' (2009), and ''
Fear Inside Our Bones'' (2013). Following a hiatus in 2015, Gillespie revived the project and released a fourth album, ''Fear Caller'', in 2019 through
Fearless Records.
History
Formation (2005–2007)
While the exact formation date of the project is unknown, in October 2005,
Underoath
Underoath (stylized as Underøath or UnderOath) is an American rock band from Tampa, Florida. It was founded by lead vocalist Dallas Taylor and guitarist Luke Morton on November 30, 1997, in Ocala, Florida; subsequently, its additional member ...
drummer/vocalist
Aaron Gillespie
Aaron Roderick Gillespie (born July 18, 1983) is an American musician, best known for being the original and current drummer and clean vocalist for the metalcore band Underoath and the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the alternative rock ...
created a
Myspace page for The Almost, eventually uploading two
demo
Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to:
Music and film
*Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release
* ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes
* ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
songs, "I Mostly Like to Copy Other People" and "They Say You Can Never Write I Told You So in a Song But Here I Go" (later retitled "Never Say I Told You So"). Around this time, Gillespie and
The Starting Line
The Starting Line is an American pop punk band based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that formed in 1999.
History
Early years (1999–2001)
In 1999, the band that would become The Starting Line was initiated in Churchville, Pennsylvania via an e ...
's
Kenny Vasoli
Kenneth Robert "Kenny" Vasoli is an American singer and musician from Pennsylvania. Vasoli is currently the lead singer and songwriter of The Starting Line, Person L, and Vacationer.
Biography
Kenneth "Kenny" Robert Vasoli was born May 20, 198 ...
collaborated on the song "Yule Be Sorry", which was featured on the
Tooth & Nail compilation album ''
Happy Christmas Vol. 4''. All of the initial Almost songs were written by Gillespie while recording ''
Define the Great Line
''Define the Great Line'' is the fifth album by American rock band Underoath. It was released on June 20, 2006, through Tooth & Nail Records. Five months after the release of their fourth studio album '' They're Only Chasing Safety'', the band w ...
'' with Underoath.
''Southern Weather'' (2007–2008)
The Almost embarked on the "It's All Happening" tour from December 17 to January 20, 2006, with Gillespie joined by guitarists
Dusty Redmon
Dustin Wesley "Dusty" Redmon is an American guitarist primarily known for playing in alternative rock band The Almost and former guitarist and songwriter for Beloved and Dead Poetic. Redmon was born on May 23, 1982, in Winston-Salem, North Carol ...
and Jay Vilardi, bassist Alex Aponte, and drummer Kenny Bozich. The tour showcased new songs from the band's upcoming debut album ''
Southern Weather
''Southern Weather'' is the debut album by Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie's solo-project, the Almost.
Background and production
In October 2005, Gillespie was in New York City and had the urge to do some straight-forward rock songs. After tell ...
''. In 2007, The Almost embarked on
Paramore
Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band currently consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of the group, whil ...
's headlining tour, RIOT!, alongside The Starting Line and
Set Your Goals (who played for the first half of the tour.) In addition, the group went on tour with
Emery,
Envy On The Coast, and
Army of Me for all of June and parts of July. In May they also released the
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
song 'Hold On', which was originally only available as a bonus track on
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
. The Almost released their first
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
for "
Say This Sooner" on March 19, 2007, premiering on
MTV2
MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global.
The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...
's ''UNLEASHED''.
''Southern Weather'' was released on April 3, 2007 through Tooth & Nail, having been recorded in February and March 2006. Gillespie played nearly every main instrument on the album, with the exception of Vasoli contributing
bass to two songs. The album reached No. 39 on the
''Billboard'' 200 and No. 1 on the
Top Christian Albums
Top Christian Albums is a weekly chart published in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the best-performing Christian albums in the United States. Like the ''Billboard'' 200, the data is compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly ...
chart.
Shortly after the announcement of a new EP, it was announced in November 2007 via the band's Myspace that Bozich had left the group. Guitarist
Dusty Redmon
Dustin Wesley "Dusty" Redmon is an American guitarist primarily known for playing in alternative rock band The Almost and former guitarist and songwriter for Beloved and Dead Poetic. Redmon was born on May 23, 1982, in Winston-Salem, North Carol ...
explained in an
AbsolutePunk
''AbsolutePunk'' was a website, online community, and alternative music news source founded by Jason Tate (the most recent CEO). The website mainly focused on artists who are relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, but it was known to fea ...
forum post: "Kenny quit. He's getting married and didn't want to tour at all. It happens..it's happened to me twice with
Beloved
Beloved may refer to:
Books
* ''Beloved'' (novel), a 1987 novel by Toni Morrison
* ''The Beloved'' (Faulkner novel), a 2012 novel by Australian author Annah Faulkner
*''Beloved'', a 1993 historical romance about Zenobia, by Bertrice Small
Film
...
and
Dead Poetic
Dead Poetic is an American rock band formed in Dayton, Ohio in 1997. Their most recent lineup consisted of vocalist Brandon Rike, guitarist Zach Miles, and drummer Jesse Sprinkle. They released three albums and a greatest hits album, '' The Fines ...
. It's a personal choice and we're cool with it. He was going to be playing drums on the next record, but made the choice to not be in a band at this point in his life. No big deal."
''No Gift to Bring'' and ''Monster Monster'' (2008–2011)
A cover of "
Little Drummer Boy
"The Little Drummer Boy" (originally known as "Carol of the Drum") is a popular Christmas song written by American composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family, the song was further popularized by a 195 ...
" was made available for streaming on November 4, 2008, followed by "Awful Direction" on November 20. The Almost released a new EP titled ''No Gift to Bring'' on November 24. It was originally going to release it on November 25, but they changed the date to the day before. The EP was released to tide fans over until the release of their next album in the Summer/Fall of 2009. It included "Awful Direction", "Little Drummer Boy", a cover of
Casting Crowns
Casting Crowns is a contemporary Christian and Christian rock band started in 1999 by youth pastor Mark Hall, who serves as the band's lead vocalist, as part of a youth group at First Baptist Church in Downtown Daytona Beach, Florida. They lat ...
's "Your Love Is Extravagant", a new version of "Amazing, Because It Is", and an exclusive mix of "Dirty and Left Out". The EP was almost entirely recorded by Gillespie and produced by
Underoath
Underoath (stylized as Underøath or UnderOath) is an American rock band from Tampa, Florida. It was founded by lead vocalist Dallas Taylor and guitarist Luke Morton on November 30, 1997, in Ocala, Florida; subsequently, its additional member ...
guitarist Tim McTague, who also created the
remix
A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...
of "Dirty and Left Out."
In May 2008, Gillespie announced that The Almost would be entering the studio in the winter of 2008 to record their follow-up to ''Southern Weather''. In a November 2008 episode of the Tooth & Nail Records podcast, he stated that "the new album will be more of a complete band effort". The band went into the studio at the beginning of May, recording in
Nashville TN. ''
Monster Monster
''Monster Monster'' is the second album by American rock band The Almost, released on November 3, 2009.
Background
The Almost released their debut album, ''Southern Weather'' in 2007. On November 9, 2008, it was announced that the band had part ...
'' was released through Tooth & Nail/
Virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
on November 3, 2009 featuring the singles "Lonely Wheel" and "Hands". There are several bonus tracks for this album. Users who downloaded ''Monster Monster'' from iTunes received the bonus track "Me And Alone". The fan pack version of the album sold exclusively at
Best Buy
Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...
contained the tracks "West" and "Wrong". The ''Monster EP'' contained two bonus tracks entitled "July" and "Birmingham". The album charted at No. 67 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and No. 3 on the Christian Album charts.
In February 2010 the Almost played the Australian
Soundwave Festival. The Almost toured across
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
nationally playing alongside the three festival headliners;
Faith No More
Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before settling on the current name in July 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist/r ...
,
Jimmy Eat World
Jimmy Eat World is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Mesa, Arizona. The band is composed of lead vocalist and lead guitarist Jim Adkins, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch, and drummer Zach Lind. They h ...
and
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985. The band consists of vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery. Jane's Addiction was one of the first bands from t ...
, as well as other bands such as
Paramore
Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band currently consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of the group, whil ...
,
All Time Low
All Time Low is an American rock band from Towson, Maryland, formed in 2003. Consisting of lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Alex Gaskarth, lead guitarist Jack Barakat, bassist/backing vocalist Zack Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson, the band too ...
,
A Day To Remember
A Day to Remember (often abbreviated ADTR, and previously known as End of an Era) is an American rock band from Ocala, Florida, founded in 2003 by guitarist Tom Denney and drummer Bobby Scruggs. They are known for their amalgamation of meta ...
,
Escape The Fate
Escape the Fate is an American rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2004 and originally from Pahrump, Nevada. They are signed to Eleven Seven Music. The group consists of Robert Ortiz (drummer), Craig Mabbitt (lead vocalist), TJ Bell (rhy ...
,
Enter Shikari
Enter Shikari (stylised as enter: shikari and occasionally as ΣΠΤΣ℞ SΗΦΚ∆℞Φ) are a British rock band formed in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England in 1999 by bassist Chris Batten, lead vocalist and keyboardist Rou Reynolds, and drum ...
,
Meshuggah
Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1985. Originally, the band's name was Metallien. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Jens Kidman, guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström, drummer To ...
,
Anthrax
Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...
,
Trivium
The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
The trivium is implicit in ''De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii'' ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury") by Martianus Capella, but t ...
,
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...
, Set Your Goals and other
alternative
Alternative or alternate may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki''
* ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film
* ''The Alternative ...
,
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
,
metalcore
Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use of ...
and
hardcore
Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to:
Arts and media Film
* ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film
* ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott
* ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...
bands. Along with Soundwave, the Almost played club shows in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
and
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
with
All Time Low
All Time Low is an American rock band from Towson, Maryland, formed in 2003. Consisting of lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Alex Gaskarth, lead guitarist Jack Barakat, bassist/backing vocalist Zack Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson, the band too ...
and
Dance Gavin Dance
Dance Gavin Dance is an American rock band from Sacramento, California, formed in 2005. The band currently consists of vocalists Jon Mess and Tilian Pearson, lead guitarist Will Swan, rhythm guitarist Andrew Wells, and drummer Matthew Mingus. ...
. On July 31, 2010, the Almost played at Festival in
Elmira, New York
Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 cens ...
alongside
Secret and Whisper,
August Burns Red
August Burns Red is an American metalcore band from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, formed in 2003. The band's current lineup consists of lead guitarist John Benjamin "JB" Brubaker, rhythm guitarist Brent Rambler, drummer Matt Greiner, lead vocalist Ja ...
,
Oh, Sleeper
Oh, Sleeper is an American metalcore band from Fort Worth, Texas that formed in 2006 with former members of Terminal. In over a decade's span, Oh, Sleeper has released four full-length albums, two EPs, and toured worldwide as an opening act. Af ...
,
MyChildren MyBride,
Texas in July
Texas in July was an American metalcore band from Ephrata, Pennsylvania, formed in 2007. They released an EP, ''Salt of the Earth'', and their debut full-length album, ''I Am'', through CI Records. After signing with Equal Vision Records, they ...
and
The Glorious Unseen
The Glorious Unseen is a Christian rock/contemporary worship band from Nashville, Tennessee. Before signing with BEC Recordings, lead vocalist Ben Crist wrote and played many of the band's songs in his home church, The Anchor Fellowship. The ban ...
. On October 25, 2010, the Almost released the ''Monster Monster'' EP, which contained the five bonus tracks and the music videos for "Lonely Wheel", "Hands", "No I Don't" and "Monster Monster" from ''Monster Monster''.
''Fear Inside Our Bones'' (2011–2015)
During their set at the O2 Experience in
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
on June 1, Aaron Gillespie announced that an upcoming third album would be titled ''
Fear Inside Our Bones''. Gillespie later announced via
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that the band had finished recording the album in full as of June 10, 2012, It was announced in January 2013 that the new album would be released on April 16, 2013 via Tooth & Nail Records. Accompanying the announcement was a song premiere of the single "Ghost".
On April 1, 2013, the band posted on their
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
page that the album had been pushed back to June 2013, due to Tooth & Nail becoming an independent record label. The album was ultimately released on June 11, 2013, reaching No. 142 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and No. 5 on the Christian Albums chart.
During an interview on
Emery's BadChristian Podcast in September 2015, Gillespie stated that he had "currently put the Almost to bed....It's on the back burner right now", citing his busy schedule (as
Paramore
Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band currently consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of the group, whil ...
's touring drummer, a solo artist and producer) and the busy schedules of the other band members.
''Fear Caller'' (2019–present)
''Fear Caller'', the band's
Fearless Records debut album, was recorded in the desert. Starting off the album with the single "Chokehold", Gillespie posted a teaser video that eventually led to the announcement of the band's record deal, the new single, and the music video to go along with it.
Band members
Current members
*
Aaron Gillespie
Aaron Roderick Gillespie (born July 18, 1983) is an American musician, best known for being the original and current drummer and clean vocalist for the metalcore band Underoath and the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the alternative rock ...
– lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, percussion , lead guitar, bass, drums
*Jay Vilardi – lead guitar, backing vocals , rhythm guitar
*JJ Revell – drums, percussion
*Jon Thompson – bass
Former members
*Alex Aponte – bass
*Kenny Bozich – drums, percussion
*
Joe Musten
Joe Musten is an American musician who started his musical career in 1999. He formed Beloved, Advent, Your Son Is Dead, and Torn. In 2008, he joined the band The Almost after former drummer Kenny Bozich quit the band. Joe was featured in the De ...
– drums, percussion
*Nick D'Amico – rhythm guitar, lead guitar
*
Dusty Redmon
Dustin Wesley "Dusty" Redmon is an American guitarist primarily known for playing in alternative rock band The Almost and former guitarist and songwriter for Beloved and Dead Poetic. Redmon was born on May 23, 1982, in Winston-Salem, North Carol ...
– lead guitar, backing vocals
[According to the November 29, 2019 episode of Tooth and Nail Records' "Labelled" podcast, Dusty has stated he is no longer with the band.]
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
EPs
Demos
Singles
Music videos
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Almost, The
Alternative rock groups from Florida
Emo musical groups from Florida
Clearwater, Florida
Christian rock groups from Florida
Indie rock musical groups from Florida
Musical groups from Florida
Musical groups established in 2005
Musical groups disestablished in 2015
Musical groups reestablished in 2019
Virgin Records artists
Tooth & Nail Records artists
Fearless Records artists