Heyyy, these guys played a free show last night in New York City. It was streaming live from livestream.com and I watched Texas In July & We Came As Romans. They both did an outstanding job, wish I went!
We Came As Romans is an American rock band from Troy, Michigan. They were formed in 2005. The band signed to Equal Vision Records in April 2009 and have released two EPs, Demonstations (2008) and Dreams (2008), and two full length albums, To Plant a Seed (2009) and Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be (2011).
In August 2005, high school seniors Sean N. Zelda, David Stephens, Jonny Nabors, Mark Myatt, and Joshua Moore formed a band called “This Emergency.” Now frontman, David Stephens played guitar during this period. They performed gigs throughout the metro Detroit area. In November 2005, the band parted ways with bass player Jonny Nabors and replaced him with Sean E. Daly. In June 2006, Zelda quit the band to attend the University of Michigan. In the summer of 2006, a close friend of the band, Larry Clark, officially joined on vocals and with Myatt changed the name to We Came As Romans. According to David Stephens, during this time, two songs entitled “Mouth To Mouth” and the original version of Colours were released with Larry Clark as the vocalist. According to the band’s publicist at Equal Vision Records, Joshua Moore assumed duties of writing the majority of the lyrics from this point on.
After the name change, they spent the next few years getting their members to the band’s current lineup. Their first EP, Demonstrations (sometimes referred to as the “Motions EP”) was sold at concerts and online through their website. Between EPs, We Came As Romans embarked on the “V-Neck & Shaved Chest” Tour (June 2008) with Close To Home. Afterwards, Dreams was released on December 12, 2008. it was produced by Joey Sturgis and was met with many favorable reviews. AbsolutePunk gave Dreams a 79/100 review. Sputnikmusic gave them a 3.5/5. They called the EP “Short and sweet, but lasting and fulfilling.” Two days before the release of To Plant A Seed, We Came As Romans concluded support of Oh, Sleeper and The Chariot on their co=headlining “Here a tour, there a tour, everywhere a tour tour” Tour (Sept-Nov 2009).
Tracklist:
1. Conditions
2. Dreams
3. Intentions
4. Shapes
Release Date: 2008
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To Plant A Seed, We Came As Romans’ first full-length album, was released on November 3, 2009. Like Dreams, this album was produced alongside Joey Sturgis and features re-recorded versions of “Dreams” and “Intentions” (featuring Tyler “Telle” Smith) originall from Dreams. We Came As Romans finished 2009 with the “Leave It To The Suits Tour” (Nov. & Dec. 2009) with I See Stars, Of Mice & Men, and Broadway.
During January 2012, they headlined events, and then set out on “The Emptiness Tour”, the headlining “We Are Not Meaningless” tour (April-May 2010) with Four Letter Lie and Life on Repeat, and “The Welcome to the Circus Tour” (May and June 2010) with Asking Alexandria, From First To Last, Our Last Night and A Bullet For Pretty Boy, to promote this album. The first video single “To Plant a Seed” Was released on May 11, 2010 according to ITunes. The band was in the studio between June 15 and June 20, 2010. These studio sessions would result in the release of the single, To Move On Is To Grow.
The following tours in 2010 included the “Scream It Like You Mean It 2010″ Tour (July and August 2010) with Silverstein, Emery, Dance Gavin Dance, I Set My Friends On Fire, Sky Eats Airplane, Ivoryline, and Close To Home, the “Band of Brothers Tour” (August-October 2010), which included full U.S. and Canada dates with In Fear and Faith, COnfide, Upon a Burning Body, and Abandom All Ships, the Imperial “Never Say Die” European Tour (October and November 2010) with Parkway Drive, Comeback Kid, Bleeding Through, War from a Harlots Mouth, Emmure, and Your Demise, and finally, the “No Sleep Til’ Festival Tour (December 2010) closing out the year in New Sealand and AUstralia with Megadeth headling. We Came As Romans appeared on “Punk Goes Pop Volume Three.” released November 1, 2010, covering Justin Timberlake’s My Love.
Tracklist:
1. To Plant A Seed
2. Broken Statues
3. Intentions (ft. Tyler “Telle” Smith of The Word Alive)
4. Roads That Don’t End And Views That Never Cease
5. Dreams
6. We Are The Reasons
7. Beliefs
8. I Will Not Reap Destruction
9. Searching, Seeking, Reaching, Always
10. An Ever-Growing Wonder
Release Date: 2009
We Came As Romans is a band that show plenty of promise for it’s chosen Christian hardcore genre. To Plant A Seed was produced alongside Joey Sturgi, who has done work with The Devil Wears Prada. Highlights include the slightly gothic sounding ” I Will Not Reap Destruction,” which for the most part follows relatively same musical format as the other 9 songs on the record, but includes some haunting piano lines that create a moodier vide. That track also features clean vocals within a big chorus, which also happens to be one of the most memorable melodies on the CD. Both “Broken Statues” and “Intentions” are satisfying for the arrangements rich in distortion-rich guitar, the breakdowns that seemingly come out of nowhere, and the presence of the band’s “epic” side. Big, orchestral synth lines and effects-laden vocals a la Yes actually enhance the arrangement and make “Broken Statues” the best offering on the album.
Given all the ambiguity in lyrical content in the music world, it’s actually refreshing to have a band a little more overt in its message. The word “God” isn’t inserted into every track, but you will hear messages about keeping the faith, living in love, and feeling compassion. Their sound is so unique and they have such clean vocals and screams that fit perfectly with the music.
Tracklist:
1. Mis//Understanding
2. Everything As Planned
3. What I Wished I Never Had
4. Cast The First Stone
5. The Way That We Have Been
6. A War Inside
7. Stay Inspired
8. Just Keep Breathing
9. Views That Never Cease, To Keep Me From
Myself
10. What My Heart Heald
11. I Can’t Make Your Decisions For You
12. Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be
Release Date: 09/13/2011
We Came As Romans starts the album off with the track “Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be.” The production was done by metalcore/post-hardcore producer Joey Sturgis. If you are a fan of post-hardcore/metalcore than you will not be disappointed with this album. Guitarist Joshua Moore is the main lyricist for the band, most of the lyrics coming from his own personal struggles he had on and off the road. The lyrics have a “dark to light” feel, which also flows perfectly with the tone of every song.
In the song, “Mis//Understanding” he is stating how lost and confused he is with his life, and he struggles with the thought of whether this is the right lifestyle for him “Six years ago I married a bride, and I’m not sure she was meant to be mine.” “Everything As Planned” is about him struggling with sleeping at night, and wondering how life would have been if everything had gone according to plan. He begs to be tol that he can love himself and others. “The one thing I wanted most was lost because of my own irresponsibility.” “What I Wish I Never Had” is about him struggling with the rage and anger he has inside of him, and how he takes it out on those that do not deserve it. he wishes to rid himself of the demons that live inside him. “These demons will never leave me, I can only find ways to not let them out. I control them, not the other way around.”
“Cast The First Stone” is about him straining to keep the blame away from himself and his actions, and he wonders how he looks to others. “I’ll cast the first stone, like I am the last one to blame, just to break their denouncing gaze.” “The Way That We Have Been” is about him knowing that the relationships he had with people were not perfect, but every moment he spent with them was more than worth it. He wishes to take the first step to a new beginning. “Taking the first step is always the hardest part, when we’ve been digging our way down instead of digging our way out.”
We Came As Romans’s second video single “To Move On Is To Grow” was released on December 14, 2010 according to ITunes. On January 6, 2011, the band’s label, Equal Vision Records, annouced that, To Plant A Seed, would be re-released including the new single “To Move On is To Grow” as a CD/DVD deluxe version. The DVD includes 38-minutes of exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, live performances from their recent United States, 2010 tours (Scream It Like You Mean It and Band of Brothers), and the new music video for “To Move On Is To Grow”. To Plant A Seed made a big debut on the Billboard charts reaching #6 on Top Heatseekers, #25 on Top Independent, and #175 on Top 200 charts, respectively.
Although recording (part 1) for the follow-up of To Plant A Seed was not scheduled until February and March 2011, We Came As Romans embarked on the headlining Motel 6 “Rock Yourself To Sleep Tour” (January and February 2011) with Woe, Is Me, For Today, The Word Alive, and Texas In July, which included the Outerloop presents Amped and Alive “Ice Jam” festival on January 30, 2011 at Sonar, in Baltimore, maryland with Silverstein co-headlining the even with We Came As Romans.
On January 10, 2011, five days into the health of guitarist, Joshua Moore, stating, “Early this morning, We Came As Romans’ guitarist Joshua Moore was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and is currently being treated at hospital in Nebraska.”
Joshua Moore was not scheduled to appear on any of the future Motel 6 “Rock Yourself To Sleep” tour dates, however through Joshua Moore’s Twitter and Facebook accounts on February 1, 2011, he stated that with a second doctor’s approval, he may be cleared to rejoin the tour, and on February 4, 2011 he rejoined the band in Lancaster, PA. Also, during the beginning stages of Joshua Moore’s illness recover, We Came As Romans officially cancelled shows in Denver, CO and Salt Lake City, UT due to inclement weather.
The band then went on supporting A Day To Remember for their headlining “Game Changers Tour” (March-April 2011), and headlining the “Scream It Like You Mean It 2011″ European Tour (April-May 2011) with Miss May I, The Word Alive and This Or The Apocalypse. Recording (Part 2) for the follow-up of To Plant A Seed was also schedules for May-July 2011. On December 8, 2011, We Came As Romans were among the initial list bands announced to play the Vans Warped Tour 2011, playing all of the tour dates (June-August 2011). According to We Came As Romans‘ label, Equal Vision Records, “The band is currently writing for their sophomore full-length album, which they will be recording with Joey Sturgis between tours and is expected to see a Fall 2011 release date.”
We Came As Romans appeared in the #25 (June/July 2011) issue of Substream Music Press magazine, and Dave Stephens appeared in Alternative Press magazine issue #227.2 (August 2011). The band was also highlighted in the Vans Warped Tour Official Program.
Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be was finished and given a September 13, 2011, release date. On June 22, 2011, the first single, entitled “Mis/Understanding” was released via Equal Vision Records through YouTube. On June 23, 2011 the title track to the album, “Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be” was also released via YouTube. Both of these songs were bundled into a pre-order for sale on iTunes which was released on July 5, 2011. On July 14, 2011, cover art for Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be was released via puzzle on the band’s homepage.
According to the band, “musically and lyrically, Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be holds a much darker tone tan their previous release, To Plant A Seed. While still maintaining the band’s overall theme of positivity and brotherhood, the new material takes on a more straight forward approach to life’s struggles and the challenges of growing up. On August 24, 2011, Equal Vision Records via YouTube released the third single entitled “What I Wished I Never Had.”
We Came As Romans headlined the United States and Canada, Merchnow.com + Arkaik Clothing “I’m Alive” Tour (September-October 2011) with support from Miss May I, Of Mice & Men, Texas In July, and Close To Home to support the release of this record. According to an Outerloop Management source, as of September 21, 2011, Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be reached #20 on Billboard Top 200, #7 on Independent Current Albums (indie Chart), #5 on Top Hard Music Albums, #10 on Top Current Rock Albums, and #16 on Overall Digital Albums. According to the same Outerloop Management source, as of September 28, 2011, Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be stayed in the Billboard Top 200 at #103. On October 16, 2011, We Came As Romans came in at #43 on Independent Albums and #22 on Hard Rock Albums on Billboard Top 200. “Mis/Understanding” was officially released, exclusively by Artist Direct.com as the album’s first music video on November 11, 2011. It was released via iTunes on November 22, 2011.
It is the first of a three part series of music videos for songs of the band’s recently released album, Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be. The videos were filmed in Brooklyn, NY in September, with director Travis Kopach (AFI, 3OH!3, Panic! At The Disco). The second video, “Just Keep Breathing” was released on December 16, 2011 via Livestream.com. The third video, “Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be” was relased February 2, 2012 via VeVo. It was relased via iTunes on January 31, 2012. “The three videos we shot portray a person, lost, confused and struggling to find purpose in life. He sees himself at his darkest in the first video, trying endlessly to find his way out. After going through a traumatic experience, he finds his way out and his eyes begin to open to a journey of finding out what really makes him feel alive. Through this journey the man traces back to his childhood house, where it all began. Overwhelming feelings wash over him as he remembers the feeling he once had long ago. Now, with a sense of purpose, he embarks back intro the world to take the path he should have taken long ago”.
David Stephens appeared as a vocalist on the track “Captain Tyin’ Knots vs. Mr. Walkway (No Way)” by Sleeping With Sirens. This track appeared on the group’s debut full-length album With Ears To See and Eyes To Hear, which was relased on March 23, 2010, through Rise Records.
Stephens also appeared as a vocalist on the track “Rock N’ No Soul” by I Am Abomination. This track waas featured on I Am Abomination‘s debut full-length album To Our Forefathers, which relased on May 11, 2010 via Good Fight Records.
Joshua Moore co-wrote and Stephens appeared as a vocalist on the track “The Wretched” by metal band The Word Alive. This song appeared on the band’s debut full-length album Deceiver, which released on August 31, 2010, through Fearless Records. Stephens has also appeared onstage with The Word Alive performing the song alongside the band on a number of occasions.
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