The Word Alive

The Word Alive is an American metalcore band from Phoenix, Arizona. Formed in 2008, their debut EP Empire was released via Fearless Records on July 21, 2009, which reached position 15 on the Top Heatseekers and was met with a high amount of positive acclaim. The following year, the group released their debut full-length album, Deceiver on August 31, 2010, which reached 97 on the Billboard 200 and 15 on Independent Albums. The Word Alive has gained renown praise for their innovative style of modern metalcore; blending thrash, groove, alternative and ambient elements into their overall deliverance.

History

Formation (2008–2009)

The Word Alive was founded in 2008 by Craig Mabbitt (lead vocals) with Zack Hansen (guitar) and Tony Pizzuti (guitar) who were former members of the bands Calling of Syrens and Clouds Take Shape. As a side-project of Mabbitt during his part in Escape the Fate, the remaining required members he recruited to start The Word Alive were chosen to be Nick Urlacher (bass), Dusty Riach (keyboard) and Tony Aguilera (drums). The group recorded songs with the intention of releasing them as an EP, despite that it never surfaced. Later on, the band was forced to leave Mabbitt due to their dissatisfaction of Escape the Fate's schedules of which Mabbitt would be required for.

The day after, Mabbitt posted a blog to his fans via his Myspace account explaining that leaving the band was not his decision and that "[The Word Alive] pretty much replaced me while I was on the road due to the fact that they wanted to tour and couldn't until I was available, I started that band with those guys and I'm very hurt at how they replaced me while I was touring...it's bullshit." On December 3, the band officially announced that Tyler "Telle" Smith, who was formerly one of the vocalists for In Fear and Faith and bassist for Greeley Estates, joined The Word Alive as their new frontman.

Feeling a bit stagnant in their progression beforehand, the addition of Smith catapulted the band’s ambitions to the forefront. With this initiation, their goals and aspirations were much more a reality, and they set to work on what would become their major record label debut release, Empire.

Empire (2009–2010)

During March 2009, the band were taken in with a contract by a new label, later on during the 26th of that month the group officially comfirmed that the label they were then signed to was Fearless Records. Smith stated "We hope to just keep touring, touring, touring... we couldn't be happier or more appreciative to be on tour right now, I think despite having some of the worst luck in the early beginnings of being a touring band yet never missing a show, we always have a positive attitude and that will make us a stronger band." Their EP, Empire was recorded with producer Andrew Wade in Ocala, Florida and was released on July 21, 2009 through Fearless where it reached #15 on the Billboard's Heatseeker chart upon its release.

In regards to the creation of the EP, Smith stated that The Word Alive all "feed off of each other really well, we take a little bit of everything we like and put it together to try and give the listener at least something to grasp onto when they hear a song for the first time. We consider ourselves a metal band who enjoy singing a lot. As much as we love being brutal, we love being referred to as ‘epic’ and ‘beautiful’. It works for us.” After the release of their EP, the band went on multiple tours with bands such as Alesana, A Skylit Drive and Silverstein. The Word Alive headlined with We Came as Romans on the Dreams & Empires tour during the summer of 2009; from late July to mid-August. In October 2009, the band went on tour with Silverstein, Madina Lake and I See Stars. Shorty after that tour they played on the You'd Be Way Cuter in a Coffin Tour with Alesana on The Emptiness Tour which took place during early 2010. The Word Alive's single "Battle Royale" from Empire was hugely successful, leading the song to be featured in the popular Tap Tap series as well as it being featured in Rock Band 2 for the Xbox 360. The track is also featured on the 2010 Vans Warped Tour Compilation and later went onto being credited as the group's signature song.

During February the band reached an agreement to leave founding drummer, Tony Aguilera out of the group. Both parties (Aguilera and the rest of the band) shared their concerns and reasoning for the matter publicly. It was overall described that the band wanted to pursue a different percussionist of alternate talent than the founding member. Aguilera was replaced with Justin Salinis, whom previously was a part of the bands Scars of Tomorrow and Catherine as well as serving as a past live drummer for MyChildren MyBride.

On March 23, 2010, a live music video for the song "The Only Rule Is That There Are No Rules" was released and includes Aguilera in its filming, making it the last release of media by the band to feature him. The video premiered on AOL's Noisecreep with a highly positive acclaim:

"Metal-hardcore act the Word Alive have finally unveiled the video for 'The Only Rule Is That There Are No Rules.' "We couldn't be happier," vocalist Tyler "Telle" Smith told Noisecreep on the finished look of the band's first video. For the heavy driven track from the sextet's 'Empire' EP, the obvious choice was to bring eyes and ears to their live show -- which has been getting the band quick success for only being a little over a year old. "Our live performance has become a staple of that growth," commented Smith. Rather than having the song play over a performance at the Glasshouse in Pomona, Calif., a full effect approach was taken. "Our director had the idea of filming the set and intertwining live audio to spice up the clip."

Deceiver (2010–present)

In April 2010, The Word Alive entered the studio in Ocala, Florida with Andrew Wade to record their debut full-length album, Deceiver. Frontman Tyler "Telle" Smith noted that "We wanted to step it up in every aspect of our songs compared to Empire. When we're heavy, it's heavier. When we do things big, they are huge! When we slow it down, it's something beautiful." After the recording process of the album was finished, the band accepted to be featured as one of the many performing acts at the Bamboozle Music Festival in New Jersey on May 1, 2010 and following Bamboozle, The Word Alive participated in a headlining tour with Stray from the Path for two weeks, which was also in May. By June, Deceiver was fully mastered and engineered. On June 23, 2010 the band premiered their first single from the album, "Epiphany" as streaming media online. The following day, Fearless Records released their 2010 Summer Sampler which also featured the track "Epiphany". A week later, the album's album art and track listing was released. Guitarist, Zack Hansen explained upon this premiere that "We all felt like that was going to be the best choice considering how comfortable the recording process is with Andrew. The tracking was a lot of fun and everyone had a good time. We got the opportunity to stay in a house while we recorded and surprisingly we didn't party as much as I thought we would haha." Hansen later followed along explaining that his favorite track on the record is "The Hounds of Anubis", which was written by him and Pizzuti and stated that he "wrote this song with an 'Egyptian feel' to it and I think we got our point across." Smith described that its lyrics describe the times of when The Word Alive overcame their hardships that they face with the help and support from their fans. "The Hounds of Anubis" was released as the album's second single on July 26, 2010. It premiered on the official Revolver website.

The Word Alive performed on Warped Tour 2010 along with Alesana, Artist vs. Poet, Sparks the Rescue and Motionless in White, it has also been comfirmed that they will as well be participating the 2011 Warped Tour in its entirety. The band were a part of The Anti-Hero Tour where the group performed alongside Bleeding Through, After the Burial, Stray from the Path and Dead & Divine. The tour ran from September to October. Upon Deceivers release on August 31st, it charted at #97 on the Billboard 200. The band is featured in the compilation album Punk Goes Pop 3, covering the Kanye West song "Heartless". The song was produced by Matt Grabe and was released on November 2, 2010. In 2011, the band also recorded a cover version of the Ozzy Osbourne song "Over the Mountain". Both the "Heartless" and "Over the Mountain" covers by the band are the last recorded songs to feature bassist and founding member, Nicholas Urlacher before his departure from the group on December 27, 2010. Daniel Shapiro of Sharks Never Sleep will serve as a touring member for The Word Alive until a permanent bassist can be found and incepted into the band.

Members

Current members

• Zack Hansen — guitar, backing vocals (since 2008)
• Tony Pizzuti — guitar, backing vocals (since 2008)
• Dusty Riach — keyboards, synthesizers, programming (since 2008)
• Justin Salinas — drums (since 2010)
• Tyler "Telle" Smith — lead vocals (since 2008)

Former members

• Tony Aguilera — drums (2008–2010)
• Craig Mabbitt — lead vocals (2008)
• Nick Urlacher — bass guitar (2008–2010)

Discography

Studio albums

Release date	Title	Label	Peak chart position
			Billboard 200	Rock Albums	Independent Albums	Hard Rock Albums
August 31, 2010	Deceiver	Fearless	97	37	15	14

Extended plays

• Empire (2009, Fearless — #15 on Billboard Top Heatseekers)

External links

• Vorlage:MySpace