The Amity Affliction

The Amity Affliction is an Australian post-hardcore band from Gympie, Queensland formed in 2003. The band's current line-up consists of Troy Brady (guitar), Ahren Stringer (bass guitar, vocals), Joel Birch (vocals), Ryan Burt (drums, percussion) and Dan Brown (guitar). The Amity Affliction have released three studio albums, Severed Ties, released in 2008, Youngbloods in 2010 which debuted at number 6 on the ARIA Charts, and Chasing Ghosts in 2012 which debuted at number 1 on the ARIA charts. Historyedit: Formation and early releases (2003-08)edit: The Amity Affliction formed in Gympie, a South-East Queensland town by friends Ahren Stringer and Troy Brady in their final year of high school. The band was named for a close friend of the band, who died in a car accident at the age of 17. 'Amity' referred to the friendship and 'Affliction' was to indicate the struggle which dealing with the death caused the band members. Whilst still at High School, the band spent many times playing at school concerts and lunch breaks. In 2004, the Amity Affliction released a three track self-titled demo. At the time there were four members with former members Garth Buchanan on bass and Lachlan Faulkner on Drums. , In late 2004, vocalist Joel Birch joined the band. Following, mid-2005, the Amity Affliction released their debut self-titled EP. After the release of the EP they toured the East Coast on their 2005 East Coast Tour. In 2007, there was a line up change when Lachlan Faulkner quit and Garth Buchanan left to join Behind Crimson Eyes. Lachlan Faulkner later joined Saint Lucia. They then hired drummer, Troels Thomasson, Chris Burt on Guitar (originally on Bass), Ahren Stringer now on bass and the addition of a keyboardist, Trad Nathan. The Amity Affliction released a new five track EP entitled High Hopes which was named for the house in which The Amityville Horror took place. The first pressing came in a CD/DVD package. The DVD featured the band discussing the recording of the EP, it also featured the band on the road and performing. Severed Ties (2008-10)edit: The band released their debut studio album in 2008, entitled Severed Ties. The album spent a week on the Australian Albums Chart at number 26. It is the first album to feature Chris Burts' brother Ryan Burt on drums. The album features guest vocals from Michael Crafter of I Killed the Prom Queen/Confession, Matthew Wright of The Getaway Plan, JJ Peters of I Killed the Prom Queen/Deez Nuts/Grips 'N' Tonic, Helmet Roberts and Lochlan Watt (Nuclear Summer). A music video was released for the song Fruity Lexia. The Amity Affliction played numerous shows across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. During May 2009, they supported The Getaway Plan along with Perth band Elora Danan, on the Getaway Plan's national Finale Tour. The Amity Affliction undertook a headlining tour across Australia in 2009. They also played the 2009 Stairway to Hell Tour across Australia with support from UK band We Are the Ocean and Melbourne band Hopeless, with a local support band for each city. The Amity Affliction then went to the UK for a full tour supporting We Are the Ocean alongside Flood of Red and All Forgotten. Youngbloods and Glory Days (2010-11)edit: In late 2009 The Amity Affliction parted ways with guitarist Christopher Burt. The decision was mutual and had been planned for some time. His last show was in London in December 2009. While all the members are still good friends with Chris, the decision was made in the best interest of the band musically. Afterwards, Clint Ellis (Splattering) from The Getaway Plan took his place. In April 2010 the band flew out to New York to record their second full-length record with producer Machine. On 10 May, the band uploaded a new song from this album, "I Hate Hartley" on their MySpace and the song was later available for free download. On a pushed-forward date on 18 June as announced on their website (originally 25 June 2010) the band released their second studio album Youngbloods on Boomtown and Shock Records. It debuted at number 6 on the ARIA charts. The Amity Affliction went on tour in July to support the release of their second album. Joining them was Misery Signals, fellow Australians Confession and Scottish band Flood of Red. They toured Western Australia a few weeks later, joined by local band Break Even. In October the band announced they would be releasing Glory Days, which would be a compilation of old demos and the first two EPs as well as two B-sides from Youngbloods. Glory Days was released on 26 November. They currently have most of this album as their live set rotation on tour. They then announced a UK tour with Asking Alexandria and one following with long-time friends Deez Nuts, Endwell and Louie Knuxx. In the autumn of 2010 The Amity Affliction had their first American interview with alternative scene magazine Substream Music Press for its 22nd issue, just after signing to The Artery Foundation. The band found out they would be performing at the next Soundwave festival during the actual interview for the article. On 30 May 2011, the band released their second music video from Youngbloods; following the music video for "I Hate Hartley", the new music video for the song "Youngbloods" was released exclusively on Guvera.com. Chasing Ghosts (2012-present)edit: During the 17 September 2011 show in Townsville, Queensland, Vocalist Joel Birch announced that they were planning to head over to America early 2012 to record their third album. Then again on 22 September 2011 Ahren stated in an interview with Alt Music Hub that the band plan to begin recording their new album in March/April 2012. On February 8, 2012 is was announced that The Amity Affliction had been signed to Roadrunner Records for their next album and future. On the 7th of May, 2012, the band headed over to Orlando, Florida to start recording their third album with producer Michael Baskette. On June 7, 2012 it was announced the band's 3rd album would be titled Chasing Ghosts and was set to be released on 7 September 2012 in Australia, 17 September for the UK, and 18 September for the US. It was revealed in a news article and magazine cover posted on August 13/14 that guitarist Imran Siddiqi would no longer be a part of the band. Furthermore, Siddiqi then did not appear in the video clip for the single "Chasing Ghosts" released on the 15th August. A fill in guitarist will play their album tour and U.S tour in late 2012. No plans for a permanent guitarist have been decided on. It was announced by Joel Birch on the 24th of March, 2013 that Dan Brown was the new guitarist. Although he did not appear on the "Open Letter" music video. Band membersedit: Current members Troy Brady - lead guitar (2003-present), Ahren Stringer - vocals (2003-present), bass guitar (2007-present); rhythm guitar (2003-2007), Joel Birch - unclean vocals (2004-present), Ryan Burt - drums, percussion (2008-present), Dan Brown - rhythm guitar (2013-present) (touring 2012-2013), Former members Garth Buchanan - bass guitar (2003-2007), Lachlan Faulkner - drums, percussion (2003-2007), Troels Thomasen - drums, percussion (2007-2008), Chris Burt - rhythm guitar (2007-2009); bass guitar (2007), Clint Owen Ellis (Splattering) - rhythm guitar (2009-2011), Trad Nathan - keyboard (2006-2011), Imran Siddiqi - rhythm guitar (2011-2012), Timeline

Source: Wikipedia

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