RISE records

Posted by Zach Page on Apr 25, 2012 in Telegram Past News

Founded in 1991 by Craig Ericson of Roseburg Oregon, the now massive label kicked off its humble beginnings with a release of small  7″ records. With nothing to be used or released until 1990, Ericson was wrapping up college and settled in Portland. In 2000, One Last Thing was the first band to release a full length CD from the new record company, but this soon gave way to the bands Before The March Of Flames and Ever We Fall, who later signed to Hopeless and Equal Vision Records. Not too long after, huge hit bands none other than Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Devil Wears Prada, and Breathe Carolina  gained considerable fame for themselves and Rise when they were on the label. Albums such as Plagues, Gossip and its classy, not classic and In Vogue helped solidify Rise as a company. Altogether, aiming to be diverse, Ericson told in an interview that they loved heavy music, pop punk, rock, hardcore and everything in between. Rise currently has 27 bands signed and one solo artist.

Memphis May Fire formed in 2006 but did not decide on their iconic Southern name a until a year later having previously gone with O Captain, My Captain. The five man Texas team recorded and released there first EP, helping them to grow their local following.  Their growing fame caught the attention of Josh Grabelle, the president of Trustkill records, who said in a press release that ”there is a lot of really exciting, young, dangerous music coming out of Texas right now, and Memphis May Fire are the cream of the crop, absolutely every song is bone-chillingly perfect, and timeless. These guys are on their way to something huge.” By December of that year, the band signed to Trustkill and reissued their self titled EP through their new sponsor. Soon after their vocalist, Chase Ryan, and bassist, Austin Radford, left the band stating that they had priorities elsewhere. The band had already recorded all the instruments for their upcoming album Sleep Walking and only needed there new vocalist Matty Mullins to contribute his vocals. By January of 2011, MMF had announced that they had signed with RISE records and within the next year released the EP Between The Lies and a full length album and in the spring titled The Hollow. As of April 17, Anthony Sepe formerly of Decoder has filled in as there guitarist for there new in studio album and what looks like there upcoming part in Warped tour.

Hands Like Houses is one of the newest bands signed to the Rise family. Hands Like Houses just released there debut album Ground Dweller, which has definitely set them apart. When asked how they would set  themselves apart from popular bands like Woe Is Me, the band said ” We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. While we’re definitely trying to do something different, our music is just a product of the music we listen to, some of which comes from the Rise world, which is a large part of which comes from a much broader musical background.” Obviously their decision not to scream and use harsh vocals in there music has been talked about, but has been made a bigger deal then needs to be. Excited over the response to Ground Dweller, Hands Like Houses brings something new to the table and is optimistic to see where it goes.

 

Of Mice&Men: These Costa Mesa metalcore natives headed by Austin Carlile started up in mid 2009 after Austin departed from Attack Attack. Carlile and bassist Jaxin Hall began searching for other possible members while recording there first demo “Seven thousand miles for what?” Later, drummer Valentino Arteaga of Lower Definition, Jon Kintz of Odd Project, and touring guitarist Phil Manansala of a Static Lullaby all joined the group and the two founders moved to southern California to join the three. Not long after the formation, Kintz was cut and replaced by Shaley Bourget, with the question at hand why Kintz had been cut, Bourget stated “Jon didn’t cut it.” After receiving over a million views in two months on their myspace and releasing their cover of Lady GaGa’s pokerface, Of Mice&Men soon had a copy sent into Rise Records. Due to an imminent heart surgery awaiting, Carlile was forced to not tour. Jerry Roush of Sky Eats Airplanes became a permanent member.

After their time on The Emptiness Tour, supporting bands like In Fear and Faith and Pierce the Veil original founder and bassist Jaxin Hall left stating that he needed to focus more on his personal life and his clothing company Love Before Glory. With Roush being a part of the group for the better part of nine months and not wanting to drastically change their sound for their second album, the band confirmed that they were having Roush leave in favor of Carlile, who for months wanted to start another project and decided to bring guitarist Alan Ashby back with him. The band went under a slight rearrangement with Shaley Bourget moving to bass. With the band revamped,  they started to record there sophmore album ,The Flood, which included singles Still YDG’N and Purified and placed 28th on the billboard top 200 and sold over 13,000 copies in the first week becoming one of Rise’s best selling Reccords. This was also the last album that will include vocals by Bourget due to his recent announcement of his departure on February 3rd via their youtube page. Of Mice&Men is curently in studio recording their third album with song releases expected to be out before this year’s warped tour.