The Almost | |
|---|---|
 The Almost performing inSydney, Australia in 2011. From left to right,Dusty Redmon,Joe Musten (back), andAaron Gillespie. | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Clearwater, Florida, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2005–2015, 2018–present |
| Labels | Virgin,Tooth & Nail,Fearless |
| Members |
|
| Past members |
|
| Website | thealmost |
The Almost is an Americanrock band fromClearwater, Florida, fronted byUnderoath drummer and vocalistAaron Gillespie. 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 viaTooth & Nail Records: their debutSouthern Weather (2007),Monster Monster (2009), andFear Inside Our Bones (2013). Following a hiatus in 2015, Gillespie revived the project and released a fourth album,Fear Caller, in 2019 throughFearless Records.
While the exact formation date of the project is unknown, in October 2005,Underoath drummer/vocalistAaron Gillespie created aMyspace page for The Almost, eventually uploading twodemo 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 andThe Starting Line'sKenny Vasoli collaborated on the song "Yule Be Sorry", which was featured on theTooth & Nail compilation albumHappy Christmas Vol. 4. All of the initial Almost songs were written by Gillespie while recordingDefine the Great Line with Underoath.
The Almost embarked on the "It's All Happening" tour from December 17 to January 20, 2006, with Gillespie joined by guitaristsDusty Redmon and Jay Vilardi, bassist Alex Aponte, and drummer Kenny Bozich. The tour showcased new songs from the band's upcoming debut albumSouthern Weather. In 2007, The Almost embarked onParamore's headlining tour, RIOT!, alongside The Starting Line andSet Your Goals (who played for the first half of the tour.) In addition, the group went on tour withEmery,Envy On The Coast, andArmy of Me for all of June and parts of July. In May they also released theB-side song 'Hold On', which was originally only available as a bonus track oniTunes. The Almost released their firstmusic video for "Say This Sooner" on March 19, 2007, premiering onMTV2'sUNLEASHED.
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 contributingbass to two songs. The album reached No. 39 on theBillboard 200 and No. 1 on theTop Christian Albums 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. GuitaristDusty Redmon explained in anAbsolutePunk forum post: "Kenny quit. He's getting married and didn't want to tour at all. It happens..it's happened to me twice withBeloved andDead Poetic. 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."
A cover of "Little Drummer Boy" was made available for streaming on November 4, 2008,[3] followed by "Awful Direction" on November 20.[4] The Almost released a new EP titledNo 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.[5] It included "Awful Direction", "Little Drummer Boy", a cover ofCasting Crowns'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 byUnderoath guitarist Tim McTague, who also created theremix of "Dirty and Left Out."[6]
In May 2008, Gillespie announced that The Almost would be entering the studio in the winter of 2008 to record their follow-up toSouthern 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 inNashville TN.Monster Monster was released through Tooth & Nail/Virgin on November 3, 2009 featuring the singles "Lonely Wheel" and "Hands". There are several bonus tracks for this album. Users who downloadedMonster Monster from iTunes received the bonus track "Me And Alone". The fan pack version of the album sold exclusively atBest Buy contained the tracks "West" and "Wrong". TheMonster EP contained two bonus tracks entitled "July" and "Birmingham". The album charted at No. 67 on theBillboard 200 and No. 3 on the Christian Album charts.[7]
In February 2010 the Almost played the AustralianSoundwave Festival. The Almost toured acrossAustralia nationally playing alongside the three festival headliners;Faith No More,Jimmy Eat World andJane's Addiction, as well as other bands such asParamore,All Time Low,A Day To Remember,Escape The Fate,Enter Shikari,Meshuggah,Anthrax,Trivium,Whitechapel, Set Your Goals and otheralternative,rock,metalcore andhardcore bands. Along with Soundwave, The Almost played club shows inMelbourne andSydney withAll Time Low andDance Gavin Dance. On July 31, 2010, the Almost played at iMatter Festival inElmira, New York alongsideSecret and Whisper,August Burns Red,Oh, Sleeper,MyChildren MyBride,Texas in July andThe Glorious Unseen. On October 25, 2010, the Almost released theMonster Monster EP, which contained the five bonus tracks and the music videos for "Lonely Wheel", "Hands", "No I Don't" and "Monster Monster" fromMonster Monster.
During their set at the O2 Experience inDenver on June 1, Aaron Gillespie announced that an upcoming third album would be titledFear Inside Our Bones.[8] Gillespie later announced viaTwitter that the band had finished recording the album in full as of June 10, 2012,[9] It was announced in January 2013 that the new album would be released on April 16, 2013 via Tooth & Nail Records.[10] Accompanying the announcement was a song premiere of the single "Ghost".[11]
On April 1, 2013, the band posted on theirFacebook page that the album had been pushed back to June 2013, due to Tooth & Nail becoming an independent record label.[12] The album was ultimately released on June 11, 2013, reaching No. 142 on theBillboard 200 and No. 5 on the Christian Albums chart.
During an interview onEmery'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 (asParamore's touring drummer, a solo artist and producer) and the busy schedules of the other band members.[13]
Gillespie was inspired to begin songwriting for a new The Almost album during Underoath's spring 2018 tour.Fear Caller, the band'sFearless Records debut album, was recorded in the desert.[14] Gillespie posted a teaser video that eventually led to the announcement of the band's record deal and a new single and album. The single, titled "Chokehold", was released along with a music video on September 25, 2019.[15] Fear Caller would be released one month later, on October 18, 2019.[16]
Current members
| Former members
|
Timeline
| Year | Details | Chart | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US 200 | US Christian | US Hard Rock | US Digital | US Rock | US Alternative | ||
| 2007 | Southern Weather
| 39 | 1 | 19 | 39 | 10 | — |
| 2009 | Monster Monster
| 67 | 3 | — | 22 | 26 | 20 |
| 2013 | Fear Inside Our Bones
| 142 | 5 | — | — | 44 | — |
| 2019 | Fear Caller[18]
| — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Year | Details | Chart | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Christian | US Holiday | ||||||
| 2008 | No Gift to Bring
| 36 | 31 | ||||
| 2009 | Monster EP
| — | — | ||||
| 2010 | Monster Monster EP
| — | — | ||||
| Year | Details |
|---|---|
| 2005 | The Almost Demos
|
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Alt. [19] | US Main. Rock [20] | US Christ. [21] | |||
| "Say This Sooner" | 2007 | 111 | 7 | 35 | — | Southern Weather |
| "Southern Weather" | — | 44 | — | — | ||
| "Lonely Wheel" | 2009 | — | — | — | — | Monster Monster |
| "Hands" | — | — | — | 32 | ||
| "Free Fallin'" | 2010 | — | — | — | — | Punk Goes Classic Rock |
| "I'm Down" | 2013 | — | — | — | — | Fear Inside Our Bones |
| "Chokehold" | 2019 | — | — | — | — | Fear Caller |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||
| Year | Song | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | "Say This Sooner" | Southern Weather |
| "Southern Weather" | ||
| 2009 | "Lonely Wheel" | Monster Monster |
| "Little Drummer Boy" | No Gift to Bring | |
| "Hands" | Monster Monster | |
| 2010 | "No I Don't" | |
| "Monster Monster" | ||
| 2014 | "I'm Down" | Fear Inside Our Bones |
| 2019 | "Chokehold" | Fear Caller |
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
