I See Stars are an American electronicore band from Warren, Michigan formed in 2006. The band currently consists of lead vocalist Devin Oliver, guitarist Brent Allen, keyboardist and co-vocalist Andrew Oliver, and bass guitarist Jeff Valentine.
Their first album, 3-D (2009), peaked at No. 176 on the Billboard 200. Their second album, The End of the World Party, was released on February 22, 2011. The band's third studio album, Digital Renegade, was released on March 13, 2012, which demonstrated a stylistic change, featuring a more aggressive musical style than their prior albums.[1] The band also appeared on the song, "Beauty and the Beast", by Dubstep producer BARE. The band's fourth studio album, New Demons, was released October 22, 2013, which featured elements of EDM while achieving an even further aggressive style than Digital Renegade. On March 25, 2015, the band released their first remix album, titled Phases. The band's line-up remained unchanged, (excluding the brief departure of vocalist Zach Johnson in 2009, who returned the following year) from their formation in 2006, up until mid-2015, when the group announced the departure of rhythm guitarist Jimmy Gregerson and Johnson. Lead vocalist Devin Oliver now pursues both clean vocals and unclean vocals. Their fifth studio album and the first album featuring the new line-up, Treehouse, was released on June 17, 2016. Drummer Luke Holland played the drum track for this album, while Andrew Oliver started his place on the keyboard. on the EP Treehouse (Acoustic), which was released on April 6, 2018. After nearly a seven year hiatus, I See Stars teased their return by posting a polaroid picture on their Instagram account featuring a lyric to their song Drift, [2] which later dropped in their SPLIT - EP on August 1, 2024. The EP features their most recently released songs including SPLIT, D4MAGE DONE, are we 3ven?, Anomaly, and Drift.
The band has released all six of their studio albums, and other releases, through Sumerian Records.[3]
History
Formation and early releases (2006–08)
Brothers Devin and Andrew Oliver played music together since they were young children and lived in the same neighborhood as guitarist Brent Allen,[4] Devin stated: "me, Brent, the drummer's my brother, and the bass player, Jeff, we all lived on the block from each other since we were kids, [in] elementary school." The group officially started in 2006 under the name I See Stars—which also according to Devin there isn't any meaning behind the name other than the fact that they "needed a title" and someone brought it to the table.
The group released its debut EP Green Light Go! in 2007 and several demos, including a self-titled EP, before signing with Sumerian Records in 2008.[5]
3-D, Johnson's departure and Moore's arrival (2008–09)
I See Stars recorded their debut album, 3-D, in 2008 at Chango Gridlock Studios in Orlando, Florida with producer Cameron Mizell. The album featured Zach Johnson as the screamer and keyboardist. Johnson left the band soon after the album's release on April 14, 2009, due to personal problems he felt interfered with him too much while on tour. The band then gained Chris Moore, formerly of We Came as Romans and a merchandise salesman for the group, to join as the new screamer and keyboardist.
Moore's departure, Johnson's return and The End of the World Party (2010)
On June 14, 2010, the band's keyboardist/screamer Chris Moore announced his departure from the band, citing "artistic differences". After being asked to re-join, former I See Stars member Zach Johnson returned to the band and joined them on Warped Tour 2010.
The group entered the studio in March 2010 to begin writing and recording their sophomore studio album called The End of the World Party with Sumerian Records and 3-D producer Cameron Mizell. Almost immediately after finishing the album, the band played Vans Warped Tour from June 24 to July 18, 2010.[7]
The band released a preview of their second album's title track, "The End of the World Party", on November 4, 2010, to Sumerian Records' YouTube page. They played the song at various live shows in 2010 before the album's release.[8] The full version of the title track was released to iTunes on December 7, 2010.
The band revealed the album's track listing on January 2, 2011. Before the album's release, the band played another song entitled "Glow" at various live concerts. On February 1, 2011, Alternative Press started streaming a new song from the album entitled "Wonderland".[9] The full album was released on February 22, 2011.
On May 31, 2011, the band made their national television debut, while performing the songs "Glow" and "What This Means to Me" on Jimmy Kimmel Live![10]
Digital Renegade (2011–12)
I See Stars toured on the Monster Outbreak Tour with headliner Of Mice & Men and supporting bands Iwrestledabearonce, For the Fallen Dreams, Abandon All Ships and That's Outrageous! from October 26 to November 29. The band toured on the Scream It Like You Mean It tour with Breathe Carolina and Chiodos as headliners. The tour also featured the rapper Mod Sun, The Color Morale and the new metalcore band from Rise Records, The Air I Breathe. On recent interviews the band stated that they began recording a new album in September 2011, as soon as the Scream It Like You Mean It Tour finished. After a few recording sessions they began another tour in November. The album was produced by Joey Sturgis.
I See Stars headlined the Leave It 2 The Suits Tour with support from Stick to Your Guns, Memphis May Fire, Our Last Night, and Make Me Famous. In a commercial video for the tour, it was announced that their third album would be released on March 13, 2012, with the album title confirmed to be Digital Renegade.[11] At midnight on January 8, 2012, an unmastered version of the song "Filth Friends Unite" from the then-upcoming album was released via the band's Facebook page.[12] A finalized version of the song was released as the first official single from the album on January 17.[13] I See Stars second single, "NZT48", was released on YouTube on February 23 as a lyric video. The song was released on iTunes February 28,[14] also with the album put on pre-order. The full album was released on March 14, 2012.
On August 30, 2012, all members of the band were arrested in Saline County, Kansas, for possessing and intending to use "hallucinogenic drugs", though it was not specified which drugs.[15] The members themselves released their mug shots and lead vocalist Devin Oliver commented on the experience being arrested on his Twitter profile, stating that he "just had the worst 13 hours of my life".[15]
After the band's release from jail, a new single titled "The Hardest Mistakes", was released on October 9, 2012, featuring Cassadee Pope.[16] It is a remix of the song "Electric Forest". They also played on Falling in Reverse's "The Thug in Me Is You" tour for a few dates, but they were kicked off the tour early due to their feud with Falling in Reverse vocalist Ronnie Radke.[17] They have stated that they are going to be touring again soon, regardless of the feud between the Falling in Reverse and I See Stars camps. I See Stars then hit the road with Asking Alexandria on the Monster Outbreak tour along with As I Lay Dying, Memphis May Fire and Attila, replacing Suicide Silence when they dropped off following lead singer Mitch Lucker's death.
Renegades Forever and New Demons (2013–15)
In early to mid 2013, the band finished their fourth studio album, New Demons, which was released on October 22. It's been confirmed that Joey Sturgis is the producer for the studio album. Klayton of Celldweller programmed four tracks on the album.[18] The band later announced that they have recorded a "heavier" song featuring vocalist Frank Palmeri of Emmure and a cameo appearance by Mattie Montgomery of For Today.[19] That song, "Can We Start Again", was released on YouTube on May 12, 2013.[20] The song's origins "started off as a b-side off our previous album and evolved into much more than that. With help from Sumerian Records and our friends Frankie Palmeri & Mattie Montgomery, it became about a scene that is much like the hallways we walked down as teenagers. We used the iconic lyrics from a song by Bane that changed the scene before bands like us were even around and still holds a place in a lot of hearts. We're all here to connect through music and to be a part of a movement that embraces open minds and open hearts. Unfortunately, some people choose to thrive off negativity, disunion and narcissism. This song goes out to all our peers and friends who live on the road doing it every single year, but more importantly to all the fans who make this all possible. This is not a song off the forthcoming album. It's the closing chapter to [digital_renegade] and the opening track to our digital mixtape release titled "Renegades Forever"."
On June 17, 2013, Alternative Press published an exclusive premiere on their website of the first single from New Demons entitled "Violent Bounce (People Like ¥øμ)".[21] The release date of New Demons has been reset from September 17 to October 22, after previously being selected for an August 13 release date. Via the I See Stars Twitter account, the band had tweeted on September 16 "I know a lot of you think the album is coming out tomorrow. Unfortunately had to push things back. We're so sorry to those expecting it:(".
On Warped Tour 2013, the band started to play a new, unheard song on stage. The song was revealed to be 'Ten Thousand Feet' and will feature on the upcoming album 'New Demons'. Alongside this, a 20-second preview of the song 'Murder Mitten' was added on the end of Sumerian Records' 'Started From The Bottom, Now We Here Tour' uploaded on the record labels YouTube channel. On September 24 at Midnight, the band released the second single titled "Murder Mitten". The single was released alongside a lyric video on YouTube. On October 8, I See Stars released the title track 'New Demons' as a free song to those who pre-ordered the album. The album then leaked on October 10.
On August 27, 2013, the band announced their North American headlining tour Started From The Bottom Now We Here with The Word Alive, Crown the Empire, and guests Dayshell, Get Scared, and Palisades, beginning in Albuquerque, NM at The Historic Sunshine Theater on October 29 and ending in St. Louis, MO on November 24.[22]
On December 13, 2013, the band announced that they will be direct supporting Attila's "The New King's Tour" with supporting acts Capture, Ice Nine Kills and Myka Relocate beginning on January 31, 2014.[23]
They got into a brief feud with Ronnie Radke over some allegations of being unprofessional which lead to some back and forth tweets. Ronnie recorded a diss song called “I Wash Cars” which was meant to be as an inside joke, but leaked. They have squashed the beef.[24] They headlined The All Stars Tour in Summer 2014. They also toured in December 2014 with Razihel. An acoustic album could possibly be in the works.[25]
On June 16, 2015, the band's Facebook page was hacked and used to promote Islamist propaganda.[26]
Phases, departure of Gregerson, Johnson's second exit, and Treehouse (2015–18)
On July 31, 2015, the band announced their newest release, Phases, an album centered around re-imagining songs from previous releases with an acoustic, clean style.[27] The band would also include four cover songs on the track-list. As well as announcing the all acoustic album, I See Stars announced they would be headlining an acoustic tour known as the "Phases Tour". After the release of the album rhythm guitarist Jimmy Gregerson, was kicked out of the band for reasons never stated, and subsequently became a touring member of Metro Station.[28][29] Although it was revealed on his Instagram account that he had actually been kicked out of the band during Warped Tour 2015, this information was not made public until at least a month after his departure and was later confirmed once again in December 2015, via Twitter.[30] Unclean vocalist and keyboardist Zach Johnson did not appear on Phases, nor did he tour with the band in support of it.[31]
On December 22, 2015, the band released a short teaser video for a forthcoming headline tour of the US, which also included a teaser of new material expected for release in 2016. It's unclear whether this would be a one-off song, or come from a forthcoming EP or album.[32] On the same day Gregerson and Johnson made separate posts on their Instagram accounts announcing that they had been released from the band a few months ago, although neither of them officially explained what led up to their departure.[33][34] Johnson later announced in the same post that he had formed a new band called Therefore Farewell which he soon left and formed djent band Outer Glow.[35] It was later stated that clean vocalist Devin Oliver will be taking over both clean and unclean vocal duties, while drummer Andrew Oliver would be switching to keyboards and taking up some of Devin's cleans and Zach's unclean vocals.[36]
On April 6, 2018, the band released a brand new EP which contained acoustic renditions of songs from Treehouse.
Return to touring and new music (2019–present)
On February 1, 2019, the band announced that they would be a part of Kayzo's "Doghouse Takeover Presents: Unleashed" tour, an electronic and metal crossover tour with many fellow acts from the alternative metal scene and electronic scene. Along with the announcement the band revealed their excitement for the tour stating that they have always done a lot of interesting line-ups on their headliners in the past but are excited to be helping Kayzo with pushing boundaries in the music scene.[37]
On July 26, the band announced a small acoustic tour to honor the 10th anniversary of their debut album, 3-D, releasing the following statement: "We were just kids when we wrote 3D. This record birthed the beautiful life we are blessed to live & the incredible experiences that have come with it. Can't wait to do some shows strictly dedicated to this album front to back acoustically! This is just round one. So if you don't see your city on here don't stress out. Much more coming!"[38][39]
Throughout 2019, guitarist Brent Allen began playing pedal steel guitar with Detroit alt-country outfit, Teddy Roberts and the Mouths. In March 2019, the group supported MewithoutYou and Tigers Jaw for a string of shows. The following month, the band released their debut LP entitled, "Never Wanna Die", independently.
On August 2, the band announced that they would be appearing on Our Last Night's "Let Light Overcome the Darkness Tour" at the beginning of November. They appeared alongside fellow rock acts The Word Alive and Ashland.[40] On November 19, while on the North American headlining tour Our Last Night released their cover of the Lewis Capaldi song "Someone You Loved" alongside Telle of The Word Alive, Asia of Ashland and Devin from I See Stars.[41]
In February 2021, it was confirmed on the band's manager, Nick Walter's Instagram page that the band was recording at Magic Door Recording with mixing being done by David Bendeth and Luke Holland returning on the drums. Walter declared that after a month and a half of recording, the album was through the recording process and ready for mixing.
On May 16, 2023, the band released two new singles, "Anomaly" and "Drift".[42] On September 8, the band released another new single "Are We Even?".[43]
On August 1, 2024, the band released a new single "Split".[44]
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↑ "Album Review: "The End of the World Party" by I See Stars". Red River Noise. February 22, 2011. Archived from the original on March 30, 2022. Retrieved May 23, 2016. The band has never pushed the musical envelope or done anything groundbreaking, but they definitely have a knack for making fun yet slightly repetitive electronicore.
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