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| origin = [[Scranton, Pennsylvania]], USA
| origin = [[Scranton, Pennsylvania]], USA
| years_active = 2005-present
| years_active = 2005-present
| genre = [[Metalcore]], [[Post-Hardcore]], [[Heavy metal music|Heavy Metal]]
| genre = [[Metalcore]], [[gothic metal]]
| label = [[Fearless Records|Fearless]], [[Tragic Hero Records|Tragic Hero]], Masquerade
| label = [[Fearless Records|Fearless]], [[Tragic Hero Records|Tragic Hero]], Masquerade
| associated_acts = [[Escape the Fate]], [[Get Scared]]
| associated_acts = [[Escape the Fate]], [[Get Scared]]

Revision as of 20:54, 22 August 2012

Motionless in White
OriginScranton, Pennsylvania, USA
GenresMetalcore, gothic metal
Years active2005-present
LabelsFearless, Tragic Hero, Masquerade
MembersAngelo Parente
Chris Cerulli
Joshua Balz
Ryan Sitkowski
Ricky Olson
Devin Sola
Past membersFrank Polumbo
Thomas Bell
Mike Costanza
Websitewww.motionlessinwhite.net

Motionless in White is an American metalcore band from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Formed in 2005, the group is known for its dark horror-themed lyrics and physical appearances, that of which heavily correspond to gothic imagery. Motionless in White is currently signed to Fearless Records and have released two EPs and one full-length album. Their full-length, Creatures, reached position 175 on the Billboard 200 upon its release in 2010.

History

Formation and The Whorror (2005–2007)

Motionless in White was founded in 2005 by members Chris Cerulli, Angelo Parente, Frank Polumbo and Mike Costanza during high school. With a sound, at the time, being influenced by alternative rock, emo and post-hardcore bands, they incepted many other friends into the group until finally settling on what would be Motionless in White and later chose to follow a more heavy metal sound, descriptively; a metalcore musical style highly influenced by gothic and industrial metal bands and carried this sound on as their signature style after the release of their 2005 self-distributed demo.

The group played many shows on the East Coast Independent stage during Warped Tour 2006 and later the next year, recorded their first EP The Whorror and released it the same year through Masquerade Recordings. The band also casually played at The Strand, a venue located in McAdoo every weekend.

The band derived their band name from the Eighteen Visions song, "Motionless and White".[1]

When Love Met Destruction (2008–2009)

After touring in-support of the The Whorror, Motionless in White had written enough songs to complete a full-length album. Their ambition to record a full-length was hobbled by the fact that they were still signed to local label, Masquerade Recordings, but did not stop at going along to complete work on the project. The album was named When Love Met Destruction.[2] When Love Met Destruction was recorded in 2008, and was expected to be released the same year, however it never reached an official release, all of its songs however, did leak online.[3] After its completion, the band toured for nearly a year with bands including August Burns Red, Asking Alexandria, and many others.

These larger tours caught the attention of larger label, Tragic Hero Records where they were signed to the label for a brief amount of time before shifting to Fearless Records before the end of 2008.[4] At this point, Motionless in White then made the decision to re-record six of the eleven tracks that were supposed to make up When Love Met Destruction, re-qualifying the release from a full album, to an EP. Despite being signed to Fearless before the months leading up to the release of the EP form of When Love Met Destruction, it was distributed through Tragic Hero on February 17, 2009.[4] The song "Ghost in the Mirror" was made as the band's first ever single and had a music video produced for it. After releasing the EP the band went on tour for another year.

Departure of Polumbo and Creatures (2009–2010)

After the release of When Love Met Destruction, bassist Frank Polumbo left Motionless in White because of his growing disinterest in the band's style of music. Although leaving the genre behind, he is not credited on being on bad terms with the band. With Polumbo's departure, Motionless in White added Bellevue, Washington native, Rick Olson as their new permanent bass player in October 2009.[5] Months later, Motionless in White entered the studio during May 2010 to record their debut full-length, Creatures[6] with Andrew Wade as the chosen producer. The record's first single "London in Terror" made its premier on the horror film website Fearnet, wherein the group explained its concept being based upon the infamous Whitechapel murders.[7]

Creatures was released on October 12, 2010 through Fearless, and claimed the 175th slot on the Billboard Top 200 charts,[8] and #6 on the Heatseekers chart, both of which were made in the first week of sales. Frontman, Cerulli stated that "this album is for anyone who has ever gotten problems with the way they look, dress, or what they listen to and that is what this album is about." The band requested for their listeners to write the lyrics for the title track of the album, all of the lyrics included on the song (besides the chorus) are fan-submitted lines.[9] In early 2010, the band toured with Drop Dead, Gorgeous, Sky Eats Airplane, played four dates on the 2010 Vans Warped Tour and then went on to play the Thrash and Burn tour with Asking Alexandria and Born of Osiris during the summer. Motionless in White carried on a tour with Black Veil Brides during October of that year, and then co-headlined a tour with A Skylit Drive in November. The group then returned to their hometown for an album release show and played the East Coast leg of Warped Tour 2011.[10]

Departure of Bell and new music video premieres (2010–2011)

On Wednesday May 4, 2011, rhythm guitarist, Thomas Joseph "TJ" Bell parted ways with the band.[11] Reasons for the matter explained from Bell's perspective were that while he was handling bass substitution duties for Escape the Fate, he was expected to meet along with the rest of Motionless in White in Orlando, Florida by that tour's end, but instead decided to arrive in Los Angeles to deal with his ongoing financial issues. According to the band, Bell left in the middle of Motionless in White's tour schedule to fill-in as a bassist for Escape the Fate and also did not inform the rest of the members early enough in advance that he would not be available during those weeks. This action forced the band to be without their rhythm guitar parts during their performances.[12][13] Motionless in White stated "If our live performance didn’t HEAVILY depend on having 2 guitarists then it wouldn’t have been a huge deal to us.. but unfortunately having 1 guitar player in a band like ours causes your show to suffer greatly. We agreed to let TJ go" along with an explanation about how they experienced many disagreements with Bell throughout the years of being a band.[13]

After Bell's departure, Olson then switched his position in the band from playing bass to rhythm guitar, which then left the group in-audition, once again, for a new bass player. During June, Motionless in White announced a short film in the works for the title track of Creatures.[14] The band released three trailers leading up to its release on July 7 where it premiered at 7 p.m. PST (10 p.m. EST).[15] It was directed by Stephen Penta and features an "intense nature" as described by the band, being inspired by the visual nature of early videos by acts such as Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails. The band held a broadcast live session for fans over Ustream leading up to the hours before its worldwide premiere.[16]

In the tours Motionless in White performed in after Olson's switch to rhythm guitar, a man with an unknown name began playing bass, finally confirmed as being Devin Sola, a substitute bassist. The video for "Puppets" was recorded live during the band's performance in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 21, 2011, the same day that guitarist, Ryan Sitkowski was married on. The video for "Immaculate Misconception" was released on November 11, 2011 (11/11/11).[17] Dee Snider of Twisted Sister guest starred in its filming,[18] while Snider's son, Cody directed the video.[17] Sola was officially confirmed as the band's new bassist on November 27, 2011.[19]

Infamous (2012—present)

During the beginning of 2012, an announcement was made that a re-release of Creatures will be released on April 2nd along with a confirmation that the band's forthcoming second full-length will also be released in 2012 and is being produced by Jason Suecof and musician Tim Sköld.[20] This upcoming album was featured in a short Alternative Press collection, highlighting the most anticipated releases of 2012.[21] It will be the first recording by the band to feature new member Sola and for Olson to play on guitar, in-contrast to his previous position as bassist.

The name of the album was revealed in late April where Cerulli stated that it will be titled Infamous and will be released on October 9, 2012. One half of the album was reported to be completed on April 23.[22] The band started playing a new song off of their upcoming album Infamous entitled "If It's Dead, We'll Kill It" through out various dates on the Vans Warped Tour. On August 17th Motionless in White announced through their facebook page that they were heading out on their first headlining tour called The Infamous Tour starting early November of 2012, Supporting acts include, Chelsea Grin , Stick to Your Guns, Crown the Empire, and Upon This Dawning.

Musical style, influence and lyrics

Motionless in White's renown musical style is primarily modern metalcore, with drawn-in influence from gothic and industrial metal genres.[23][24] The band has even been dubbed as "gothic metalcore"[25] and "horror-metal" by Fearnet.[14] Being influenced from a wide variety of artists such as Marilyn Manson, Misfits, Bleeding Through, Cradle of Filth, Himsa, Slipknot, The Black Dahlia Murder and Eighteen Visions, the group's song structure commonly features intricate riffs coupled with occasional blast beats during verses and breakdowns present in songs. The band's keyboard effects are also noted, having been claimed to add a "dark and uneasy atmosphere" to the group's music.[26]

Lyrically, Motionless in White songs usually take on concepts such as horror, heartache, insanity, or surreal fiction.

Members

Current members
Former members
  • Frank Polumbo - bass guitar (2005–2009)
  • Mike Costanza - lead guitar (2005–2008)
  • Thomas "TJ" Bell - Rhythm Guitar, backing vocals (2007–2011)

Discography

Main article: Motionless in White discography
Studio albums
EPs

References

  1. ^ Plummer, Sean. "Motionless in White - You got your band name where!?". MSN Entertainment.
  2. ^ When Love Met Destruction iTunes
  3. ^ "Track-By-Track: Motionless in White". Alternative Press. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Fearless Records signs Motionless In White". Lambgoat. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  5. ^ Motionless in White Fearless
  6. ^ Motionless in White enter the studio to record debut album SMN News
  7. ^ Motionless in White Launch London in Terror Fearnet
  8. ^ Charts, Allmusic
  9. ^ Track-By-Track Motionless in White Alternative Press feature
  10. ^ Motionless in White tour Punknews
  11. ^ Duncan, Michael. "Motionless in White Part Ways with Guitarist TJ Bell". Rock Edition. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
  12. ^ Bell, Thomas. "Tweet explanation". TwitLonger. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  13. ^ a b "TJ Bell leaving Motionless In White". Rocketshiplive. Rocketshiplive. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  14. ^ a b "Motionless in White 'Creatures' Music Video Teaser". FEARnet. Fearnet.
  15. ^ Bird, Michele. "Motionless In White to release new music video". Alternative Press. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  16. ^ ""Creatures" Video Premiere + Chat TONIGHT". Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  17. ^ a b Burkart, Gregory. "Exclusive Premiere: Motionless In White's 'Immaculate Misconception' [NSFW]". Fearnet. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
  18. ^ "Twisted Sister Go BIblical for new video". Female First. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  19. ^ Duncan, Michael. "Motionless in White Announce New Bassist". Rock Edition. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  20. ^ "Motionless In White To Re-Release 'Creatures'". Rock Sound. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  21. ^ Yancey, Bryne. "Altpress.com Presents: Most Anticipated 2012". Alternative Press. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  22. ^ Cole, Hannah. "Motionless In White Reveal Album Name". Hevypetal. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  23. ^ Burkart, Gregory. "Motionless in White: 'Creatures' -- CD Review". Fearnet. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  24. ^ Motionless in White - Creatures Review Rinse Repeat
  25. ^ "Video: Motionless In White- "Creatures"". Metal Riot. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  26. ^ Heany, Gregory. "Creatures - Motionless in White". Allmusic. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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