The Almost
Encyclopedia
The Almost is an American alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band from Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, US, nearly due west of Tampa and northwest of St. Petersburg. In the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and in the east lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 108,787. It is the county seat of...

, formed in 2005, and is most notable for being the side project (and now main project) of former Underoath
Underoath
Underoath is an American Christian metalcore band from Tampa, Florida. Founded by Dallas Taylor and Luke Morton on November 30, 1997 in Ocala, Florida, subsequently its additional members were from Tampa, Florida...

 drummer, Aaron Gillespie
Aaron Gillespie
Aaron Roderick Gillespie is an American musician, best known for being the former drummer and clean vocalist for the metalcore band Underoath, and the current lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the alternative rock band The Almost...

.

History

There is no definitive date as to when Aaron Gillespie
Aaron Gillespie
Aaron Roderick Gillespie is an American musician, best known for being the former drummer and clean vocalist for the metalcore band Underoath, and the current lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the alternative rock band The Almost...

 started The Almost. He made a Myspace for The Almost on October 1, 2005 before he had released any of the songs to the public.

On October 4, 2005, he released two of his songs which were the demos for "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".

Aaron worked with Kenny Vasoli to record a song called "Yule Be Sorry" for Happy Christmas Volume 4 on Tooth & Nail Records
Tooth & Nail Records
Tooth & Nail Records is a record label founded by Brandon Ebel in the U.S. state of California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle, Washington, where it is situated today...

. It was in stores on October 25, 2005.

Gillespie wrote all of the songs himself while recording Define the Great Line
Define the Great Line
Define the Great Line is the fifth album by American metalcore band Underoath. The album was released in the United States on June 20, 2006 along with a limited edition version containing exclusive artwork and DVD. For the recording of this album Underoath's usual producer, James Paul Wisner, was...

with Underoath.

In 2007, the band embarked on Paramore
Paramore
Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis, and guitarist Taylor York...

's headlining tour, RIOT!, alongside The Starting Line
The Starting Line
The Starting Line is an American pop punk band based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that formed in 1999.- Formation and history :In 1999, the band that would become The Starting Line was initiated in Churchville, Pennsylvania via an e-mail from guitarist Matt Watts to vocalist/bassist Kenny Vasoli...

 and Set Your Goals
Set Your Goals (band)
Set Your Goals is an American Pop-Punk band from Walnut Creek, CA , formed in 2004. Their musical style typically employs a combination of pop punk and melodic hardcore...

 (who played for the first half of the tour.)

In addition, according to their MySpace, The Almost went on tour with Emery
Emery (band)
Emery is an American four-piece post-hardcore band from Rock Hill, South Carolina currently signed to both Tooth & Nail Records and Solid State Records and based in Seattle, Washington. Emery was founded in Rock Hill, South Carolina with the original lineup consisting of Toby Morrell, Devin...

, Envy On The Coast
Envy On The Coast
Envy on the Coast was an alternative rock band from Long Island, New York. They released their second album Lowcountry in March 2010.-History:...

, Army of Me
Army of Me (band)
Army of Me is a band formed in Washington, D.C.-History:Vocalist/guitarist Vince Scheuerman grew up in a Gaithersburg, Maryland religious community. Feeling frustrated with mainstream culture, he turned to music as an outlet. Scheuerman and long time friend John Hutchins, bass, joined ska band,...

 for all of June and parts of July. In May they also released the B-side song 'Hold On', which was originally only available as a bonus track on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

.

Shortly after the announcement of their new EP, drummer Kenny Bozich, quit the band. It was announced sometime in November via their MySpace. Dusty Redmon (the band's guitarist), made this statement in the AbsolutePunk.net forum: "Kenny quit. He's getting married and didn't want to tour at all. It happens..it's happened to me twice with beloved and dead 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." The Almost played at Soundwave 2010 with bands such as HIM, Whitechapel
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the...

, A Day To Remember
A Day to Remember
A Day to Remember is an American rock band from Ocala, Florida. Founded in 2003 by guitarist Tom Denny and drummer Bobby Scruggs, the band has released four studio albums, nine singles and eight music videos...

, Paramore
Paramore
Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis, and guitarist Taylor York...

 and others.

Southern Weather (2007-2008)

Their debut record, Southern Weather
Southern Weather
Southern Weather is the debut album by former Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie's solo-project, The Almost. It was released on April 3, 2007. The whole album was previewed on The Almost's MySpace page. The full album leaked onto the Internet on March 26....

, was released on April 3, 2007, and was recorded in February and March 2006. The first single, "Say This Sooner", can be heard at The Almost's PureVolume
PureVolume
PureVolume was the first independently run website of its type, allowing for the upload and stream of music files. It was created in 2003 by Jennifer Welch , in conjunction with the Unborn Media team; Brett Woitunski, Nate Hudson, and Mitchell Pavao; all from the University of...

 and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 pages, along with "I Mostly Copy Other People" and the demo version of "Never Say I Told You So" (originally named "They Say You Can Never Write I Told You So in a Song But Here I Go"). Aaron recorded every instrument on the album, except for bass on a couple of tracks, with which Kenny Vasoli
Kenny Vasoli
Kenneth Robert "Kenny" Vasoli is the lead singer and bassist of The Starting Line, a pop punk band. Vasoli attended Hatboro-Horsham High School. At the age of 14, he was invited to join the band after Matt Watts read his AOL Instant Messenger profile. His previous bands include The Prize Fight and...

 from The Starting Line
The Starting Line
The Starting Line is an American pop punk band based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that formed in 1999.- Formation and history :In 1999, the band that would become The Starting Line was initiated in Churchville, Pennsylvania via an e-mail from guitarist Matt Watts to vocalist/bassist Kenny Vasoli...

 helped.

The Almost released their first video for "Say This Sooner" on March 19, 2007. The video premiered on MTV2
MTV2
MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...

's UNLEASHED, which ran all day long on the hour. The video is also available on MTV2's website.

The Almost embarked on the "It's All Happening" tour from December 17 to January 20, 2006, joined by Jay Vilardi (guitar), Dusty Redmon
Dusty Redmon
Dustin Wesley Redmon is an American guitarist primarily known for playing in Alternative rock band The Almost and former guitarist and songwriter for Beloved and Dead Poetic...

 (guitar), Alex Aponte (bass) and Kenny Bozich (drums). The tour showcased new songs from the upcoming recording of Southern Weather.

Since The Almost has formed, the band has reached over 11,000,000 plays on their MySpace music page and the band's song "Say This Sooner" has reached number one most played on all of PureVolume.

A video has been made for the second single Southern Weather. It can be seen on the band's Myspace.

No Gift to Bring EP and Monster Monster (2008-2010)

The Almost released a new EP titled "No Gift to Bring" on November 24, 2008.They were originally going to release it on November 25, 2008 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. It includes a new song titled "Awful Direction", a cover of the Christmas carol, "Little Drummer Boy", a cover of "Your Love Is Extravagant", a new version of "Amazing, Because It Is", and an exclusive mix of "Dirty and Left Out". The EP is almost entirely recorded by Aaron, and it is produced by Underoath
Underoath
Underoath is an American Christian metalcore band from Tampa, Florida. Founded by Dallas Taylor and Luke Morton on November 30, 1997 in Ocala, Florida, subsequently its additional members were from Tampa, Florida...

 guitarist Tim McTague, who also created the remix of "Dirty and Left Out."
In May 2008, founder and frontman of The Almost, Aaron Gillespie, announced that The Almost would be entering the studio in the winter of 2008 to record their follow-up album to Southern Weather. In the November 2008 Tooth And Nail
Tooth & Nail Records
Tooth & Nail Records is a record label founded by Brandon Ebel in the U.S. state of California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle, Washington, where it is situated today...

 podcast, Aaron stated "the new album will be more of a complete band effort", suggesting the whole band will be involved in the recording process.The band went into the studio at the beginning of May, recording in Nashville TN. The album titled Monster Monster
Monster Monster
Monster Monster is the second album by American rock band The Almost, released on November 3, 2009. Like the band's debut Southern Weather, Monster Monster was produced by Aaron Sprinkle. Due to the band's lack of a drummer at the time, lead singer Aaron Gillespie played drums for the record...

was released through Tooth and Nail/Virgin on November 3, 2009 featuring the singles "Lonely Wheel" and "Hands"

There are several bonus tracks for this album. Users that downloaded "Monster Monster" off of iTunes received the bonus track "Me And Alone." The fan pack version of the album sold exclusively at Best Buy contains the tracks "West" and "Wrong". The Monster EP contains 2 additional bonus tracks entitled "July" and "Birmingham" The album charted at #67 on the Billboard 200 and #3 on The Christian Album Charts.

In February 2010, The Almost played the Australian Soundwave Festival
Soundwave Festival
Soundwave Festival, held every year at the Scarborough Spa Ocean Room, Scarborough, UK, is a music and arts festival created by the DIY Collective, a group of young people from around the Scarborough area. It was first held in 1999 on South Bay Beach, Scarborough and was moved to the Spa Complex...

. The Almost toured across Australia nationally playing alongside the three festival headliners; Faith No More
Faith No More
Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed originally as Faith No Man in 1981 by bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist Wade Worthington, vocalist Michael Morris and drummer Mike Bordin. A year later when Worthington was replaced by keyboardist Roddy Bottum, and Mike...

, Jimmy Eat World
Jimmy Eat World
Jimmy Eat World is an American alternative rock band from Mesa, Arizona, that formed in 1993. The band is composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Jim Adkins, guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch and drummer Zach Lind....

 and Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction is an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985. The band's original line-up featured Perry Farrell , Dave Navarro , Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins . After breaking up in 1991, Jane's Addiction briefly reunited in 1997 and again in 2001, both times...

, as well as other bands such as Paramore
Paramore
Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis, and guitarist Taylor York...

, All Time Low
All Time Low
All Time Low is an American pop punk band from Baltimore, Maryland, formed in 2003.The band consists of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Alexander Gaskarth, lead guitarist and backing vocalist Jack Barakat, bassist and backing vocalist Zachary Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson...

, A Day To Remember
A Day to Remember
A Day to Remember is an American rock band from Ocala, Florida. Founded in 2003 by guitarist Tom Denny and drummer Bobby Scruggs, the band has released four studio albums, nine singles and eight music videos...

, Escape The Fate
Escape The Fate
Escape the Fate is an American post-hardcore band from Las Vegas, Nevada formed in 2005 and originally from Pahrump, Nevada. They have released three EPs and three full-length studio albums. Dying Is Your Latest Fashion was the band's debut album and only album to feature vocalist Ronnie Radke...

, Enter Shikari
Enter Shikari
Enter Shikari are a British band, that combine post-hardcore with elements of various electronic genres, formed in 2003 in St Albans, Hertfordshire. The band is named after a boat belonging to Roughton "Rou" Reynolds' uncle, and a character in a play which he wrote before forming the band, both of...

, Meshuggah
Meshuggah
Meshuggah is an extreme metal band from Umeå, Sweden, formed in 1987. Meshuggah's line-up has primarily consisted of founding members vocalist Jens Kidman and lead guitarist Fredrik Thordendal, drummer Tomas Haake, who joined in 1990, and rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström, who joined in 1992...

, Anthrax
Anthrax (band)
Anthrax is an American heavy metal band from New York City, formed in 1981. Founded by guitarists Scott Ian and Danny Lilker, the band has since released ten studio albums and 20 singles, and an EP featuring Public Enemy. The band was one of the most popular of the 1980s thrash metal scene...

, Trivium
Trivium (band)
Trivium is an American heavy metal band from Orlando, Florida, formed in 1999. Signed to Roadrunner Records, the band has released five studio albums, eleven singles, and twelve music videos...

, Whitechapel
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the...

, Set Your Goals and other alternative, rock, metalcore and hardcore bands. Along with Soundwave, The Almost played club shows in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 and Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 with All Time Low
All Time Low
All Time Low is an American pop punk band from Baltimore, Maryland, formed in 2003.The band consists of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Alexander Gaskarth, lead guitarist and backing vocalist Jack Barakat, bassist and backing vocalist Zachary Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson...

 and Dance Gavin Dance
Dance Gavin Dance
Dance Gavin Dance was an American post-hardcore band formed in Sacramento, California in 2005. They released four full length studio albums and one EP...

.

On July 31, 2010, The Almost played at iMatter Festival, in Elmira, New York. Along with Secret And Whisper
Secret and Whisper
Secret and Whisper was a post-hardcore band from Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Secret and Whisper formed after the band Stutterfly changed its name. Their first album, Great White Whale was released on February 12, 2008. The band's first single was "XOXOXO" followed by "Vanishings"...

, August Burns Red
August Burns Red
August Burns Red is an American metal band, from Manheim, Pennsylvania. Formed in 2003, the group began their first performances while a majority of the members were attending their senior year of high school, and soon began playing shows around Lancaster, before being signed to CI Records, and...

, Oh, Sleeper
Oh, Sleeper
Oh, Sleeper is an American metalcore band from Fort Worth, Texas and is signed to Solid State Records. They have recorded three full-length albums to date, the most recent being their third album Children of Fire, released on September 6, 2011....

, MyChildren MyBride
Mychildren Mybride
MyChildren MyBride is an American Christian metalcore band originating from Madison, Alabama. They are signed to Solid State Records after being noticed by extensive constant touring, including various dates in European countries.-History:...

, Texas in July
Texas In July
Texas in July is an American metalcore band from Ephrata, Pennsylvania. Formed in 2007, the group currently consists of members ranging in ages from 18 to 21. Being previously signed to CI Records, Texas in July released one EP, Salt of the Earth and their debut full-length album, I Am both through...

 and The Glorious Unseen
The Glorious Unseen
The Glorious Unseen is a Christian rock/contemporary worship band from Nashville, Tennessee. Before signing with Tooth & Nail Records, lead vocalist Ben Crist wrote and played many of the band's songs in his home church, The Anchor Fellowship. The band released their first album, Tonight the Stars...

.

In a recent interview Gillespie announced that The Almost had started writing a new record and would be recording summer 2011.

Band members

Current
  • Aaron Gillespie
    Aaron Gillespie
    Aaron Roderick Gillespie is an American musician, best known for being the former drummer and clean vocalist for the metalcore band Underoath, and the current lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the alternative rock band The Almost...

     – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, keyboards, percussion (since 2005)
  • Dusty Redmon
    Dusty Redmon
    Dustin Wesley Redmon is an American guitarist primarily known for playing in Alternative rock band The Almost and former guitarist and songwriter for Beloved and Dead Poetic...

     – lead guitar, backing vocals (since 2007)
  • Jay Vilardi – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (since 2007)
  • Joe Musten – drums, percussion (since 2008)
  • Jon Thompson - bass guitar (since 2010)


Former
  • Alex Aponte - bass (2007–2010)
  • Kenny Bozich - drums, percussion (2007–2008)
  • Nick D'Amico - rhythm guitar (2007)

LPs

Year Details Chart
US 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

US Christian US Hard Rock US Digital US Rock US Alternative
2007 Southern Weather
Southern Weather
Southern Weather is the debut album by former Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie's solo-project, The Almost. It was released on April 3, 2007. The whole album was previewed on The Almost's MySpace page. The full album leaked onto the Internet on March 26....

  • Released: April 3, 2007
  • Label: Tooth & Nail
    Tooth & Nail Records
    Tooth & Nail Records is a record label founded by Brandon Ebel in the U.S. state of California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle, Washington, where it is situated today...

    , Virgin
    Virgin Records
    Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...

39 1 19 39 10 -
2009 Monster Monster
Monster Monster
Monster Monster is the second album by American rock band The Almost, released on November 3, 2009. Like the band's debut Southern Weather, Monster Monster was produced by Aaron Sprinkle. Due to the band's lack of a drummer at the time, lead singer Aaron Gillespie played drums for the record...

  • Released: November 3, 2009
  • Label: Tooth & Nail, Virgin
  • 67 3 - 22 26 20

    EPs

    Year Details Chart
    US Christian US Holiday
    2008 No Gift to Bring
    • Released: November 25, 2008
    • Label: Tooth & Nail
      Tooth & Nail Records
      Tooth & Nail Records is a record label founded by Brandon Ebel in the U.S. state of California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle, Washington, where it is situated today...

    36 31
    2009 Monster
  • Released: October 6, 2009
  • Label: Tooth & Nail
  • - -

    Demos

    Year Details
    2005 The Almost Demos
    • Released: December 2005
    • Label: Independent

    Singles

    Year Title Chart positions Album
    US Hot 100
    Billboard Hot 100
    The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

    US Modern Rock US Mainstream Rock US Christ
    Hot Christian Songs
    Christian Songs is a Billboard chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States....

    2007 "Say This Sooner" 111 7 35 Southern Weather
    Southern Weather
    Southern Weather is the debut album by former Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie's solo-project, The Almost. It was released on April 3, 2007. The whole album was previewed on The Almost's MySpace page. The full album leaked onto the Internet on March 26....

    "Southern Weather"
    2009 "Lonely Wheel" - Monster Monster
    Monster Monster
    Monster Monster is the second album by American rock band The Almost, released on November 3, 2009. Like the band's debut Southern Weather, Monster Monster was produced by Aaron Sprinkle. Due to the band's lack of a drummer at the time, lead singer Aaron Gillespie played drums for the record...

    "Hands" 32
    2010 "Free Fallin'
    Free Fallin'
    "Free Fallin" is the opening track from Tom Petty's 1989 solo album, Full Moon Fever. The song was written by Petty and his writing partner for the album, Jeff Lynne...

    "
    - Punk Goes Classic Rock
    Punk Goes Classic Rock
    Punk Goes Classic Rock is the ninth album in the Punk Goes... series, released by Fearless Records. It was released on April 27, 2010. This also features Your Love by The Outfield for the second time to be covered. And also has a Bonus Sampler CD with it...


    Music videos

    Year Song Album
    2007 "Say This Sooner" Southern Weather
    Southern Weather
    Southern Weather is the debut album by former Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie's solo-project, The Almost. It was released on April 3, 2007. The whole album was previewed on The Almost's MySpace page. The full album leaked onto the Internet on March 26....

    "Southern Weather"
    2009 "Lonely Wheel" Monster Monster
    Monster Monster
    Monster Monster is the second album by American rock band The Almost, released on November 3, 2009. Like the band's debut Southern Weather, Monster Monster was produced by Aaron Sprinkle. Due to the band's lack of a drummer at the time, lead singer Aaron Gillespie played drums for the record...

    "Little Drummer Boy" No Gift to Bring
    "Hands" Monster Monster
    Monster Monster
    Monster Monster is the second album by American rock band The Almost, released on November 3, 2009. Like the band's debut Southern Weather, Monster Monster was produced by Aaron Sprinkle. Due to the band's lack of a drummer at the time, lead singer Aaron Gillespie played drums for the record...

    2010 "No I Don't"
    "Monster Monster"

    External links

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