In August 2002, As Cities Burn was forged from the remnants of several local south Louisiana bands. The band quickly became known and recognized on the Baton Rouge scene for their passionate and energetic live show. Word about the band spread rampantly while As Cities Burn began to play shows throughout all of Louisiana, gaining an extremely loyal following. In October of 2002, the band released a five song EP selling over 1,000 copies. With new material and the further success of the band, As Cities Burn released their second EP in June of 2003 duplicating and surpassing the success of the first. With the addition of a new drummer, the summer of 2003 saw the completed band dropping out of college indefinitely. Each traded in their jobs and time with their girlfriends for a life in a van, in order to focus on spending as much time on the road as possible.
As Cities Burn began to tour full time in September of 2003. By February 2004 the band had covered the entire nation, playing nearly 100 shows in 6 months. The band played over 250 shows in 2004 - without ANY label support. In 2005, thier debut full-length, "Son, I Loved You At Your Darkest," began their partnership with Solid State Records and only helped their music reach even more fans of their hard-cord indie sound. As Cities Burn was carving a name for themselves through undying devotion to life on the road and to each other.
However – life does not stay the same, and the band nearly came to an end. But after a few line-up changes, directional shifts, and refreshed momentum, As Cities Burn released their latest album, Come Now Sleep, in 2007…
Come Now Sleep
Humankind is united in its search for meaning, for greater truths, to solve the mysteries of life, death, God and the afterlife. These themes run a similar thread through Come Now Sleep, the new album from As Cities Burn. Sleep can be a momentary reprieve from heartache and to some, even an invitation to the great beyond. Thankfully, As Cities Burn is still around (both as people and as a collective unit) to continue to make music.
Rumors of As Cities Burn’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
It may seem hyperbolic to paraphrase a famous Southerner when talking about the career of an alternately melodic but always heavy and progressive rock band, but the passionate diehards who have followed the Baton Rouge, Louisiana band’s emotion-fueled live shows and twisting, turning and churning compositions since the release of their monumental 2004 debut, Son, I Loved You at Your Darkest are all too aware that their brand new incredible follow-up, Come Now Sleep, nearly never came at all.
As Cities Burn’s much buzzed about 2006 “farewell tour” was thankfully premature. “We decided to breakup when [original vocalist] T.J. [Bonnette] said he was leaving to because he was getting married. We had been touring probably too much at the time, and morale was pretty low, and we didn’t think we had it in us to replace him,” explains guitarist Cody Bonnette, who has since taken over most of the vocals from his brother.
On that “final” tour, something unexpected happened. The shows were packed. Kids were sticking around afterward to confess to the band how much their songs had meant to them, how they had helped them through hard times, how much they would be missed. Silently at first, each of the band’s remaining four members realized they didn’t want to let As Cities Burn go. But it wasn’t until a close friend of theirs sat them down that they started talking about it with each other. Hesitantly, the band decided to continue.
Originally the plan was to have T.J. sing on a new album (though he wouldn’t commit to touring) but that wasn’t in the cards for As Cities Burn. “When we started writing, T.J. couldn’t make it to practices because he had a job and lived three hours away,” Cody says. “I was singing the words at practice just to have an idea about the vocals. Eventually, we realized it was best to let T.J. move on. I took over the vocals for good.”
And thank heavens for that, because Come Now Sleep surpasses its predecessor with an abundance of creative ambition, stark honesty, depth and diversity. As Cities Burn have emerged stronger, faster, leaner, and even more thoroughly melodic than before, with none of their heavy instincts abandoned and nearly all of their potential fulfilled.
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