The Amity Affliction

The Amity Affliction is an Australian post-hardcore/metalcore band from Gympie, Queensland formed in 2003. The band's current line-up consists of Troy Brady (Lead Guitar), Ahren Stringer (Bass Guitar, Vocals), Joel Birch (Vocals), Ryan Burt (Drums, Percussion) and Dan Brown (Rhythm Guitar). The Amity Affliction have released three studio albums, Severed Ties, released in 2008, Youngbloods in 2010 which debuted at number 6 on the ARIA Charts, and Chasing Ghosts in 2012 which debuted at number 1 on the ARIA charts.
 
Joel Birch- Vocals
Ahren Stringer- Bass, Clean Vocals
Troy Brady- Guitar
Ryan Burt- Drums
 
Formation and early releases (2003–08)
The Amity Affliction formed in Gympie, a South-East Queensland town by friends Ahren Stringer and Troy Brady in their final year of high school. The band was named for a close friend of the band, who died in a car accident at the age of 17. 'Amity' referred to the friendship and 'Affliction' was to indicate the struggle which dealing with the death caused the band members. Whilst still at High School, the band spent many times playing at school concerts and lunch breaks.
 
In 2004, the Amity Affliction released a three track self-titled demo. At the time there were four members with former members Garth Buchanan on bass and Lachlan Faulkner on Drums.
 
In late 2004, vocalist Joel Birch joined the band. Following, mid-2005, the Amity Affliction released their debut self-titled EP. After the release of the EP they toured the East Coast on their 2005 East Coast Tour.
 
In 2007, there was a line up change when Lachlan Faulkner quit and Garth Buchanan left to join Behind Crimson Eyes. Lachlan Faulkner later joined Saint Lucia. They then hired drummer, Troels Thomasson, Chris Burt on Guitar (originally on Bass), Ahren Stringer now on bass and the addition of a keyboardist, Trad Nathan. The Amity Affliction released a new five track EP entitled High Hopes which was named for the house in which The Amityville Horror took place. The first pressing came in a CD/DVD package. The DVD featured the band discussing the recording of the EP, it also featured the band on the road and performing.
 
Severed Ties (2008–2010)
The band released their debut studio album in 2008, entitled Severed Ties. The album spent a week on the Australian Albums Chart at number 26.
 
It is the first album to feature Chris Burts' brother Ryan Burt on drums. The album features guest vocals from Michael Crafter of I Killed the Prom Queen/Confession, Matthew Wright of The Getaway Plan, JJ Peters of I Killed the Prom Queen/Deez Nuts/Grips 'N' Tonic, Helmet Roberts and Lochlan Watt (Nuclear Summer). A music video was released for the song Fruity Lexia. The Amity Affliction played numerous shows across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
 
During May 2009, they supported The Getaway Plan along with Perth band Elora Danan, on the Getaway Plan's national Finale Tour.
 
The Amity Affliction undertook a headlining tour across Australia in 2009. They also played the 2009 Stairway to Hell Tour across Australia with support from UK band We Are the Ocean and Melbourne band Hopeless, with a local support band for each city. The Amity Affliction then went to the UK for a full tour supporting We Are the Ocean alongside Flood of Red and All Forgotten.
 
Youngbloods and Glory Days (2010–2011)
In late 2009 The Amity Affliction parted ways with guitarist Christopher Burt. The decision was mutual and had been planned for some time. His last show was in London in December 2009. While all the members are still good friends with Chris, the decision was made in the best interest of the band musically. Chris now plays guitar and sings in Brisbane based band www.facebook.com/SENSAII SENSaii. Afterwards, Clint Ellis (Splattering) from The Getaway Plan took his place.
 
In April 2010 the band flew out to New York to record their second full-length record with producer Machine. On 10 May, the band uploaded a new song from this album, "I Hate Hartley" on their MySpace and the song was later available for free download.
 
On a pushed-forward date on 18 June as announced on their website (originally 25 June 2010) the band released their second studio album Youngbloods on Boomtown and Shock Records. It debuted at number 6 on the ARIA charts. The Amity Affliction went on tour in July to support the release of their second album. Joining them was Misery Signals, fellow Australians Confession and Scottish band Flood of Red. They toured Western Australia a few weeks later, joined by local band Break Even.
 
In October the band announced they would be releasing Glory Days, which would be a compilation of old demos and the first two EPs as well as two B-sides from Youngbloods. Glory Days was released on 26 November. They currently have most of this album as their live set rotation on tour. They then announced a UK tour with Asking Alexandria and one following with long-time friends Deez Nuts, Endwell and Louie Knuxx.
 
In the autumn of 2010 The Amity Affliction had their first American interview with alternative scene magazine Substream Music Press for its 22nd issue, just after signing to The Artery Foundation. The band found out they would be performing at the next Soundwave festival during the actual interview for the article.
 
On 30 May 2011, the band released their second music video from Youngbloods; following the music video for "I Hate Hartley", the new music video for the song "Youngbloods" was released exclusively on Guvera.com.
 
In late 2011 the band embarked on their headline nation wide tour, Fuck the Reaper, with supporting acts Asking Alexandria, Skyway and a local band in each city.
 
Chasing Ghosts (2012–2013)
During the 17 September 2011 show in Townsville, Queensland, Vocalist Joel Birch announced that they were planning to head over to America early 2012 to record their third album.
 
Then again on 22 September 2011 Ahren stated in an interview with Alt Music Hub that the band planned to begin recording their new album in March/April 2012.
 
On 8 February 2012 it was announced that The Amity Affliction had been signed to Roadrunner Records for their next album and future.
 
On 7 May 2012, the band headed over to Orlando, Florida to start recording their third album with producer Michael Baskette.
 
On 7 June 2012 it was announced the band's 3rd album would be titled Chasing Ghosts and was set to be released on 7 September 2012 in Australia, 17 September for the UK, and 18 September for the US.
 
Shortly after the announcement of the Chasing Ghosts album, the album's cover was revealed. The cover depicts a man hanging from a tree who is thought to have committed suicide. The graphic nature of this image caused much controversy among social media and fans. The situation was very ironic due to the main message behind the album being anti-suicide and urging fans who feel suicidal to turn to people close to them and seeking help rather than taking their own life.
 
It was revealed in a news article and magazine cover posted on 13/14 August that guitarist Imran Siddiqi would no longer be a part of the band. Furthermore, Siddiqi then did not appear in the video clip for the single "Chasing Ghosts" released on 15 August. A fill in guitarist played their album tour and U.S tour in late 2012.
 
After the release of Chasing Ghosts, the band had an Australian nation wide tour in September–October promoting their new album with supporting acts The Ghost Inside, Architects [UK] and Buried In Verona.
 
It was announced by Joel Birch on 24 March 2013 that Dan Brown was the new guitarist, although he did not appear on the "Open Letter" music video.
 
In 2013 The Amity Affliction was part of Warped Tour in the United States with Chad Hasty (Glass Cloud) on drums, percussion due to Ryan Burt severely damaging his cornea during a set in Portland, Oregon. Slight controversy sparked during the tour with The Amity Affliction and Memphis May Fire, when in the middle of a set Joel Birch called out the frontman of Memphis, Matty Mullins, on supposed sexist comments that had been made to female attendance at Warped. The frontman then went on to continue his rant talking about racist taunts that had been made towards the band's replacement drummer/percussionist for the tour, Chad Hasty.
 
Later in the tour vocalist Joel Birch was also unable to tour briefly due to dehydration, forcing the band to cancel their set in Pittsburgh. Fortunately the band's next show in Cleveland was played due to the help of Sam Carter (Architects), Jason Aalon Butler (Letlive.) and Chris Roetter (Like Moths To Flames) sharing the stage as replacement vocals for Joel. All shows after this were played with Joel back on vocals after his recovery.
 
Let the Ocean Take Me (2014–present)
Late in 2013 the band went on to play the, Brothers In Arms tour across Europe and Australia with support acts Landscapes and In Hearts Wake for the European portion and Chelsea Grin, Stick To Your Guns and In Hearts Wake for the Australian segment. The band are now in studio working on their fourth album which is expected for release mid 2014. The first single from the bands forth coming album titled "Pittsburgh" was released on April 14th. The album itself titled "Let The Ocean Take Me" will be released June 6th in Australia, June 9th in the UK, and June 10th in the U.S.