Of Mice & Men (Band)

Of Mice & Men is an American metalcore band from Costa Mesa, California. The group was founded by Austin Carlile and Jaxin Hall during mid-2009 after Carlile's departure from Attack Attack!. The name of the band is derived from John Steinbeck's novel of the same title.

Formation and debut album (2009–2010)

Of Mice & Men was founded by Austin Carlile, the original vocalist of Attack Attack!, and bassist Jaxin Hall, an import from Auckland, New Zealand during 2009 in Columbus, Ohio. The two recorded their demo "Seven Thousand Miles for What?" with the band Though She Wrote at Paper Tiger Studios in Columbus. Carlile and Hall searched for other members for about a month. They came across Valentino Arteaga, drummer of Lower Definition, Jon Kintz of Odd Project, and Phil Manansala, a touring guitarist for A Static Lullaby. Carlile and Hall moved to Southern California to join up with the three. A little while later, Kintz was cut from the band and replaced with Shayley Bourget. With a question at hand asking of the departure of Kintz in a Q&A for the group, Bourget jokingly stated "Jon didn't cut it." On Kintz's part, he reportedly cited that the band felt he was "partying too much. After reaching 1,000,000 plays from their Myspace profile in just two months since its launch, the band uploaded a cover of Lady Gaga's song, "Poker Face". The song was mastered by Tom Denney, formerly of A Day to Remember and a copy of the demo was sent directly to Rise Records. Recognizing the band as Carlile's new musical project, Of Mice & Men was signed to the label. The group then traveled to the Foundation Studios in Connersville, Indiana on July 14, 2009, with Joey Sturgis to record their self-titled debut album.
On December 6, 2009 they had two video shoots in Ventura, California for "Those in Glass Houses" and "Second & Sebring". The band released their debut album on March 9, 2010 even though they planned on releasing it earlier. The album was originally intended to be released on February 23, however it was forced into a delay just days before its release, but leaked on February 10, 2010 by fans that hacked into the system. The music video for "Second & Sebring" was released on Hot Topic's website[6] and made its television premiere on Headbangers Ball on March 15, 2010. The band quickly jumped on the Squash The Beef Tour supporting Dance Gavin Dance, along with Emarosa, Tides of Man, and Of Machines. Also in 2009, Of Mice & Men was support on the Atticus Tour along with Finch, Blessthefall, Drop Dead, Gorgeous, Vanna, and Let's Get It. After completion of the Atticus Tour, the band supported I See Stars on the Leave It To The Suits Tour with We Came as Romans, Broadway, and Covendetta.

Style

Of Mice & Men are known for their unique interpretation of the post-hardcore and metalcore style, using plenty of breakdowns and screaming along with clean vocals. Their newest single - "The Depths" from The Flood re-issue shows a clear "djent" style influence. Austin Carlile is known for his skill with his extremely unique fry-vocal scream often utilizing overtones and creating a scream of higher pitch and surprising volume. He is also known for his breath control evident in their song "This One's For You" where he projects a constant vocal for 15 seconds often longer at live venues.

New Album (2012–present)


On April 2, 2012 during an interview with Alternative Press Austin Carlile stated that the band sound on their upcoming album will be "... more rock, or I guess a nu-metal sound you could say.", Carlile went on to say that "...our newer stuff is a lot more structured. When I think of nu-metal, I think of Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot and even Chevelle—those types of bands. The songs are a lot more structured and they’re a lot deeper and the tunings are even lower. I kind of wanted to touch on that and have our songs to have more of a rock and roll feel. Just in your face, angsty, here-it-is rock and roll. And that’s what I think of when I think of nu-metal: structured, heavy music that has a point. It’s angry just like all the other music, but the bigger parts are bigger and the powerful parts are more powerful and the slow parts slower.
On December 4, 2012 the band revealed via Facebook that they are currently writing and demoing material for their next album. The band had the following to say: "In case some of you don't already know, we are currently home from tour for the remainder of 2012 and are now back in our studio working on our brand new album! YES! An entire album of all brand new material is being written and demoed RIGHT NOW! We will be updating our Facebook more and more in this process and reaching out to YOU guys, our amazing fans from all over the world, to make this album really something special!! Make sure you spread the word, share our posts, keep the likes/comments coming and keep checking back with us cause you never know when we could throw some new material your way.
It's been confirmed that the band will be recording with Joey Sturgis again.