Between the Buried and Me

Between the Buried and Me, often abbreviated as BTBAM, is an American progressive metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina. Formed in 2000, the band consists of Tommy Giles Rogers Jr. (lead vocals, keyboards), Paul Waggoner (lead guitar, backing vocals), Dustie Waring (rhythm guitar, lead guitar), Dan Briggs (bass, keyboards), and Blake Richardson (drums).
Their debut eponymous album was released through Lifeforce Records in 2002, shifting to Victory Records for subsequent releases until their signing to Metal Blade in 2011, where Between the Buried and Me released their first extended play, ' that year, and its full-length follow-up ' the following year. Their seventh studio album, "Coma Ecliptic", was released in 2015. Their eighth album "Automata I" was released March 9, 2018, and their ninth album, "Automata II", was released July 13, 2018.
History.
Formation and eponymous album (2000–2002).
The band was formed in 2000 in Raleigh, North Carolina after the demise of the metalcore bands From Here On and Prayer for Cleansing, of which Rogers, Waggoner, and Goodyear were members. Nick Fletcher and Jason King subsequently joined on guitar and bass respectively. The name "Between the Buried and Me" was chosen after a section of lyrics in the Counting Crows song "Ghost Train". Between the Buried and Me's first release was a demo containing three songs, all of which were re-recorded for the band's self-titled debut album, released through Lifeforce Records in 2002. The song "Aspirations" became the band's first music video. The album was not initially successful but did manage to catch the attention of Victory Records, to which they later signed. Victory reissued the album in 2004 as an enhanced CD.
The band toured in support of their first album with Canadian metalcore group The End.
"The Silent Circus", "Alaska", and "The Anatomy Of" (2003–2006).
In August 2003, Between the Buried and Me traveled to Q Division Studios in Somerville, Massachusetts to record their second record, "The Silent Circus", released in October the same year. It was later re-released in 2006 with a live DVD of the band's performance at The Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on July 17, 2005. Mark Castillo played drums on "The Silent Circus", replacing Goodyear.
After the release of "The Silent Circus", the band went through numerous members before the current lineup was assembled for their third album, "Alaska". On drums, Mark Castillo was replaced by Jason Roe, and later by Blake Richardson. On guitar, Fletcher was replaced by Shane Blay, and later by Dustie Waring. And on bass, King was replaced by Kevin Falk, and later by Dan Briggs. This remains the current lineup.
In September 2005, Between the Buried and Me released "Alaska". The album released the songs "Selkies: The Endless Obsession", "The Primer", and "Backwards Marathon" as singles. In the following year, the band released their first cover album, "The Anatomy Of", a collection of covers of bands that influenced Between the Buried and Me, including Metallica, King Crimson, Pantera, Faith No More, Queen, Pink Floyd, Earth Crisis, Counting Crows, and Soundgarden.
In early 2006, Between the Buried and Me was on tour supporting Bleeding Through along with Every Time I Die and Haste the Day. They were also on the Ozzfest 2006 Second Stage. In late 2006, they were on the Radio Rebellion Tour headlined by Norma Jean.
"Colors" and "The Great Misdirect" (2007–2009).
In September 2007, Between the Buried and Me released their fourth studio album (fifth if including "The Anatomy Of"), "Colors". Band members called it "a 65 minute opus of non stop pummeling beautiful music... we have described this release as 'new wave polka grunge'." The band also described the album as "adult contemporary progressive death metal".
In September 2007, after the release of "Colors", the band went on tour with Animosity and Horse the Band. Giant (now known as BraveYoung) also supported their shows in the USA. The run concluded with their November 4 appearance at the Saints and Sinners Fest in Asbury Park, New Jersey. In December 2007, they again embarked on a headlining tour, supported by August Burns Red and Behold... The Arctopus. The band were also the main support on The Dillinger Escape Plan's 2008 UK tour. Between the Buried and Me were one of the acts that took part at "Progressive Nation '08", the first in what became an annual progressive music festival, also featuring Dream Theater, Opeth, and 3.
Starting in summer 2008 and continuing in the fall, they performed as a supporting act for Children of Bodom's US headlining tour, alongside The Black Dahlia Murder. In early December 2008, they went on a short 4-show tour around the Carolinas and Georgia (US) with other Carolina-based bands, such as He Is Legend, Advent, and Nightbear. Between the Buried and Me finished a month-long tour of Australia on January 9 with headliners Bleeding Through, As Blood Runs Black, In Trenches and The Abandonment. In September 2009, Between the Buried and Me performed a Canadian Tour with Killswitch Engage and In Flames co-headlining, along with the support of Protest the Hero.
On May 31, 2009, the group went into the studio to record their fifth album (sixth if including "The Anatomy Of"), "The Great Misdirect". They released the single "Obfuscation" on September 29 and the album on October 27.
"The Parallax" and Metal Blade Records (2010–2014).
In February 2010, Between the Buried and Me supported Mastodon along with Baroness on their US headlining tour. During the summer of 2010, they were on the Cool Tour with As I Lay Dying, Underoath, War of Ages, The Acacia Strain, Architects, Cancer Bats and Blessthefall.
In early 2010, Between the Buried and Me toured across North America with Cynic, Devin Townsend, and Scale the Summit. Afterwards, they traveled to Europe supporting Lamb of God, along with Job for a Cowboy and August Burns Red.
In February 2011, Between the Buried and Me were confirmed to play at the New England Metal & Hardcore Festival on Saturday, April 16 in Worcester, MA. They were main support for Hatebreed. In April and May 2011 they headlined a tour featuring Job for a Cowboy, The Ocean and on select dates Cephalic Carnage.
Between the Buried and Me stated their move from Victory to Metal Blade Records, and quickly released an EP entitled ' on April 12, 2011. In May, Victory Records announced the release of a greatest hits album as a three-disc set. On January 16, 2012, Between the Buried and Me revealed that work on the full-length second part to "The Parallax" had begun and was later released as ' on October 9, 2012.
Between the Buried and Me also announced a headline European tour beginning in Paris, France on 2 September 2011 and continuing throughout the mainland and into the UK, ending up in Moscow, Russia on September 30. The tour was supported by Animals as Leaders. In July 2011, Between the Buried and Me announced their headlining North American tour, "Saints&Sinners Tour" playing throughout November and December with Animals as Leaders and TesseracT. The band created a few medleys just for this tour, and performed songs that they hadn't played in years. They co-headlined the 2012 Summer Slaughter under Cannibal Corpse with numerous other metal bands such as Exhumed, Job for a Cowboy, The Faceless and Veil of Maya, followed by a co-headlining tour through Europe and UK with Periphery and The Safety Fire.
They also to toured Japan and Australia with Animals as Leaders in November 2012.
Starting in February 2013, they toured with Coheed and Cambria.
In fall 2013 they embarked on The Future Sequence Tour, where they played The Parallax II: Future Sequence all the way through. Support was provided by The Faceless, The Contortionist, and The Safety Fire.
On February 14, 2014, it was announced Between the Buried and Me would record, and release a live album for "The Parallax II: Future Sequence", playing it in its entirety with additional instruments, including a saxophone, percussionists, flute and a string quartet. The release, titled "Future Sequence: Live at the Fidelitorium", was released September 30, 2014.
"Coma Ecliptic" and "Colors 10th Anniversary Tour" (2015–2017).
On March 17, 2015 they announced that "Coma Ecliptic" will be released through Metal Blade Records on July 7, 2015, and released a song titled "Memory Palace". It was later released July 10, 2015.
From 2015 - 2017, Between the Buried and Me went out on their "Coma Ecliptic World Tour" and headlined with / co-headlined for August Burns Red, Animals as Leaders, Devin Townsend Project, Fallujah, Enslaved and The Contortionist.
The band released "Coma Ecliptic: Live" on April 28, 2017, which has their entire "Coma Ecliptic" album played live in its entirety.
In the fall of 2017, Between the Buried and Me toured for the "Colors 10th Anniversary Tour" where they performed the whole album.
"Automata", Sumerian Records and 20th anniversary tour (2018–present).
Recording of the band's upcoming eighth full-length album began on July 31, 2017, and finished on September 6, with the release date scheduled in early 2018.
On December 28, 2017, bassist Dan Briggs posted footage of a song Between The Buried and Me had finished recording separate from the eighth studio album completed in September 2017. It was later revealed to be their interpretation of The Dear Hunter's track 'The Tank' for an exclusive split 7-inch split with the band.
In January 2018, the band announced "Automata", a two-part studio album. "Automata I", part one of the album, was announced a release date of March 9, 2018 via Sumerian Records. The second part, "Automata II", was released on July 13, 2018.
Their 'Between the Buried and Me Spring 2018 Tour' was announced as well, spanning March 2, 2018 to April 7, 2018 across the contiguous United States. The tour would be supported by The Dear Hunter with special guests Leprous. Additionally, it was announced on the Thomas Giles Instagram how an exclusive split 7-inch single between Between the Buried and Me and The Dear Hunter would be available for VIP package buyers on the tour. The split 7-inch would contain each band recording their interpretation of an existing song from the other band.
The band then headlined the entire 2018 portion of the Summer Slaughter tour. They were joined up with bands such as Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya, ERRA, The Agony Scene, Allegaeon, Terror Universal, Soreption and Entheos.
In early 2019, they toured Automata II in the United States beginning in February and ending in March. Opening acts were Astronoid and TesseracT, except for a few dates.
In spring 2020, the band was set to headline a 20th anniversary tour across North America, composing of two sets in which the first set would be songs that spanned throughout their career, and the second set being "The Great Misdirect" performed in its entirety. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band has postponed the tour, stating that they will begin as soon as it is safe to tour again.
The band revealed on November 16, 2020, that they have been writing their upcoming tenth studio album and are recording it for a scheduled release sometime in 2021.
Musical style and influences.
Between the Buried and Me's general musical style has been stated by critics to be primarily a blend of progressive metal, technical death metal, progressive metalcore, avant-garde metal, and metalcore along with various musical styles: "One minute the band may be playing thrash metal and the next they're flowing into death metal growls and thick guitar riffs... the metal take on things can seemingly change in a flash as lead singer Tommy Rogers fleshes out his vocals and utilizes the keyboards to create something that sounds more like it should be on a Smashing Pumpkins album".
On the band's cover album, "The Anatomy Of", the band pays tribute to many of their diverse influences, including Sepultura, Metallica, Blind Melon, Mötley Crüe, Queen, King Crimson, Soundgarden, Faith No More, Pantera, Pink Floyd, Depeche Mode, Earth Crisis, and The Smashing Pumpkins.
Band members.
Current members
Former members
Timeline