We Came as Romans

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We Came as Romans is an American metalcore band from Troy, Michigan. Formed in 2005, they have released two EPs, Demonstrations and Dreams, and one full-length album, To Plant a Seed. We Came as Romans have been known to use Detroit, Michigan as a reference to home, and has toured across the United States, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. In April 2009, they signed with Equal Vision Records.

In August 2005, friends Sean N. Zelda, David Stephens, Jonny Nabors, Mark Myatt, Larry Clark, and Joshua Moore formed a band called "This Emergency". They performed various gigs throughout the metro Detroit area. In November 2005, the band parted ways with bass player Jonny Nabors and replaced him with Sean E. Daly. In June 2006, Zelda quit the band to attend the University of Michigan. After that, Larry Clark and Mark Myatt changed their name to We Came as Romans.^[1]

After the name change they spent the next few years getting their members to the band's current lineup. Their first EP "Demonstrations EP", sometimes referred to as the "Motions EP", was sold at concerts and online through their website. Between EPs, We Came as Romans embarked on the "V-Neck & Shaved Chest" Tour (June, 2008) with Close to Home. We Came as Romans released their second EP, Dreams on December 12, 2008 and was produced by Joey Sturgis.^[2] AbsolutePunk gave Dreams a 79/100 review. Sputnikmusic gave them a 3.5/5. They called the EP "Short and sweet, but lasting and fulfilling".^[3] We Came as Romans co-headlined with The Word Alive on the "Dreams & Empires" tour during the summer of 2009, (July - August). Two days before the release of To Plant a Seed, We Came as Romans concluded support of Oh, Sleeper and The Chariot on their co-headlining "Here a tour, there a tour, everywhere a tour tour" Tour (September - November, 2009).^[4]

To Plant a Seed, We Came as Romans' first full-length album, was released on November 3, 2009.^[5] Like Dreams, this album was produced alongside Joey Sturgis and features re-recorded versions of "Dreams" and "Intentions" (featuring Tyler "Telle" Smith) originally from Dreams. We Came as Romans finished 2009 with the "Leave It to the Suits Tour" (November and December, 2009) with I See Stars, Of Mice & Men, and Broadway.^[6]

During January 2010, they sporadically headlined events, and then set out on "The Emptiness Tour" (February and March, 2010) with Alesana, A Skylit Drive, The Word Alive, and Of Mice & Men^[7] (which was recorded by BVTV "Band of the Week" for viewing on YouTube)^[8] and "The Welcome to the Circus Tour" (May and June, 2010) with Asking Alexandria, From First to Last, Our Last Night, and A Bullet for Pretty Boy,^[9] to promote this album. The first video single "To Plant a Seed" was released on May 11, 2010 according to iTunes. They then released the single To Move on is to Grow on September 7th, 2010.

Following tours in 2010 included the "Scream It Like You Mean It 2010" Tour (July and August, 2010) with Silverstein, Emery, Dance Gavin Dance, I Set My Friends On Fire, Sky Eats Airplane, Ivoryline, and Close to Home,^[10] the "Band of Brothers Tour" (August - October, 2010), which included full U.S. and Canada dates with In Fear and Faith, Confide, Upon a Burning Body, and Abandon All Ships^[11] (also recorded by BVTV "Band of the Week" for viewing on YouTube),^[12] the Imperial "Never Say Die" European Tour (October and November, 2010) with Parkway Drive, Comeback Kid, Bleeding Through, War from a Harlots Mouth, Emmure, and Your Demise,^[13] and finally, the "No Sleep Til" Festival Tour (December, 2010) closing out the year in New Zealand and Australia with Megadeth headlining.^[13] We Came as Romans appeared on "Punk Goes Pop Volume Three", released November 1, 2010, covering Justin Timberlake's "My Love".^[14] The band announced via their Twitter and Facebook profiles that during the first tour of 2011, "My Love" would be played for the first and last times. We Came as Roman's second video single "To Move On Is To Grow" was released on December 14, 2010 according to iTunes. We Came as Roman's title track "To Plant a Seed" appeared on "Equal Vision Records Presents: New Sounds 2011" released December 21, 2010 on iTunes. On January 6, 2011, the band's label, Equal Vision Records, announced that, To Plant a Seed, would be re-released including the new single "To Move On Is To Grow" as a CD/DVD deluxe version. It was sold exclusively on Merchnow.com, iTunes, and F.Y.E., and was released January 18, 2011. The DVD includes 38-minutes of exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, live performances from their recent United States, 2010 tours (Scream It Like You Mean It and Band of Brothers), and the new music video for “To Move On Is To Grow”.

Although recording for a possible follow-up of To Plant a Seed was not scheduled until February and March, 2011 (Part 1), We Came as Romans embarked on the headlining Motel 6 "Rock Yourself to Sleep" Tour (January and February, 2011) with Woe, Is Me, For Today, The Word Alive, and Texas in July,^[15] which included the Outerloop Presents Amped and Alive "Ice Jam" festival on January 30, 2011 at Sonar, in Baltimore, Maryland with Silverstein co-headlining the event with We Came as Romans.^[16] On January 10, 2011, five days into the "Rock Yourself to Sleep" Tour, Equal Vision Records released a statement regarding the health of guitarist, Joshua Moore, stating, "Early this morning, We Came as Romans’ guitarist Joshua Moore was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and is currently being treated at a hospital in Nebraska." Bassist Andy Glass stated, “It saddens us to see Joshua in this state but we hope that everyone can wish him a speedy recovery and want to thank all of our fans for being understanding in this tough situation.” Joshua Moore was not scheduled to appear on any of the future Motel 6 "Rock Yourself to Sleep" tour dates, however through Joshua Moore's Twitter and Facebook accounts on February 1, 2011, he stated that with a second doctor's approval, he may be cleared to rejoin the tour, and on February 4, 2011 he rejoined the band in Lancaster, PA. Also, during the beginning stages of Joshua Moore's illness recovery, We Came As Romans officially cancelled shows in Denver, CO (January 10, 2011) and Salt Lake City, UT (January 11, 2011) due to inclement weather.^[17] During this tour, We Came as Romans clean vocalist, Kyle Pavone appeared under the name "Titus" sporadically, mixing electro house, fidget house and dubstep.

The band then went on supporting A Day to Remember for their headlining "Game Changers Tour" (March - April, 2011),^[18] and headlining the "Scream It Like You Mean It 2011" European Tour (April - May, 2011) with Miss May I, The Word Alive, and This or the Apocalypse.^[19] Recording for a possible follow-up of To Plant a Seed (Part 2) is scheduled for May–July 2011.^[20] On December 8, 2010 (first day of band releases), We Came as Romans were among the initial list of bands announced to play the Vans Warped Tour 2011, playing all of the tour dates (June - August, 2011).^[21]

David Stephens appeared as a vocalist on the track, "Captain Tyin' Knots vs. Mr. Walkway (No Way)", by Sleeping with Sirens. This track appeared on the group's debut full-length album, With Ears to See and Eyes to Hear, which released on March 23, 2010, through Rise Records.^[22]

Stephens also appeared as a vocalist on the track, "Rock N' No Soul", by I Am Abomination. This track was featured on I Am Abomination's debut full-length album To Our Forefathers, which released on May 11, 2010 via Good Fight Records.^[23]

Joshua Moore co-wrote, and Stephens appeared as a vocalist on the track, "The Wretched", by The Word Alive. This track appeared on the band's debut full-length album, Deceiver, which released on August 31, 2010, through Fearless Records.^[24]

Andy Glass played bass for Close to Home on the entire "Scream It Like You Mean It 2010" Tour (July and August, 2010).

It has been confirmed that We Came as Romans is not a Christian band yet its lyrics often cover love, joy, pride, ambitions and other positive topics.^[25] When asked if they are a Christian band, lead guitarist, Joshua Moore replied, "We have Christian dudes in our band and we have non-Christian dudes in our band, and as a whole, we're not a Christian band. We definitely get it, but we also get it a lot because our music, as a whole, has a positive message to it, and there aren't a whole lot of bands with a positive message who aren't Christian bands. Typically, it's just Christian bands who promote a positive message. Just because we have a message, and it's not about killing each other, we get the Christian band tag."^[26]

Studio albums

EPs

• Dreams (self-released, December, 2008)
• Demonstrations (self-released, 2008)

Singles

• To Plant a Seed (2010)
• To Move on Is to Grow (2010)

• Official website