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All Music Guide:
Existing at the point where metal collides with all other genres, Iwrestledabearonce are an example of the bold experimentation that has been keeping metal fresh and exciting. The Shreveport, LA, group, consisting of Krysta Cameron (vocals), Stephen Bradley (guitar), John Ganey (guitar), Mical Montgomery (drums), and Dave Branch (bass), combines the spastic fury of the Locust, the math wizardry of the Dillinger Escape Plan, and the metal-electro experimentation of Genghis Tron into one easy to swallow tablet. In 2007 the group released its bedroom-recorded self-titled EP. After extensive touring, Iwrestledabearonce signed with Century Media and released their debut full-length, It's All Happening, in 2009. That same year the band went through some changes, relocating to Birmingham, Alabama and replacing basssit Dave Branch with Mike Martin. In 2011 the band released their follow-up, Ruining it for Everybody.
Wikipedia:
Iwrestledabearonce is an American metal band formed in 2007 in Shreveport, Louisiana, but later based in Los Angeles, CA. They have released one EP and two full-length albums, and have toured with acts such as August Burns Red, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Dance Gavin Dance, The Human Abstract, Blessthefall, Fact, Greeley Estates, Sea of Treachery, Enter Shikari, Winds of Plague, All Shall Perish, Vanna and Horse the Band.
History [edit]
Formation, EP and It's All Happening (2008—2010) [edit]
Iwrestledabearonce were formed during 2007 in Shreveport, Louisiana. The origin of the band's name was inspired by a comment that Gary Busey had said on Comedy Central. They self-released Iwrestledabearonce EP in 2007 and later re-released it through Tragic Hero Records. The release gained the band a small cult following due to their highly experimental musical style. It also granted the band enough attention to acquire drummer, Ryan Pearson. Due to the band lacking a drummer during the EP's recording, all percussion was done in a drum machine program. Iwrestledabearonce signed to Century Media by 2008 after their inclusion on tours supporting the EP. The group then recorded and released their debut full-length album It's All Happening on June 2, 2009 in the USA and August 31, 2009 in European stores. In June through September 2008, their single, "Tastes Like Kevin Bacon" appeared on the Sirius Hard Attack radio station "Devils Dozen" list as high as No. 4 in the 12 most requested songs.
It's All Happening reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart and No. 122 on the Billboard 200 chart upon its release in 2009. Iwrestledabearonce then embarked on their second venture outside of the US in October 2009 in-support of It's All Happening. The "2009 Imperial Never Say Die" club tour which was sponsored by Imperial Clothing and Jägermeister in the UK and Europe with Architects, Despised Icon, As Blood Runs Black, Horse the Band, Oceano and The Ghost Inside. In December 2009 they were headliners in a US/Canada tour (The Tour That Stole Christmas) with Miss May I, Inhale Exhale and Of Machines. Iwrestledabearonce had been selected for the 2010 Van's Warped Tour and participated from July 20 until August 15, 2010. During the summer of 2009, the band decided to relocate to Birmingham, Alabama.
In 2010, the band re-released It's All Happening as a 3-disc special edition that includes the regular album, a remix album, and a DVD. Later, the group released a free 5-track remix EP titled It's All Dubstep.
Ruining It for Everybody and Cameron's Pregnancy (2011—2012) [edit]
With the recording of the band's new album, which was revealed to be titled Ruining It for Everyone, guitarist Steven Bradley has stated that the group's new album will embrace black metal, along with the band incorporating the use of corpse paint. He expressed that the entire band agreed that they do not want to be pigeonholed as a band that is suffixed as "core" any longer and the new record will be "90% black metal". Bradley went on to say “We were sick of getting lumped in with ‘scene’ and ‘whatever-core’ bands, so we decided to embrace our roots and just go straight black metal on the new album. We had to change our image to match ...because of course that's just as important, if not more so, than the music.” The black metal musical shift was later confirmed to be a large practical joke orchestrated by the band and the heavy metal website MetalSucks. The band's upcoming album, Ruining It for Everybody had a song from the album premiered on the website with the staff confirming that it was all a prank and that the upcoming album "features no actual black metal". The group primarily executed the joke to reveal and parody the over-serious attitude in black metal fans.
After the prank was revealed as false, Bradley later, in a serious note, commented on the album's style stating that it is "It's heavier, catchier, and better organized than anything we've done so far. We took a really spastic blend of genres and made it more cohesive."
During Warped Tour 2012, it was announced that vocalist Krysta Cameron had become pregnant and would have to leave the band for the rest of the tour. She was replaced by friend, Courtney LaPlante for the remainder of the tour. However, bassist Mike "Ricky" Martin stated that same summer that Cameron would be permanently replaced by LaPlante.
New Album (2013-present) [edit]
As of January 24, 2013 the band has been writing music for their third studio album.
Musical style [edit]
Although Iwrestledabearonce is generally categorized as metalcore, avant-garde metal and grindcore, the band's music is considered as diverse, due to their use of frequent genre changes within songs, varying between jazz, progressive metal, electro, synthpop, and even hillbilly music. The band is also considered mathcore.
The band attempts to evade categorization so significantly that they focus on spastically blending as many genres as possible. Their song structures are known for chaotic changes in pace, varying between blast beats, breakdowns and then constrasted rapidly by melodic, "lounged-out" interludes in the middle of their songs. Influences for their musical style have come from a wide variety of bands including The Dillinger Escape Plan, Radiohead and Björk. Björk, particularly, is noted as being an inspiration for Krysta Cameron's sung vocals.
