For the Birds

Derelicts

War Carries On

They Were Angels

The Devil I Do Not Fear

Tombstone Dialogue

Frontlines

Frozen Sleep

Stay Together for the Kids (Blink-182 cover)

Oblivion

They Were Angels began writing music together in the summer of 2009 with drummer Ashlee McCullough. Originally conceived simply as a rock act, McCullough's hardcore playing style and musical taste brought the band to pursue a more metal sound with such elements as breakdowns, gravity blasts, and down tuned guitars. Tinch eventually introduced the group to Richard McIntyre, a Nashville local with a talent for the vocal style that perfectly complemented this aggressive sound. This completed the line-up that would become known as False Prophet. The newly christened band played shows in Nashville as well as Greenbrier in the fall of 2009 and continued through the winter into the early days of 2010, writing a number of songs along the way. 

In March 2010, Ashlee McCullough's father, Scott, agreed to record the band at his home studio. Scott used his background in production and engineering to coach the young musicians during the project, challenging them to capture exceptional takes. Recording ended in April, and at the end of that month the band released their one and only EP, "For the Birds". 


False Prophet continued to play live in support of the EP, which featured 4 original songs and a live recording of the cover "Lose Yourself", originally by rap artist Eminem. During this time the band continued to write new material that indicated a progression in songwriting abilities, most notably with focus on the relationship between McCullough's drum grooves and  the guitar riffs. After a few months of dissatisfaction with this progression and his role in the band, bassist and back up vocalist Christian Garcia went on hiatus and left to focus on his school studies. 

Garcia recommended Adam Mullican, a friend of the band's and a particularly close friend of his, as his temporary replacement. The decision to leave was met with criticism by his bandmates, but ultimately the band chose not to harbor any animosity. They moved forward with Mullican at their side and continued to play shows into the fall of 2010. 

Shortly before the winter season, Garcia expressed interest in returning and was welcomed back into the group by his bandmates. His return coincided with an upcoming benefit concert for the Tennessee Kidney Foundaton at Hume-Fogg Academic High School, which the band had been scheduled to play through one of Hewson's friends.  Though hopes were high for performing, the show marked the first time that McIntyre would back out of a gig, citing throat problems as the primary cause of his inability to perform. The band played an instrumental set for the audience, and received praise from musicians and patrons alike for their energetic performance in the school's newspaper.  Shortly afterwards, in February 2011, the band competed in Guerilla Productions' Battle of the Bands competition at The Muse Nashville, in which they placed 2nd. 

Later that month, the band received an offer to play on the small stage of Rocketown's white building. They eagerly accepted, as it had been a goal of theirs to perform at the venue for since the group's inception. On March 12, the band opened for headliners WithHellAtOurBacks but was plagued by a sleuth of technical difficulties and mistakes. The most disheartening portion of the show came at the end, when the band debuted the song "Tombstone Dialogue"; the song, an assortment of complex riffs and structure, had only just recently been completed and rehearsed a few days prior to the show. The members struggled to perform the piece, and Garcia's bass pickups died shortly before his bass solo in the middle of the song. This occurrence and others in the set discouraged the band greatly.

Days after the failed gig at Rocketown, McCullough contacted his four bandmates and stated that he would be leaving the band in order to accept an offer by the headliners of that event, WIthHellAtOurBacks. Now short a drummer, the band explored auditioned local musicians until they found Cody Russell, a school mate of Garcia and Tinch's and an experienced drummer. Russell impressed the group and was asked to replace McCullough, an offer which he accepted.

By summer of 2011. the band had high hopes for their future and embraced the fresh dynamic that Russell brought to the old songs. Inspired by this change, they decided to rename the band "Along the Frontline", and began adopting a considerably more upbeat sound as compared to previous False Prophet material. It was during this time that they composed the songs "Frontlines" and "There Were Angels" (though at the time, they referred humorously to the latter as "Duck Sauce"). These compositions were faster than previous ones and focused more on melody than aggression. Elements from their early material lingered, as was made evident by the ending breakdown of There Were Angels, but generally the group sought to shift their interests away from these early characteristics. 

The new line-up continued to rehearse through all of summer, playing at another Benefit Concert for the Kidney Foundation as well as a house show organized by the members of psychedelic rock band In Mi Vida. In August 2011, the band played a show at Loudhouse Coffee in Greenbrier, TN, which had been one of their most frequented gigging locations since the winter of 2009. The performance was successful, and Along the Frontline received praise from patrons and other musicians for their first formal concert since the Rocketown event. 

Complications arose once again, however, when Russell left the band shortly following that concert in order to pursue a career in the U.S. Army. Without a clear replacement option in mind and not enough time to search for and audition drummers before school started back up, the group decided to go on hiatus indefinitely in order to focus on the rigors of senior year and prepare for the college application process. 

The inactivity lasted into the next summer, in 2012, when They Were Angels joined drummer Elliot Brown to form the rock/jazz/blues band UnderCurrent. At this point, we all agreed that the time had come to formally acknowledge that Along the Frontline was no more, and that our interests and musical tastes had changed considerably in the months following Russell's departure. We continued to focus on UnderCurrent material for that entire summer until August, when Tinch and Hewson departed for college and Garcia began applying to a spring semester at Vol State Community College.

On March 6, 2013, Hewson contacted Garcia and Tinch and asked if they would be interested in collaborating once again to rerecord material from False Prophet and Along the Frontline as well as from UnderCurrent. The two expressed great interest in doing so, and agreed to start in the summer on a self-produced recording project which would be funded, produced, engineered, mixed, and distributed solely by their own efforts. The decision to start the project marked the first creative collaboration between the three in nearly a year, and would be the first time working on False Prophet/Along the Frontline material in nearly 2 years. 

Due to space, budget, and time restrictions, They Were Angels decided not to recruit McCullough, Russell, or Brown to perform on the record. Instead, Hewson programed drums to recreate the styles of each drummer and the trio credited each drummer with his respective work on each of the songs. Due to a lack of communication with former vocalist McIntyre and a lack of equipment suitable to withstand the loud SPL of distorted, guttural vocals, all False Prophet/Along the Frontline songs were recorded as instrumentals and uploaded to online streaming services for free download.

They Were Angels now look forward to continuing to write and record songs. Whether with heavy metal or with UnderCurrent, they strive to create quality music that reflects their passion and creativity in ways like never before. All three members are currently attending college for a variety of disciplines, and they hope to use their post-secondary education in order to push their art to the next level of quality and professionalism.

Seth Hewson