Abandon All Ships

Formation and appearance on Disband (2006–2009)

Abandon All Ships was founded in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, originally playing covers of Norma Jean songs. Most of the band members attended Dante Alighieri Catholic Secondary, including lead vocalist Angelo Aita, keyboardist Sebastian Cassisi-Nunez, and original guitarist David Stephens and are all of Italian ancestry. The three just started the band to play gigs and their career escalated from there, eventually adding local Toronto friends Martin Broda and Francesco Pallotta to fill in spots for drums and bass.

Around 2007, Nick Fiorini was added along to the band to play rhythm guitar. By 2008, the band released four demo songs online, which were "Megawacko", "When Dreams Become Nightmares", "Brendon's Song" and "Pedestrians Is Another Word for Speedbump". After rising in the Toronto scene, the group eventually toured and opened for many larger bands in their same genre or home country such as Silverstein. By the end of 2008, Nick Fiorini parted ways with the band and was replaced by Andrew Paiano. By then, the band recorded their self-titled EP.

Abandon All Ships widely were thought to be a Christian band, but this is controversial due to the band's regular use of profanity and suggestive lyrics in their songs and eventually settled the debate that while a majority of the members are Christians, the band is not a Christian band. Abandon All Ships quickly became popular on the Internet through Myspace, and were given even more exposure after their appearance on the MuchMusic's Canadian television program Disband early-on in their career.

Geeving (2009–2010)

At the end of 2009, David Stephens and Francesco Pallotta decided to end their careers with the band. Kyler Browne was then added to claim lead guitar roles as well as Andrew Paiano's brother, Daniel Paiano, to take the place for drums. In early 2010, the group was signed to Underground Operations, Rise Records, and Velocity Records. They released their first single, "Take One Last Breath" formerly "Pedestrians Is Another Word for Speedbumps" on June 29, 2010; the music video premiered online the same day. They played at the 2010 Bluesfest in Ottawa, Ontario. At the festival they played some new songs, including "Geeving", "Guardian Angel" which features Lena Katina from the Russian band t.A.T.u.. "Maria (I Like It Loud)", and their first single "Take One Last Breath" all were to be featured on the then-upcoming album, Geeving.

The single "Megawacko 2.0" was released on iTunes on August 24, 2010, along with the music video premiering on MuchMusic that same day. By September of that year, "Bro My God" also premiered with online streaming. Abandon All Ships with their increasing popularity were then included on the Monument tour from October 29, 2010 to December 5, 2010 with Miss May I, Sleeping with Sirens, The Crimson Armada, and Bury Tomorrow.

Lineup instability, Infamous (2011–2012)

On January 24, 2011, lead guitarist, Kyler Browne left the band. Browne left a note on his Facebook profile stating: "I have left AAS due to my own personal reason's having nothing to do with anyone in the band personally. The guys are all brother's to me however my heart was not in it anymore. I thank you all for all the love and support and I wish you all the best."

Taking Browne's place for the touring is lead guitarist Daniel Ciccotelli. Abandon All Ships participated in the 2011 Vans Warped Tour for selected dates on the east leg.

On July 14, 2011 the Paiano brothers, Andrew (rhythm guitar) and Daniel (drums), left the band. The remaining members explained "Well if you haven't already heard the news, Andrew and Dan Paiano will not be continuing as part of Abandon All Ships due to personal reasons I would not like to touch upon at this point and time.

On January 18, 2012, the band announced that they were in the process of recording their second studio album. The title was announced as Infamous, and it was released on July 3, 2012. The video for its title track was released on the first of May with its environment and direction being described as "very Toronto".

On November 29, 2012, the band was announced as support for For the Fallen Dreams European/UK tour beginning in March alongside fellow supporting acts Dream On, Dreamer, and No Bragging Rights. On December 14, drummer Chris Taylor announced left the band in a YouTube video.

On August 5, the band was announced to go on a short tour with Dance Gavin Dance and Stolas beginning at the end of August and on the 15th of that same month, guitarist Dan Cicco announced that he had left the band to pursue a solo career.

Malocchio, and break up (2013-2014)

The band announced their third full-length album Malocchio on December 20, 2013, which was released in 2014. Along with the announcement the band are streaming the album's first single, "Reefer Madness" on YouTube. and on December 30, 2013 the band announced the track listing via Facebook.

On January 25, 2014 the band released their forthcoming album's second single, "Cowboys".

Abandon All Ships announced its breakup on August 15, 2014 and played their last show on September 25 in Toronto with current and past members. Some members went on to a form a new band, Sine of the Lion. Martin Broda started a new project by the name of Curses.

Reformation and new single (2016-present)

Abandon All Ships reformed through the announcement of a new single titled "Loafting", which features the band's lineup that was included while recording their debut album Geeving, with the exclusion of lead guitarist Kyler Browne. Daniel Ciccotelli, who served as lead/rhythm guitarist during the recording of Infamous, has since rejoined the position.

Musical style

The band's third album incorporates elements from their first and second album while incorporating new elements into the mix as keyboardist Sebastian Cassisi-Nunez brought in more of an EDM influence. Allmusic's Gregory Heaney described the group as "an electronicore band who fused metalcore with EDM" besides stating that they "combine elements of electronic music and post-hardcore and technical metal into a strangely triumphant hybrid.

Christianity label

Although having Christian themes in the band's music as a regular feature, Abandon All Ships is not a Christian band. Also notable is that despite including these Christian themes in their music, the band's lyrics also frequently feature profanity. In addition, the name of their album, Geeving, is taken from the Urban Dictionary definition of the word, which directly reads "Couldn't care less. Don't give a shit. Leave me alone. Fuck off. Happy Thanks Geeving."

Band members

Discography

Music videos