Breathe Carolina

Beginnings (2007)

Kyle Even, born on September 21, 1985, and David Schmitt, born on March 26, 1988, spent their early years playing in various local Colorado musical groups. After being introduced to alternative rock by an older stepbrother, Even moved towards vocals as a teen. Even performed in the band Rivendale. They produced an extended play called Portrait of Shadows. Schmitt, on the other hand, started on bass at the age of 12 and then branched out to guitar, performing in Colorado with As the Flood Waters Rose (later named the Autobiography).

Both bands played together often. As the Flood Waters Rose opened up for Rivendale at Rivendale's album release at Grandpa's Music Box in Thornton. After leaving As the Flood Waters Rose, Schmitt started recording his own song on GarageBand, which he later asked Even to participate in creating. As both bands broke up for the members' departure for college, Even and Schmitt started Breathe Carolina.

Gossip and It's Classy, Not Classic (2007–08)

Breathe Carolina started in 2007 with Denver, Colorado natives Kyle Even and David Schmitt recording songs on the music-creating software GarageBand for fun. They created a MySpace profile, gaining over 10,000 song plays in 2008 and accumulating over 30 million plays during 2009. The name Breathe Carolina came from a dream that Schmitt had in 9th grade, about calming down a woman named Carolina. Soon afterwards, Even quit his job as a photographer to tour with the group full-time. Their first EP, Gossip, was released as an iTunes exclusive on November 26, 2007. It was self-released and has since been removed from the store.

Breathe Carolina recorded their first album using GarageBand, and signed with Rise Records before its release. The album introduced a few new songs that were not featured on Gossip, including "The Introduction", "No Vacancy", "Show Me Yours", "Classified", "That's Classy", and "You Wish". "Don't Forget: Lock The Door" was the only track from the Gossip EP that is not featured on the LP. The album was released on September 16, 2008, and was followed by a tour to promote the album. Breathe Carolina headlined their tour with Every Avenue, Brokencyde, and the Morning Of. While on "The Delicious Tour", they announced that they would be making a music video for "Diamonds". The video has appearances made by Millionaires, as well as Josh White from Umbrella Clothing and This City Is Burning Records.

Hello Fascination (2009–10)

A few months after the release of Punk Goes Pop 2, shortly after they finished the 2009 "Take Action Tour", Breathe Carolina announced that they had left Rise Records and have signed with Fearless Records and would be in the studio recording their upcoming album Hello Fascination with Mike Green. On June 29, 2009, the first song from Hello Fascination was released: "Welcome To Savannah", which was a featured song on the Fearless Records Summer Sampler 2009. New songs were also played during Vans Warped Tour 2009. These songs include "I.D.G.A.F." and "Hello Fascination". On July 27, 2009, the second song from Hello Fascination was released, the title track of the album. Hello Fascination was released on August 18, 2009.

In September 2009, the band announced they will be headlining the EZ Bronz Tour. Also in 2009, Breathe Carolina was featured on the cover of Substream Music Press, which also features an interview with Even and Schmitt. Toward the end of October 2009, Hello Fascination was released in Japan. The Japanese edition of the album includes a bonus song entitled "Have You Ever Danced?". This song features David Strauchman (Every Avenue), Jeffree Star, and Austin Carlile (of Of Mice & Men).

Breathe Carolina's "Hello Fascination" is the featured track playing in the background of the current promos for NBC's The Jay Leno Show, airing from September 14, 2009. The track was also featured in MTV's The City. Their song "I'm The Type Of Person To Take It Personal" was also featured in The City's Season Finale in December 2009. Breathe Carolina released a music video for "Hello Fascination" on February 3, 2010. The music video is directed by Spence Nicholsen.

The deluxe edition of Hello Fascination was released on July 6. On June 23, Schmitt and Even launched a clothing line called Blush, and "I.D.G.A.F." was announced as the band's next single, with the music video being released on July 30, 2010. The duo played on the Altec Lansing stage during Vans Warped Tour 2010 and covered the song "Down" by Jay Sean for the compilation album Punk Goes Pop 3 that was released on November 2, 2010.

On November 21, 2010, Breathe Carolina released their second ever Christmas-themed song for a part on the 'Tis the Season to Be Fearless compilation album. The song is titled "Mile-High Christmas". The first Christmas song they released was "Snowed In", which was the first song ever recorded and released by the duo. "Snowed In" was initially recorded when the band first recorded their Gossip EP, but the song was decided not to be included on the EP by the time of its release.

Hell Is What You Make It (2010–12)

On December 22, 2010, Fearless Records posted a video featuring a 30-second preview of the track "Blackout". Recording for the third studio album took place in early 2011. On April 28, 2011, it was announced that the album would be titled Hell Is What You Make It, and that its scheduled release date would be on July 12, 2011. A promotional website for the album launched a 40-second video containing a preview of the track "Wooly".

The album's first single, "Blackout", was available for streaming via MTV Buzzworthy on June 13, 2011, and was available for digital download the following day. On June 16, the duo performed "Blackout" for a nationwide television presentation on Jimmy Kimmel Live. A music video for the track was shot in Los Angeles, California on July 1 and 2, and was released on the duo's official Vevo page on YouTube on September 20. The song has since become the duo's most commercially successful single to date, peaking within the charts of Canada, New Zealand, Scotland, the United Kingdom and United States, while also being certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling more than 500,000 copies. Two other tracks from the album, "Wooly" and "Sweat It Out", were available for streaming prior to the album's release. The group participated on the Scream It Like You Mean It 2011 tour during that summer to promote the album. An extended play titled Blackout: The Remixes EP was released on September 27 via iTunes.

On December 23, 2011, it was announced that the duo signed with Columbia Records. Throughout early 2012, the duo participated in the Blackout Forever tour alongside the Ready Set with guest appearances by Ashland HIGH and Matt Toka. On February 22, it was announced that the duo would be participating in the 2012 Warped Tour. The duo have also since re-entered the studio to continue writing and recording new tracks. The duo announced that a new single, "Hit and Run", which was to be released on May 22, 2012. Schmitt also announced that a music video for the song is in production, saying that the video will actually have a concept, unlike their previous videos. The song premiered via Alternative Press on May 21, while being available for digital download the following day. The duo also contributed to the compilation album Punk Goes Pop 5 with their cover of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean".

Savages and style and lineup changes (2013–2016)

Breathe Carolina has finished working on their fourth studio album and have said that they are going back to their old roots for the record. On March 25, 2013, it was announced that the title of the new album is Savages. On July 6, 2013, the duo released their first mixtape Bangers for free download via Sol Republic. Following its release the band toured North America with bands We the Kings, the Ready Set and rapper T. Mills.

On October 15, 2013 David Schmitt made an announcement via Alternative Press discussing founding member Kyle Even's departure from the band, due to his new responsibilities as a father.

The band later on the "We are Savages Tour" have toured with Jonny Craig, Mod Sun and Ghost Town. The band has released three singles from their album Savages, the title track as the first buzz single with a lyric video, "Sellouts" featuring Danny Worsnop from Asking Alexandria as the official lead, with a music video and "Bang It Out".

A music video of the song "Chasing Hearts" featuring Tyler Carter from metalcore band Issues was released on 18 April 2014, followed by another for the song "Collide" featuring clips from their album's release party in Los Angeles, California.

On 15 April 2014 "Savages" was released.

September 9, 2014, Breathe Carolina released a collaboration with Candyland, "Find Someone", on SoundCloud.

On June 9, 2015, the band released a single featuring APEK titled "Anywhere But Home".

On November 20, 2015 the band released a single in collaboration with artist Ryos and featuring vocalist KARRA titled "More Than Ever", and was published by Dutch record label Spinnin' Records. On December 13, 2015, the duo released a collaboration with producer, Shanahan on UK-based Enhanced Music which featured HALIENE. The single went on to receive 2.5 million Spotify streams and enjoyed heavy rotation on BPM (Sirius XM) Dance radio. On February 2, 2016, the band released a single featuring Angelika Vee titled "RUINS".

Sleepless EP and Oh So Hard EP (2016–present)

After releasing numerous singles and remixes, Breathe Carolina announced on July 19, 2016, via their Twitter page, a new EP entitled "Sleepless" to be released in September 16, 2016. First single off the EP, "See the Sky" with Jay Cosmic and featuring Haliene, as a music video. And the second single is "Stable" with Crossnaders. Another four track EP, Oh So Hard, as a free download on Spinnin' Premium on 23 December 2016. It comprised the tracks "Talisman", "Atlantis", "Break Of Dawn" and "Get Down".

Musical style and arrangement

Breathe Carolina is an electropop, EDM and electronic rock band. Post-hardcore influence also exists, evident by the use of screamed vocals and breakdowns. These elements, however, are usually kept to a minimum while electronic elements take precedence. This fusion of post-hardcore characteristics and dance-oriented electronica has led the group to be labeled crunkcore as well. Also typical of crunkcore is the prevalent use of Auto-Tune and vocoders on Schmitt's vocals.

Their entire first EP, Gossip, and debut full-length album, It's Classy, Not Classic, were recorded using only the computer program GarageBand. The group did not produce music via studio until the recording of Hello Fascination, which can be considered the group's first true studio album.

Although much instrumentation is added through programming, typical instruments are also present in their music in select songs; Schmitt provides lead singing vocals for the duo along with playing the guitar and drums while Even provides unclean vocals and occasional cleans in their newer material. Live performances by Breathe Carolina usually consist of an arrangement of three extra members providing keyboards, keytars, drums, guitars and bass. During most live sets, Joshua Aragon plays guitar (when necessary) and performs backing vocals while Eric Armenta provides drums on a standard drum kit all while Schmitt and Even perform the clean and unclean vocal positions respectively.

Since the departure of Kyle Even and the addition of guitarist Tommy Cooperman, Breathe Carolina is a four piece band. Live performances consist of the four members and occasional extra musicians like Michael Naran (currently in the Ready Set and Sparks the Rescue). When they perform the song "Sellouts" live, Breathe Carolina is joined by a screaming vocalist, usually the lead vocalist from another band, while Luis Bonet and Tommy Cooperman perform guitar parts. Tommy also performs screaming vocals for other songs, like "Hello Fascination" on tour.