BEARTOOTH is hitting the road this summer with the VANS WARPED TOUR and they want to see YOU there! The band and is giving away two tickets to each stop on the tour. Just choose a date you want, get a friend ready, and enter HERE for your chance to win!
BEARTOOTH's new EP, Disgusting dropped on June 10 on Red Bull Records. Available for purchase HERE.
The Vans Warped Tour
June 13 - Houston, TX @ Reliant Center Parking Lot
June 14 - San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center
June 15 - Dallas, TX @ Gexa Energy Pavilion
June 17 - Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater
June 18 - Mesa, AZ @ Quail Run Park
June 19 - Las Vegas, NV @ UNLV Intramural Fields
June 20 - Pomona, CA @ Pomona Fairplex
June 21 - Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheater
June 22 - Ventura, CA @ Seaside Park
June 25 - Chula Vista, CA @ Sleep Train Amphitheater
June 26 - Wheatland, CA @ Sleep Train Amphitheater
June 28 - Southeast Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheater
June 29 - Portland, OR @ Portland Expo Center Parking Lot
July 02 - Maryland Heights, MO @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
July 03 - Noblesville, IN @ Klipsich Music Center
July 04 - Toronto, ON @ Molson Canadian Amphitheater
July 05 - Montreal, QB @ Parterre Ile Notre Dame at Parc Jean-Drapeau
July 06 - Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Concert Center
July 08 - Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
July 09 - Scranton, PA @ Toyota Pavilion
July 10 - Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center (formerly Comcast Center)
July 11 - Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna Bank Center
July 12 - Wantagh, NY @ Nikon at Jones Beach Amphitheater
July 13 - Hartford, CT @ Xfinity Theatre (formerly Comcast Theatre)
July 15 - Burgettstown, PA @ First Niagara Pavilion
July 16 - Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
July 17 - Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blosson Music Center
July 18 - Auburn Hills, MI @ The Palace of Auburn Hills
July 19 - Tinley Park, IL @ First Midwestern Bank Amphitheater
July 20 - Shakopee, MN @ Canterbury Park
July 22 - Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
July 23 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach
July 24 - Atlanta, GA @ Aaron's Amphitheater at Lakewood
July 25 - St. Petersburg, FL @ Vinoy Park
July 26 - West Palm Beach, FL @ Cruzan Amphitheater
July 27 - Orlando, FL @ Central Florida Fairgrounds
July 28 - Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion Charlotte
July 29 - Nashville, TN @ Tennessee State Fairgrounds
July 30 - Milwaukee, WI @ Marcus Amphitheater
July 31 - Bonner Springs, KS @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheater
August 02 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Utah State Fairpark
August 03 - Denver, CO @ Sports Authority Field at Mile High
BEARTOOTH
- Caleb Shomo – Vocals
- Taylor Lumley – Guitar
- Kamron Bradbury – Guitar
- Oshie Bichar – Bass
- Brandon Mullins – Drums
Collaborative creativity can produce brilliant results, but
there’s something almost otherworldly about what emerges from the minds of
remarkably talented artists, the types who’ve lived many lifetimes in a short
period, left to his/her own devices.
As much as Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure or
Foo Fighters (particularly on that first album) are considered “bands,” they
brazenly exhibit the precision focused passion of a specific person; often a
person bursting at the seams with something to say. BEARTOOTH began and in many
ways continues to be such an artist, bubbling forth from the psyche, soul and
complex emotions buried in multitalented instrumentalist and songwriter, Caleb
Shomo.
Beartooth shares equal inspiration with brutal metalcore as
with old-school punk like The Ramones and the bombastic theatricality of Queen.
The end result is a back-to-basics hardcore stomp that would get the crowd
moving at a Hatebreed or Terror show, interspersed with a steadfast
determination to give equal importance to anthemic choruses.
“I made the whole thing by myself,” Shomo says of
Beartooth’s debut album, Disgusting, out this summer via Red Bull Records. “The
entire record, front to back, is literally a reflection of my thoughts and my
mental well-being at the time. The album captures every end of the spectrum
musically and lyrically. I know this may sound strange, but I didn’t write
these songs for anyone. I wrote just to write. All of the songs came about
because I love writing Beartooth songs. That’s it. I won’t record a song unless
I love it, unless I believe in it. I won’t do it any other way.”
Beartooth began as a way to blow off steam and add another
dimension to Shomo’s genre-hopping creative output. He and his hometown friends
started jamming; hanging out in his Columbus, OH basement studio and playing
music for fun. They released an EP, Sick, and then hit the road, touring North
America and Europe with genre titans August Burns Red, Memphis May Fire, The
Word Alive and Of Mice & Men, among others. In between support slots the
five-piece headlined everything from basements to club shows, building a strong
and devoted following. The EP’s accompanying music videos for “Go Be the Voice”
and “I Have a Problem” (both live and traditional) quickly accumulated over one
million views, and set the stage for the band’s next endeavor, Disgusting.
While he’s still a very young guy, Shomo has lived a
lifetime in music already. He had already dabbled in a project with Escape The
Fate cofounder Max Green and Craig Mabbit (Blessthefall/The World Alive/Escape
The Fate) when he was called up to play keyboards for Attack Attack! at the
tender age of 15. The band incited polarizing dialogue around the world, as
some jaded critics mocked the group’s “crabcore” while a new generation of fans
followed the band’s every move. Shomo found himself thrust into the front man
role following a series of lineup changes. The band’s self-titled sophomore
effort debuted at #1 on
Billboard’s Independent chart.
Shomo was handling all of the vocals, programming and
production duties by the time the third Attack Attack! album, This Means War,
broke into the Top 10. The record sold 17,000 copies in its first week,
debuting at #8 on the Billboard Top 200.
Battling the same type of depression, anxiety and
overindulgence as many of his fans, Shomo bowed out of Attack Attack! to get
himself together, and the songs on Disgusting reflect that struggle.
The closing track, “Sick and Disgusting,” is so personal
that Shomo has trouble listening to it. It an intense exploration of the mental
health issues he’s struggled with, not dissimilar from the raw truth found on
Korn’s eponymous debut, or Reznor’s open confessions of drug addiction
scattered throughout NIN. It’s a song where Shomo just hit “record” and let it
all pour out.
“I almost didn’t put it on the record because I felt
embarrassed about people hearing it,” Shomo confesses. “It is really intense
for me personally. It’s hard to explain but suffice it to say, it’s a song
about a lot of mental health things I’ve dealt with. If people listen to it and
understand where I’m coming from and respect it, great. If other people think I
sound like an idiot because I start crying in a song, I really don’t care. I
know how much I put into that song emotionally. It’s one straight take, all the
way through. I realized I’d be shorting myself if I didn’t put it on the
record.”
Alternatively, a track like “Beaten in Lips” is written from
Caleb’s experiences outside his own world: he wrote it from the perspective of
abused kids with nowhere to turn. “I was just thinking about it one day, about
how absolutely ridiculous it is that some parents abuse their children,” he
explains.
The album’s opening track, “The Lines,” hits a lighter note.
“We have been playing that song live before the record comes out. It’s just a
fun jam. I wanted to write riffs that people can jump around and get wild to.
People can sing at shows and have fun. I want people to sing along so they feel
as much a part of the show as we are. I love doing house shows, shows without
barricades, floor shows.”
There’s a beautiful authenticity in Beartooth’s music, which
is the result of Shomo’s simple intention: to write songs for the sake of
writing songs. There is nothing calculated, nothing crafted for mass appeal.
It’s simply the truth of his experiences and emotions.
“Red Bull Records has been backing whatever I want to do
musically which has been really refreshing,” Shomo says. “There isn’t any
pressure to write certain types of songs or to have a certain sound. I don’t go
into my basement thinking, ‘OK, I’ve got to write a pop song’ or ‘I’ve got to
write a heavy song.’ The songs are what they are and are allowed to be whatever
comes out of me. Beartooth ends up having a lot of dynamics that way, a lot of
diversity. I never want to make a record that becomes boring.”
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