Held. release their debut album, GREY, today via MNRK Heavy (listen here), and they’re about to take it on the road. The band have confirmed an opening slot on Underoath’s U.S. Summer tour, with Neverender Festival and Furnace Fest performances locked in for the fall.
Recorded with producer Jon Markson (Drug Church, Drain, The Story So Far) at The Animal Farm in Flemington, N.J., GREY hits with the urgency of a debut and the confidence of seasoned lifers operating at the peak of their powers. Across eleven tracks, Held., featuring The Sleeping’s Douglas Robinson and Salvatore Mignano, and Coheed and Cambria’s Josh Eppard, balance crushing intensity with deeply personal songwriting, earning praise from Alternative Press, Kerrang!, Revolver, Vice, and Rock Sound.
Eppard, in a recent interview with Rock Sound, said: “I’ve had opportunities over the years and been asked to play in things, and I never bit. It just never felt right. This felt right. And a big ingredient of that is that it’s something new. We’re carving out a place together, and nobody knows what it is, and there’s something really exciting about that.”
Robinson sheds light on the album title and how it factors into the themes behind the album, saying: “Our emotions flow and often crash throughout the channels of our mind, body, and spirit. Sometimes, there is complete darkness and sometimes there is beauty and vibrance. This record acknowledges all frequencies while reluctantly existing in the space between.”
The band has simultaneously released a visualizer for “WAVES OF FIRE” (which received its Worldwide premiere on Monday as Tune Of The Week on BBC Radio 1’s Rock show with Daniel P. Carter), following previously released videos for “NEW YOU ANTHEM” featuring Frank Iero, “CONSTANT TENSION,” and “KNIFEPOINT” featuring Graham Sayle of High Vis. Directed by Adam Thomson, the trio of interconnected clips creates a short film centred around the mysterious pyramid from the band’s logo.
GREY is available now, on multiple physical formats and digitally: https://held.ffm.to/grey.
Held. US tour dates:
June 8 Jacksonville, FL The Albatross
June 9 Savannah, GA Victory North
June 10 Greenville, SC Radio Room
June 11 Greensboro, NC Hangar 1819
June 14 Richmond, VA The Canal Club
June 15 Asheville, NC Eulogy
June 18 Albany, NY Empire Live *
July 13 Gainesville, FL The Wooly
July 14 Pensacola FL Vinyl Music Hall
July 15 Baton Rouge, LA Chelsea’s Live
July 17 San Antonio, TX Paper Tiger
July 18 Corpus Christi, TX House of Rock
July 20 Lubbock, TX Jake’s Sports Café
July 22 El Paso, TX Lowbrow Palace
July 23 Tucson, AZ 191 Toole
July 27 Flagstaff, AZ Hotel Monte Vista
July 28 Albuquerque, NM Launchpad
July 29 Roswell, NM The Liberty
July 31 Tulsa, OK Vanguard
August 1 Springfield, MO The Riff
August 2 Memphis, TN 1884 Lounge
October 4 Santa Ana, CA Neverender Festival
October 10 Birmingham, AL Furnace Fest
All non-festival dates with Underoath except:
*-w/Thrice and Hey Mercedes
Held. is Douglas Robinson (vocals/guitar), Sal Mignano (bass), and Josh Eppard (drums).
