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From First to Last
From First to Last photo from KERRANG! magazine.
Background information
Origin	Orlando, Florida, USA1
Genre(s)	Post-hardcore
Years active	2002–present
Label(s)	Suretone (2007–present) Interscope (2007–present) Capitol (2006) Epitaph (2004–2006) Four Leaf Recordings (2003)
Associated acts	The Color of Violence Limp Bizkit Sonny Moore The New Tragic Phil Gorgeous The Holy Mountain City Archaic
Website	www.fromfirsttolast.com
Members
Matt Good Travis Richter Derek Bloom Matt Manning Chris Lent
Former members
Sonny Moore Jon Weisberg Phillip Reardon Joey Antillion Greg Taylor

From First to Last (sometimes shortened to FFTL) is an American post-hardcore band. The band released their first EP titled Aesthetic in 2003 with vocalist Phillip Reardon, followed by Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count in 2004 and Heroine in 2006, both with vocalist Sonny Moore. Following the departure of Moore in February 2007 to work on his solo electro/alternative project, the band added permanent bassist Matt Manning and Matt Good moved to lead vocals/guitar. They released a self-titled album in 2008, and are currently signed to Suretone Records.²

History

Formation and Aesthetic (2002–2003)

In November 1999, From First to Last was formed by Matt Good, Steve Pullman, and Scott Oord under the name First Too Last.¹ Eventually a solid lineup was formed, featuring lead vocalist Phillip Reardon, guitarist/vocals Matt Good, guitarist/vocals Travis Richter, bassist Joey Antillion and drummer Greg Taylor (then replaced by Derek Bloom). In 2003, the band released their debut EP Aesthetic on Four Leaf Recordings. By the end of the year they had signed to Epitaph Records.¹

Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has A Bodycount (2004-2005)

After the Aesthetic EP, Reardon was missing by the time they were going to record Dear Diary he had called the band and said he was to be leaving for personal reasons. By this time Jon Weisberg had joined on bass. The band wanted to move Matt Good to lead vocals. However, Good was reluctant to take on both lead vocal and guitar duties. He wanted From First to Last to have a frontman, to connect with the crowd better. Using the social networking site MySpace, Good came in contact with a guitarist from California by the name of Sonny Moore. Moore flew to Georgia, where Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount was being recorded, and was set to be the band's second guitarist. However, when the other band members heard Moore singing "Featuring Some of Your Favorite Words", they decided that he was much better suited for lead singer than guitarist.³

Matt Good and Travis Richter wrote the album in two weeks. Moore came in after the music was tracked and completed the vocals. Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count was released on June 29, 2004.

From late May to mid June 2005, From First to Last participated in the "Dead by Dawn" tour with bands Emanuel, Halifax and He is Legend.⁴

Heroine (2006)

The band went to Radio Star Studios in Weed, California to record their second album, produced by Ross Robinson.⁵ As their previous bassist Weisberg had been formally asked to leave the band due to internal conflicts, producer Ross Robinson asked Wes Borland, former Limp Bizkit guitarist, to play bass on the album.¹ Borland later played several tours with the band. The album was released on March 21, 2006. It opened on the Billboard albums chart at #25, with first-week sales of over 33,000.⁶ Shortly thereafter in April, they signed to major label Capitol Records¹ after bidding between that label and Warner Bros..⁶

From mid March to mid May the band toured alongside Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights, and The All-American Rejects for the "Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour" in support of their release Heroine.⁷

FFTL then did a short European Tour with various bands. The band then played several dates on the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, but were forced to drop out due to surgical removal of a nodule on Moore's vocal cords. He received his second nodule surgery in early July (his first being in May 2005).⁸⁸ Following his recovery, From First to Last went out on the "World Championship Tour" supporting Atreyu along with Every Time I Die and Chiodos. While on that tour, Moore once again had vocal cord problems and had to leave the tour. The band had planned to have guitarists Good and Richter cover Moore's vocal duties for the duration of the tour until singer of Chiodos, Craig Owens, insisted that he provide lead vocals for their sets.⁹ Atreyu eventually forced From First to Last to drop the tour.¹ The band later explained, "Our plan to enable us to play the rest of the tour was disregarded and as our crew was setting up for the show in Worcester, MA we were informed that we were being kicked off of the tour. Understand that it was not our choice to leave this tour... we were forced to leave."⁹ Atreyu then returned a statement about the controversy concerning From First to Last's departure, saying, "They couldn't perform as FFTL and are no longer on this tour."¹⁰

Self-titled album (2007–present)

Main article: From First to Last (album)

In February 2007, lead singer Moore left From First to Last to pursue a solo career.¹¹ His decision to leave was based on his urge to create his own music, and also on the fact that singing in FFTL was putting an immense strain on his vocal cords. Moore has posted new recordings on his myspace and is part of a group of artists that form, modernorganic.

After vocalist Moore's departure, FFTL faced a crisis. Their label, Capitol Records, had dropped them due to financial problems. Without a vocalist, label, permanent bassist, or any money, the band almost split. Guitarist/Vocalist Matt Good, however, decided to take on lead vocals while still providing a backup guitar role. The band also quickly picked up Matt Manning to become full-time bassist .The band then spent their remaining money on a studio in which to continue work on their already-written third album.

The remaining members of From First to Last finished a headlining tour from July 21 through August 5 with guests Alesana, Vanna, Brighten, and Four Year Strong. Shortly before recording another album, the band played for a portion of the Show Must Go On tour with Hawthorne Heights, Secondhand Serenade, Powerspace, and Brighten, but later cancelled their dates on the last part of the tour to open for Deftones on a separate Canadian tour.

After completing a full mix of their new material, FFTL was picked up by Suretone Records. Shortly after they re-entered the studio to record their album again, this time with a professional crew and better quality.

The band recorded for the second time in Los Angeles, with producer Josh Abraham and seasoned engineer Ryan Williams. They have since completed the album, and at midnight on November 14, 2007, they released a new song, Two as One, on their Myspace account.

FFTL began their fall headlining tour, RATHER BE SLAYIN' N00BZ, starting November 1st with guests blessthefall, A Skylit Drive, and Vanna. Around the middle of the tour, the guests changed to Envy On The Coast, Pierce The Veil, Four Year Strong, Mayday Parade, Mia Medusa, and A Day To Die For.¹²

On November 29, FFTL announced they were going to be a part of the 2008 Hot Topic Take Action Tour. They played at the MTV Winter Valencia in Spain on March 6. On December 6, they announced they were going to be part of the 2008 Vans Warped Tour.

On May 6, 2008, FFTL released their self-titled album, and starting June 20, hit the road on the Vans Warped Tour for its entirety.¹³

On June 28, FFTL updated their band members section of their MySpace, making Chris Lent a full time member.

From the end of September to October 12, From First to Last played on The Blackout's "Sleep All Day, Party All Night" tour in the UK, along with The Medic Droid and We are the Ocean.

Band members

Current members

• Matt Good – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (2002–present)
• Travis Richter – lead guitar, backing vocals (2002–present)
• Matt Manning – bass guitar, backing vocals ,live guitars (2007–present)
• Chris Lent – keyboard,live bass (2007–present)
• Derek Bloom – drums, percussion (2002–present)

Touring members

• Rick Patterson – guitar (2003–2004)
• Alicia Simmons-Way – bass (2005)
• Wes Borland – bass (on Heroine and live shows, 2005–2006)

Former members

First too Last Former

• Steve Pullman – drums,keyboards (1999–2002)
• Scott "Skaught" Oord – bass (1999–2002)

From First to Last Former

• Greg Taylor – drums (2002) - now playing drums on Tampa,Florida Hardcore band The Holy Mountain
• Joey Antillion – bass (2002–2003)
• Phillip Reardon – lead vocals (2002–2003) - now his started a rap solo project called Phil Gorgeous and being a vocalist on Los Angeles,California Post Hardcore band The New Tragic with Dallas Taylor of Maylene and the Sons of Disaster
• Jon Weisberg – bass (2003–2005) - now playing bass on Los Angeles,California Alternative Rock band City Archaic
• Sonny Moore – lead vocals, live guitars (2004–2007) - now his started a electro/alternative solo project

The Color of Violence

The Color of Violence is a band featuring guitarist/vocalist Travis Richter and drummer Derek Bloom, going by the names of Guy Nucleosity and Glitch Killgasm, respectively.¹⁴

Discography

Albums

• Aesthetic (Four Leaf Recordings, June 24, 2003)
• Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count (Epitaph, June 29, 2004)
• Heroine (Epitaph, March 21, 2006) US #25
• From First to Last (Suretone/Interscope), May 6, 2008) US #81

Singles

Compilation appearances

• "X12 Days of XXXMASX" – Released on A Santa Cause - It's A Punk Rock Christmas compilation album, in 2003. Featuring old vocalist Phil Reardon.
• "Ride the Wings of Pestilence" was featured on Punk-O-Rama Vol. 9.
• "Failure by Designer Jeans" – Non-album track, included on the Punk-O-Rama Vol. 10 compilation album, in 2005 (Also released on Smartpunk.com's Music on the Brain volume 1).
• "Christmassacre" – Found on the Taste of Christmas compilation album (2005). This song does not feature Moore's vocals, as he was recovering from a vocal node surgery at the time. Instead, Good took over lead vocals while Richter did guitar.
• "The Latest Plague (Atticus Ross Remix)" – Found on the Epitaph: Unsound Vol. 1 compilation album in 2006.

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (July 2008)

• Matt has been known to use a turquoise Gibson Landmark Series, a classic Gibson Nighthawk, a Gibson Les Paul, an ESP EC1000, an ESP M1000, and an Ibanez Iceman.
• From First To Last have an official fan club called the KVLT which requires payment but members have exclusive benefits.
• The group has made remixes of Hell March and HM2 (originating from Command & Conquer: Red Alert and Red Alert 2 respectively, and originally done by Frank Klepacki) for EA's latest C&C installment, Red Alert 3.

References

External links

• Modlife site
• Official site
• Official message boards
• Video-interview with From First to Last on revu.nl, recorded on the Pinkpop Festival, May 30 2008
• From First to Last Interview at Armed&Ready
• 2008 Live Photos
• From First to Last at MySpace
• FFTL's channel at YouTube
• Interscope Records Profile