Project 86
is an American [1] [2] [3] [4] rock band from Orange County, California consisting of Andrew Schwab (vocals), Randy Torres (guitar), Steven Dail (bass).
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PROJECT 86 TICKETS
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History
Project 86
/ Drawing Black Lines
In 1998, Project 86 released its self-titled debut on
BEC Recordings, a sublabel of
Tooth & Nail Records. After releasing their second album,
Drawing Black Lines
(2000), the band was taken on by
Atlantic Records. However, the promised re-release of
Drawing Black Lines
went from being a full-fledged reissue with new artwork and three new songs to nothing more than a bare bones repackaging of the exact same album.
At the outset of its career, Project 86 shared the stage with
P.O.D. and
Blindside on the Warriors Tour. Project, as the band is often referred to by its fans, has played mainstage at both Christian and secular festivals, and has shared the stage with other well known bands such as
Queensrÿche,
Linkin Park,
Dead Poetic,
Sevendust,
Finger Eleven, etc.
Also, influential rocker
Marilyn Manson took interest in the band and had the song "P.S.", originally released on
Drawing Black Lines
, added to the
Blair Witch 2
soundtrack. Probably due to this interest, Project 86 became a higher priority for Atlantic. Atlantic made Project's next musical foray a priority, entitled
Truthless Heroes
(2002), which, though proving to be the band's most popular outing yet, was released amidst some turmoil.
Truthless Heroes
Over the course of recording
Truthless Heroes
(which took around a year to complete) Project 86 had increasing difficulty with its management, as well as both record labels.This wore the band down immensely, but by the time the album was finished, the difficulty seemed to have worked out in Project's favor - Atlantic bought all of Tooth & Nail's remaining rights to the band and released "
Hollow Again", the first single from the album, on mainstream radio. "Hollow Again" peaked at #35 on the
Billboard Mainstream Rock charts in 2003.
[5]
Songs to Burn Your Bridges By
Project 86's fourth album,
Songs to Burn Your Bridges By
, was released independently on October 30, 2003 and went on to sell relatively well despite being sold only at shows and online. In 2004, they re-signed to Tooth & Nail and
Songs to Burn Your Bridges By
was reissued with three new songs and completely new artwork on June 1, 2004. It includes the hit single and video
Spy Hunter.
...And the Rest Will Follow
In February 2005, Project 86 announced that they were working on a new album. The title was later announced as
...And The Rest Will Follow
. The band spent several weeks in the studio with
Garth Richardson over the summer recording the material. The album was released on September 27, 2005, and sold 8,000 copies in its first week, more than any other Project 86 album before it.
On
December 17,
2006, The band released remixes of "Something We Can't Be" and "From December" on their MySpace page. "From December" features
Joseph Milligan from
Anberlin on guitar and
Aaron Gillespie from
UnderOath on drums. "Something We Can't Be" was remixed by
The Echoing Green. Both tracks were rereleased on
The Kane Mutiny EP
on November 27, 2007.
Rival Factions
The band's sixth full-length album,
Rival Factions
, was released on June 19, 2007 through Tooth & Nail Records. Jason Gerken (
Shiner,
Open Hand) played drums on the album. The album was released in stores with artwork (by Don Clark) that varied when viewed through different colored jewel cases, and on
iTunes with a bonus song not available on the standard release.
The Kane Mutiny EP
/ This Time of Year EP
Project 86 released a digital EP, titled
The Kane Mutiny EP
, on November 27, 2007 via
iTunes. The EP contained two new tracks (one is "The Kane Mutiny," which was the bonus track for their previous release on iTunes), one cover ("Lucretia, My Reflection" by
The Sisters of Mercy), and two remixes. This iTunes exclusive was released at 8:15 pm on release day due to an iTunes issue.
The EP's five tracks would be included the single "This Time of Year", which had previously been released for the Christmas season of 2007. Unlike
The Kane Mutiny EP
of 2007,
This Time of Year
was made available in both digital and physical formats. The EP was released on November 25.
Current Events / Picket Fence Cartel
On May 20, 2009, they uploaded two songs from
Picket Fence Cartel
, "Destroyer" and "Dark Angel Dragnet" to their MySpace page, for streaming play. They also added the song from 'Picket Fence Cartel' called "A John Hancock With The Safety Off" on June 4, 2009.
[6] On June 26, 2009, Project 86 kicked off the "Scream the Prayer" tour with Haste the Day, The Chariot and more.
[7] However, longtime guitarist Randy Torres was not present on the tour. As a temporary replacement, bassist Steven Dail took over guitar duties while a fill-in bass player named Alex performed on the Scream The Prayer tour.
[8] Their seventh studio album
Picket Fence Cartel was released on July 14, 2009.
Christianity
Since their breakout album, Truthless Heros, the band has made many comments about this topic (referenced in this section)
Drawing Black Lines
, vocalist Andrew Schwab stated in an interview with
HM Magazine
:
"We ARE a Christian band, but not a typical Christian band. We're totally committed to the ministry. And we're never going to stop saying that. And we'll never make the excuse... The emphasis is that we want to be something fresh. We want to be to the secular market a band, that when you get to know the band better you can see a little bit more than in other secular bands." ." [9]
Andrew Schwab also said on Indievision in July 2009: " All I can say is this: We have never wanted to use God to market our band. And we have always tried to present God in a creative way, so as to not alienate anyone who does not subscribe to our belief system. We have definitely never wanted to appeal solely to the Christian market."
[10]
In a quote from a later myspace blog post Andrew Schwab stated: "My beliefs speak for themselves and I can speak for myself about them but that doesn't mean I ascribe any sort of title to my art or my band. That opens a crazy can of worms and we want to stay out of the fray of that whole argument.. We also can't stand the idea of using God as a marketing tool. Its a road that leads to nowhere but an argument. Just let us be who we are and let our art speak for itself because it will."
[11]
Members
Current
- Andrew Schwab (1996–present) – vocals
- Randy Torres (1996–present) – guitar, piano, background vocals
- Steven Dail (1998–present) – bass, guitar, background vocals
Former
- Alex Albert (1996–2007) – drums
Past temporary members
- Cory Edelman (2001) – guitar (No Innocent Victim)
- Ethan Luck (1996–98) – bass (Demon Hunter, Relient K)
Discography
Studio Albums
- Project 86
(June 16, 1998)
- Drawing Black Lines
(March 21, 2000)
- Truthless Heroes
(September 24, 2002) U.S. #146 [12]
- Songs to Burn Your Bridges By
(October 30, 2003 / June 1, 2004)
- ...And the Rest Will Follow
(September 27, 2005) U.S. #131
- Rival Factions
(June 19, 2007) U.S. #124
- Picket Fence Cartel
(July 14, 2009) [13] U.S. #137
EPs
- The Kane Mutiny EP
(November 27, 2007)
- This Time of Year EP
(November 18, 2008)
Music videos
- (from Project 86)
- (from Drawing Black Lines)
- (from Songs to Burn Your Bridges By)
- (from ...And the Rest Will Follow)
- (from Rival Factions)
References
- evangelsociety.org/miller/musicphilosophypf.html
- blogs/myspace.com/andrewschwab
- http://www.decapolis.com/musicreviews/interviews/project86.shtml
- "Project 86 - Interview before Drawing Black Lines was released", Treble Bandoppler, ''HM Magazine''
- Billboard Singles, Allmusic
- http://www.myspace.com/project86
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIlvYOa8o_g
- http://jesusfreakhideout.com/concerts/Project86ScreamThePrayerTour2009.asp
- "Project 86 - Interview before Drawing Black Lines was released", Treble Bandoppler, ''HM Magazine''.
- www.indievision.com/wordpress/2009/07/13/an-interview-with-andrew-schwab-of-project-86/
- http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=10085890&blogID=501265469
- Billboard, Allmusic
- http://jesusfreakhideout.com/releases/default.asp