MEET THE BAND: Rick Ksiazka (bass), Christopher Marinin (vocals, guitar), Elliot Barry (guitar), Chad Martin (drums)
DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK: Formed by singer Christopher Marinin in 2009, the Missing had released several independent albums on Ghost Laboratories Records before taking a hiatus. Just about two years ago, Marinin reunited the group to play its first show in more than a year. The group's music had just become available on iTunes for the very first time, and Marinin jumpstarted his former record label, Ghost Laboratories. He had also created a content production company called Stevens Creative. At the time, the band started to write and record a new album. The group scrapped those initial sessions and went to the studio with a new batch of songs. The resulting album, They Live, will arrive on all digital formats and have a physical release limited to 200 discs. "The music was tracked live to capture our personality and live sound after our last two full-lengths being products of an overly produced sound," says Marinin.
THE SOBERING TRUTH: The group recorded the album at Brainchild Recording Studio with engineer and musician Noah Buchanan (Solipsist, Nunslaughter, Blood on the Dance Floor). It's the band's first album in five years and the first album Marinin has cut since becoming sober. "Now well over three years sober, I am comfortable in my skin and facing all my past ghosts," says Marinin. "It's been a strange transition, sometimes tougher life into sobriety, but my past is my past."
WHY YOU SHOULD HEAR THEM: Album opener, "They Live," sets the tone for the album. It features snarling guitars and gang-style vocals as Marinin & Co. deliver the kind of melodic hardcore that crossed over in the late '90s and early 2000s. "I used to write about my drug addicted exes, my struggles with depression and confidence, body dysmorphic disorder and so on," says Marinin. "This album captures so much more than we originally set out. The tone captures the emotional state I was in while spending time in Los Angeles a few years back. It really made an impact on me and the direction of the music I wanted to go in. As we were putting this together, writing, re-writing, I realized that lyrically this was the toughest challenge I ever had. I wanted it to be personal but relatable for anyone with addiction issues. It was a pleasure writing this album with the guys, and the most challenging and exciting time I've had writing in15 years."
WHERE YOU CAN HEAR THEM:
WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM: The Missing performs with the Traveler and the Promise Hero at 9 p.m. on Friday, June 9, at the Euclid Tavern.
