The Appleseed Cast

The Appleseed Cast is an American rock band from Lawrence, Kansas. The band was founded in the early days of emo by singer-guitarist Christopher Crisci and drummer Louie Ruiz. The Appleseed Cast has steadily evolved over the release of eight full-length albums with Crisci serving as the main songwriter. The band has a frequently rotating lineup, with Crisci being the only consistent member since their conception. Currently the band's lineup includes Christopher Crisci, Ben Kimball, Nick Fredrickson and Sean Bergman.

The Appleseed Cast
At The Fillmore in Silver Spring, Maryland, September 2022
Background information
Origin	Lawrence, Kansas, U.S.
Genres	Emo[1] indie rock[2] post-rock[3]
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Deep Elm Tiger Style The Militia Group Graveface Vagrant
Members	Christopher Crisci Sean Bergman Ben Kimball Nick Fredrickson
Past members	Louie Ruiz Jason Wickersheim Josh "Cobra" Baruth Jordan Geiger Nathan "Jr." Richardson Aaron Coker Garrett Marsh Marc Young Aaron Pillar Nathan Whitman Ted Stevens John Momberg Lucas Oswald Taylor Holenbeck Nathan Wilder

Major acclaim first came in the early 2000s that earned them a 9.0 from Pitchfork for their album set Low Level Owl Vol I and Vol II.^[4] The band received further acclaim for their work on Two Conversations, Peregrine, Illumination Ritual, and others.

The Appleseed Cast performing in Silver Spring, Maryland, 2022

History

Formation and influences

Christopher Crisci, lead vocalist of The Appleseed Cast

The band formed in 1996 in Southern California with Crisci and Aaron Pillar joining bassist Jason Wickersheim and drummer Louie Ruiz under the name December's Tragic Drive (derived from lyrics of the song "Seven" by Sunny Day Real Estate). In 1998, the band – now billed as The Appleseed Cast – signed to Deep Elm Records out of New York before relocating to North Carolina, and released its debut album, The End of the Ring Wars.

Pillar said of the band's formative influences, "Early on, I think we were into Braid, Rainer Maria and Broken Hearts Are Blue, but I grew up on Depeche Mode and OMD, and I think [Crisci] was more of a Cure kid." He noted that the pair had a "shared love of [Led] Zeppelin and early U2", and cited Tortoise as an influence on the group throughout the 2000s.^[5]

Some viewed the album with dismay, regarding the more conventional song structures, the less diverse sonic palette and the personal, relationship-driven lyrics as a blatant retreat after the no-holds-barred experimentation, depth and complexity of Low Level Owl.^{[citation needed]} However, others saw the album as an assured combination of the driving emo-rock of their early work subtly embellished with elements of Low Level Owl's sound.^{[citation needed]}

Peregrine was released on March 21, 2006.^[6][7][8]

Sagarmatha

When asked about the next album (previously discussed as an entirely instrumental EP) in an interview, Crisci had said, "...the idea is still there, although it has morphed into a mostly instrumental full length.".^[9] Recording sessions were held at Black Lodge Recording in Eudora, Kansas, with Ed Rose after unsuccessful attempts to arrange John Congleton to helm the recording. Three demos, "Road West", "A Bright Light" and "Summer Before", were released as previews on the band's MySpace. Prior to the album's release, Coker left the band and Young followed shortly thereafter in order to return to school. They were replaced by John Momberg and Nate Whitman, respectively. Sagarmatha was released on February 17, 2009, and reached No. 25 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.

Low Level Owl Live and documentary

On November 23, 2009, it was announced that the group has signed to Graveface Records. On the same day, the site announced that The Appleseed Cast would be touring with labelmates Dreamend in spring 2010, "playing their two classic albums, Low Level Owl Volume I and II back-to-back, each in its entirety".^[10] The announcement also mentioned that the band would have a live album for sale on the tour.^[10] The band was to be the subject of a documentary to be produced by 7446 films in cooperation with Graveface Records.^[11] The film will document the band revisiting its seminal work, while also focusing on the creation of Low Level Owl Volume I and II and the journey the band has taken to this point. The film was scheduled for a 2012^{[needs update]} release.^[12]

Middle States EP and Illumination Ritual

In July 2010, Momberg posted on the band's Myspace page that they were working on new material. On February 26, 2011, Graveface Records uploaded a video to YouTube containing a sound clip from the demo of the title track for Middle States. In the video description, they announced that Middle States would be released on June 7, 2011.^[13]

As of May 2012, The Appleseed Cast had begun working on recording another full-length album. They posted demos from their upcoming album to Bandcamp.^[14][15] Illumination Ritual was released on April 23, 2013.

Musical style

Ryan De Freitas of Kerrang! said that the band's debut album The End of the Ring Wars "encapsulates the brilliance of early emo better than any other." He explained, "Emo in the '90s was about scrappy, emotionally fuelled imperfection and Ring Wars is the absolute peak of that. The lyrics are earnest, the songwriting is brilliant, and the production is a bit of a fucking mess. It’s everything that emo’s golden age was, and didn’t try to be anything that it wasn’t."^[16]

Discography

Studio albums

• The End of the Ring Wars (Deep Elm, 1998)
• Mare Vitalis (Deep Elm, 2000)
• Low Level Owl: Volume I (Deep Elm, 2001)
• Low Level Owl: Volume II (Deep Elm, 2001)
• Two Conversations (Tiger Style, 2003)
• Peregrine (The Militia Group, 2006)
• Sagarmatha (The Militia Group, 2009)
• Illumination Ritual (Graveface, 2013)
• The Fleeting Light of Impermanence (Graveface, 2019)

Singles and EPs

• Tale of the Aftermath b/w Skatter Ik Ignito 7" (1998)
• Split (with Planes Mistaken For Stars and Race Car Riot, Deep Elm Records, 1999)
• Lost Songs (Deep Elm Records, 2002)
• Middle States (Graveface Records, 2011)

Compilations

• A Million Miles Away - The Emo Diaries No. 2 (Deep Elm Records, 1998) - Max
• Deep Elm Unreleased No. 2 (Deep Elm Records, 2003) - The Spider Wall
• Emo Is Awesome / Emo Is Evil 1 (Deep Elm Records, 2003) - Reaction, Forever Longing Golden Sunsets ^[17]
• Emo Is Awesome / Emo Is Evil 2 (Deep Elm Records, 2004) - Marigold & Patchwork ^[18]
• Kumquats and Apricots (The Militia Group, 2006) - Here We Are (Family In The Hallway) , Mountain Halo
• Graveface Sampler (Graveface Records, 2007) - Sila's Knife