Against The Current (often abbreviated as ATC) is an American three-piece pop-rock band based in Poughkeepsie, New York, consisting of lead vocalist Chrissy Costanza, guitarist and backing vocalist Dan Gow, and drummer Will Ferri. The band was formed in 2011, when the members met through a mutual friend. The group gained a sizeable YouTube following after posting their covers of popular songs by a variety of different artists on their channel.
The band's first EP, Infinity, was released on May 2014 under their own label. They began touring around the world in May 2014, and had toured with various bands including Metro Station and Set It Off. In support of their second EP, Gravity, they embarked on their first headlining world tour, Gravity World Tour, on August 2015. They are currently signed to Fueled by Ramen. Their debut full length album, In Our Bones was released on May 20, 2016. They will be on Vans Warped Tour during the summer of 2016. Following Warped Tour, they will be supporting their debut album on the In Our Bones World Tour, which begins in September of 2016.
History
Background and origins
Against the Current was formed in early 2011 by Dan Gow, Will Ferri, and Jeremy Rompala. Current lead singer Chrissy Costanza later joined the band in the summer of 2011 after being introduced to Gow, Ferri, and Rompala through a mutual friend.
The group achieved a considerable amount of fame on YouTube after posting covers of various songs and working with other famous YouTube cover artists such as Alex Goot and Sam Tsui.
Music history
On May 27, 2014, Against the Current released their debut EP, Infinity, which they released independently through online distribution. The extended play, Infinity, charted at No. 28 on the Heatseekers Albums. They began touring in support of the release of Infinity throughout most of 2014. That same year, the band also released Infinity (The Acoustic Sessions), an EP containing acoustic versions of the songs from Infinity. After various tours, they entered the studio to record their next EP, Gravity which released on February 17th, 2015. The EP featured six songs, and included a guest appearance from Taka of One OK Rock on the song '"Dreaming Alone". It charted on four Billboard magazine charts, while it peaked on the Alternative Albums, Independent Albums, Rock Albums and Heatseekers Albums charts, peaking at 23, 27, 36 and 4, respectively. Like with Infinity, the band released an acoustic version of the EP, titled Gravity (The Acoustic Sessions: Volume II).
On February 23, 2015, the band signed to the label. Fueled by Ramen[1] They stated that their goal in signing to the label was to "enhance the band's strengths and pop rock mentality", and avoid any major change in terms of their image as a band. On the matter, Costanza said, “Finally with a label, we had time and [money] to make multiple trips to L.A. We had all of these other elements to play with and access to all of these amazing writers, and that really taught us so much about songwriting, since we hadn’t really done any co-writing sessions before. Ramen supplied these connections we’d have no access to.” Costanza also notes the band's usage of social media as a key factor in their growing popularity and success. “If you decide to boycott social media, you’re only really going to hurt yourself. It’s an enormously awesome, unparallelled tool and a great way to cultivate a universal connection. It’s a huge resource you can’t compete with anymore.”
After the Glamour Kills Spring Break '15 tour, the group entered the studio to record their debut full-length album, which was estimated to release in early 2016. On May 22, 2015, the band announced their first headling world tour, called the Gravity World Tour in support of their newly released EP. The tour was over the span of 3 months, from August 2015 to November 2015, playing shows in various continents including North America, Asia, and Europe.
On August 1, 2015, Against the Current announced that they had finished recording their first full-length album. On February 6th, 2016, Against the Current announced their upcoming album's name, In Our Bones, as well as the release date, May 20, 2016. Their first studio album, In Our Bones, has been called "pop-rock perfection" at Alternative Press. Costanza talked to Alternative Press about how their major label debut felt with the studio sessions, any musical differences between their two independently made extended plays and this album, what messages they want to convey with their recording, and if there were any risky moments.
After they released In Our Bones album, it peaked at top 2 in Philippines International Chart it is because of their single Running with the Wild Things. Myx VJ's shows the throwback when Against the Current being interviewed by MYX Philippines.
Musical style
The band has stated via an interview with Fuse that it is difficult to give themselves a genre. With Infinity, the EP contained strong and catchy pop songs, with mild pop-rock undertones. Lead singer Chrissy Costanza has stated that on their EP, Gravity, each song has a different type of genre, such as the song "Gravity" being more pop, "Fireproof" being more rock, and "Talk" being more pop-punk. On their single, "Outsiders", the band shows them becoming more rock than pop, as the song displays strong pop-rock influences. On their debut album, In Our Bones, their music style becomes more varied, including fast-paced, energetic punk and pop rock ("Running With The Wild Things", "One More Weekend", "Blood Like Gasoline") and cascading melodic electronic pop ballads ("In Our Bones", "Brighter", "Demons").
Members
Current members
Christina "Chrissy" Costanza – lead vocals (2011–present) Daniel "Dan" Gow – lead guitar, backing vocals (2011–present) William "Will" Ferri – drums, keyboards, backing vocals (2011–present)
Former members
Jeremy Rompala – rhythm guitar, piano (2011–2014)
Supporting members
Joe Simmons – bass guitar, backing vocals (2011–2014 full member) (2014–present touring member) Mike Naran – rhythm guitar (2015) Roo Buxton – rhythm guitar, keyboards (2015–present touring member)
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions[2] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billboard 200 (US) | Alternative Albums (US) | Top Rock Albums (US) | Top Heatseekers (US) | Canadian Albums Chart | British Albums Chart | ||
| In Our Bones |
|
181[4] | 15[5] | 20[6] | 2[7] | 83[8] | 28[9] |
EPs
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alternative Albums (US) | Independent Albums (US) | Top Rock Albums (US) | Top Heatseekers (US) | ||
| Infinity |
|
— | — | — | 28[11] |
| Infinity (The Acoustic Sessions) |
|
— | — | — | — |
| Gravity |
|
23 | 27 | 36 | 4 |
| Gravity (The Acoustic Sessions, Vol. II) |
|
— | — | — | — |
Singles
| Year | Song Title |
|---|---|
| 2012 | Thinking |
| 2013 | Guessing |
| Closer, Faster | |
| 2014 | Infinity |
| Another You (Another Way) | |
| Something You Need | |
| Gravity | |
| Comeback Kid | |
| 2015 | Talk |
| Paralyzed | |
| Dreaming Alone | |
| Outsiders | |
| Brighter | |
| Fireproof | |
| 2016 | Running with the Wild Things |
| Runaway | |
| Wasteland |
Covers
| Title | Artists | Original Artists | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Good Time" | Against The Current, Alex Goot | Owl City, Carly Rae Jepsen | |
| "Not Over You" | Against The Current, Alex Goot | Gavin DeGraw | |
| "Catch My Breath" | Against The Current, Alex Goot | Kelly Clarkson | |
| "All I Want For Christmas Is You" | Against The Current | Mariah Carey | |
| "Beauty and a Beat" | Against The Current, Alex Goot, Kurt Hugo Schneider | Justin Bieber | |
| "Heart Attack" | Against The Current, Sam Tsui, Kurt Hugo Schneider | Demi Lovato | |
| "Chocolate" | Against The Current | The 1975 | |
| "Red" | Against The Current | Taylor Swift | |
| "All Too Well" | Against The Current | ||
| "She Looks So Perfect" | Against The Current | 5 Seconds of Summer | |
| "Ain't It Fun" | Against The Current | Paramore | |
| "I Wanna Get Better" | Against The Current, The Ready Set | Bleachers | |
| "Stay High" | Against The Current, Kurt Hugo Schneider | Tove Lo | |
| "Uptown Funk" | Against The Current, Set It Off | Mark Ronson, Bruno Mars | |
| "Shake It Off" | Against The Current, Kurt Hugo Schneider | Taylor Swift | |
| "See You Again" | Against The Current | Charlie Puth, Wiz Khalifa | |
| "The Beginning" | Against The Current | One Ok Rock | |
| "I Really Like You" | Against The Current, MAX, Kurt Hugo Schneider | Carly Rae Jepsen | |
| "Water Under the Bridge" | Against The Current | Adele | |
| "Find You" | Against The Current, Alex Goot | Zedd | |
| "Sorry" | Against The Current, Alex Goot, Kurt Hugo Schneider | Justin Bieber |
Concert tours
2014
Sink or Swim Tour – with King The Kid, Once Upon A Time, This Is All Now (headliner, 5/17-6/8, United States, Canada) 2014 Asia/Australia Tour – with Alex Goot (co-headliner, 8/19-9/5, Asia and Australia) The Outsiders Tour – with The Ready Set, Metro Station, The Downtown Fiction (supporting act, 10/21-11/22, United States) Against The Current Tour (headliner, 12/1-12/8, United Kingdom)
2015
Glamour Kills Spring Break '15 Tour – with Set It Off, As It Is, ROAM (co-headliner, 2/26-4/8, United States) Gravity World Tour - with Vinyl Theatre (headliner, 8/26-11/21, Asia, Europe, North America)
2016
Back to the Future Hearts Tour – with All Time Low, Good Charlotte (supporting act, 2/10-2/16, UK) Running with the Wild Things Tour – with ROAM (headliner, 2/20-3/21, Europe) Vans Warped Tour In Our Bones World Tour (headliner, begins in September) In Our Bones World Tour in Asia such as in South Korea, Singapore, Philippines, Japan, China, and Taiwan.(This upcoming September 2016)
Trivia
- Jeremy, Dan, and Will unofficially formed the band in 4th grade.
- All three current members of the band go by their nicknames rather than their full names
- The band's analog manager is Mike Ferri, the older brother of Will Ferri.
- The band name was inspired by one of Chrissy's favorite quotes, "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." (from The Great Gatsby)
References
- ↑ "Signing Story: Against The Curren" at Music Connetion
- ↑ "Awards - Against The Current at AllMusic
- ↑ "In Our Bones – Album by Against The Current" at Apple
- ↑ "Against The Current - Chart history (Billboard 200)" at Prometheus Global Media
- ↑ "Against The Current - Chart history (Alternative Albums)" at Prometheus Global Media
- ↑ "Against The Current – Chart history (Rock Albums)" at Prometheus Global Media
- ↑ "Against The Current – Chart history (Heatseekers Albums)" at Prometheus Global Media
- ↑ "Against The Current – Chart history (Canadian Albums)" at Prometheus Global Media
- ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100 - 27 May 2016 - 02 Jun 2016" at Official Charts Company
- ↑ "Infinity – EP by Against The Current" at Apple
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBillboard Biz Only - ↑ "Infinity (The Acoustic Sessions) – EP by Against The Current" at Apple
- ↑ "Gravity – EP by Against The Current" at Apple
- ↑ "Gravity (The Acoustic Sessions, Vol. II) – EP by Against The Current" at [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc. Apple