ASKING ALEXANDRIA

Asking Alexandria are a metalcore band from York, North Yorkshire, England. Founded in 2008 when Ben Bruce (lead guitar) contacted old friends after moving back to England from Dubai, the current line-up consists of Bruce, Danny Worsnop, (vocals), Cameron Liddell (rhythm guitar), Sam Bettley (bass guitar) and James Cassells (drums).

Inception (2003–2008)

Asking Alexandria have their roots in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where guitarist Ben Bruce started a band under the name Amongst Us. Formed in the autumn of 2003, Amongst Us fused both melodic and hardcore vocals with heavier and more hardcore musical elements. Just as the band started to mature, some members were soon to leave Dubai and changes were in order. Bruce stated in an interview with Gulf News that "it was ridiculously hard to keep the band going because people come and go in Dubai".^[1] With new members and material, a decision was made to change their name, settling on End of Reason, stylized as EndofReason. It has been explained that the name was born whilst endlessly trying to find a name with reason and meaning without any success.^[2]
Sometime after changing to the new name, the band put out a self-released EP entitled Tomorrow.Hope.Goodbye.^[3] In its aftermath, the band started to gain national as well as some international success, resulting in record deals with Sonicwave International in the United States and Hangmans Joke Recordings in the United Kingdom.^[1] It also contributed to opening slots for bands such as Boy Sets Fire, Pennywise and Jimmy Eat World, amongst others.^[4] Whilst slowly increasing in popularity and recognition, the band decided in 2007 to yet again change their name, this time to Asking Alexandria. This decision was made due to the band sharing the name EndofReason with other bands.^[5]
On June 25, 2007, the previous arrangement of Asking Alexandria released a full length album entitled The Irony of Your Perfection through Hangmans Joke Recordings.^[6] Following the release was a nine-month United Kingdom tour, as well as shows in Germany, Holland, France and Sweden.^[1] Bruce has in an interview at later date that the band known as Asking Alexandria from Dubai only had the name for about a month before breaking up,^[7] hence the band never went on this tour.

 Asking Alexandria (2008–2010)

In 2008. Bruce moved back to England, leaving behind his former band and its members. However, Bruce had no plans on putting his musical career on hold and not long after the move he started fresh with new members, though deciding to carry on the name Asking Alexandria. Bruce has stated on the bands MySpace-blog that he was the inventor of the name, that he still liked it and the meaning/reason behind the name still remained, and therefore decided to continue it in the new project.^[8] He also made an emphasised statement in the same blog post that the current Asking Alexandria is not the same band that wrote The Irony of Your Perfection, in style nor members,^[8] hence they are two different bands, despite their links. The same statement has been emphasised in interviews and is known to still be a confusion to many fans.
Asking Alexandria, since their formation in 2008, has had some member changes, including going from a six-piece to a five-piece, with the departure of synthist Ryan Binns.^[9] The last known change was bassist Sam Bettley, who replaced Joe Lancaster in January 2009.^[10] Lancaster played his final show at Fibbers in their hometown York on January 4.^[11] The band left for the United States the day after the show to promote their music through shows, as well as to prepare for the recording of their debut album.

After spending 2008 and the first months of 2009 to spread the name Asking Alexandria through relentless touring, the band recorded their debut studio album between May 19 and June 16 at The Foundation Recording Studios in Connersville, Indiana, United States with producer Joey Sturgis.^[7] They announced their signing with Sumerian Records shortly after finishing the recording and released their debut album, Stand Up and Scream, on September 15, 2009 through their new label. The band spent 2009 focusing on gaining success in the United States, touring with well known bands such as Alesana, Enter Shikari, The Bled and Evergreen Terrace, amongst others.

 Reckless and Relentless (2010–present)

On December 22, 2009, Asking Alexandria announced that they were to start the works on a second album in January. They informed that they were to be streaming parts of the writing process through a webcam feed via the service Stickam. It was also announced that they will be entering the studio on September 1, again with producer Joey Sturgis, who produced the band's debut album Stand Up and Scream. Then they later announced that they will be able to get into the studio June 22, 2010 on their official twitter. The band has later confirmed through an interview with Shred News that the album is scheduled for release in early 2011 and is planned to contain 12 new songs.^[12] In the same interview, the band informed that a title was not yet established. In a later interview they stated that the album will probably be able to pre order in November of 2010, and available in early 2011. One song, "Breathless" has been played live already and can be found on youtube. Danny has also released lyrics from the new album onto his Twitter account, although he did not state what songs they were from.
In March, Asking Alexandria are heading out on their first tour of the new year, yet again making their way through North America, this time with Attack Attack!, Breathe Carolina, label mates I See Stars, and the up-and-coming British metalcore act Bury Tomorrow. The tour carries through to April, ending ten days before heading off for their debut European tour with Dance Gavin Dance and In Fear and Faith, which includes an appearance at the annual Groezrock festival. They are however scheduled to discontinue the European tour two days before it originally ends to make an appearance at The Bamboozle festival in New Jersey.
Asking Alexandria announced their first ever headlining tour on March 2, taking place in North America through May to the start of June. We Came as Romans, From First to Last, Our Last Night and A Bullet for Pretty Boy were announced as supporting bands for the tour. Bruce has also confirmed through an interview with Inside Heavy that the band will be making an appearance at the Thrash and Burn summer festival tour as a main support act, though not revealing details on which other bands that will be participating.^[13] It was later revealed that Asking Alexandria would co-headline the Thrash and Burn Tour 2010 alongside Born of Osiris. When asked if they were to participate on Warped Tour, they stated that the band was saving it for next year.
Asking Alexandria has since they embarked on The Thrash and Burn Tour performed a new song entitled "Breathless", which is to be featured on their second studio album Reckless and Relentless. It has been announced that Asking Alexandria will be featured on Punk Goes Pop 3, covering "Right Now (Na Na Na)" by Akon.^[14]

 Members

Current members

• Danny Worsnop - vocals, synthesizer, keyboard, piano (2008–present)
• Ben Bruce - lead guitar, backing vocals, programming (2008–present)
• Cameron Liddell - rhythm guitar (2008–present)
• Sam Bettley - bass guitar (2009–present)
• James Cassells - drums, percussion (2008–present)

Former members

• Joe Lancaster - bass guitar (2008–2009)
• Ryan Binns - synthesizer, keyboards, piano, programming (2008)