MewithoutYou

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mewithoutYou
Background information
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Genre(s)	Post-hardcore Indie Experimental
Years active	2001 - present
Label(s)	Tooth & Nail Records
Website	mewithoutYou official site
Members
Aaron Weiss Michael Weiss Christopher Kleinberg Greg Jehanian Richard Mazzotta
Former members
Daniel Pishock Ray Tadeo

The correct title of this article is mewithoutYou. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.

mewithoutYou is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Post-hardcore/Indie Rock band. The band consists of singer Aaron Weiss, guitarists Michael Weiss and Christopher Kleinberg, bassist Greg Jehanian and drummer Richard Mazzotta. Though hard to truly classify their sound, mewithoutYou's music is generally dominated by Weiss, who, rather than singing, talks in dramatic, varied tones and pitches. The band also usually strays from typical song structures featuring effects-laden guitar, a very prominent and distorted bass tone and bombastic rhythms, resulting in a rather experimental style. Most recently the band has incorporated more varied instrumentation including various percussion instruments, accordion, and harp.

The band's Christian roots can be seen through the biblical allusions found throughout the songs as well as interviews with the band members. In one example Weiss calls Jesus his rabbi.

The band was originally conceived as a side project. The Weiss brothers and Kleinberg were playing together in another band called The Operation (who released one album, 2001's There Is Hope for a Tree Cut Down, on Takehold Records), but Aaron wanted to start another band to experiment with new sounds. After picking up Rick Mazzotta on drums and Ray Tadeo on bass, Kleinberg and the Weiss brothers released their first EP (I Never Said That I Was Brave) in 2001 and shortly thereafter signed to Tooth & Nail Records after a show at Cornerstone Festival the same year. Around this time Tadeo had moved on, Daniel Pishock picked up as the bass player, and The Operation disbanded soon afterward. mewithoutYou's debut full-length album, [A→B] Life, was released in 2002. The band garnered more attention for their sophomore release, 2004's Catch for Us the Foxes, which was produced by Brad Wood (Smashing Pumpkins, Fire Theft). In December of 2004 Pishock had made a decision to retire as the bassist for the band and former Operation frontman, Greg Jehanian, was selected to replace him. In 2005, mewithoutYou won mtvU's "Left Field" award for most original artist. Their third album, Brother, Sister, again produced by Wood, was released on September 26th, 2006.

mewithoutYou has released videos for "January 1979" and "Paper Hanger", from Catch for Us the Foxes, with the help of Red Van Pictures this past year, and one for "Bullet to Binary" from [A→B] Life. On October 11th, 2006, they announced they have shot a video for "Nice and Blue, Pt. 2" from Brother, Sister in Philidelphia, directed by Shane Drake.

(L to R) Greg Jehanian, Richard Mazzotta, and Aaron Weiss during a mewithoutYou show at the Green Door in the Bricktown district of Oklahoma City on March 19, 2005.