| Victims of Circumstance | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Clearwater, Florida, USA |
| Genres | Ska, Punk rock |
| Labels | Financial Records |
| Website | Official website |
| Members | |
| Michael Smyth Glenn Stewart Lindsey Pittard Jason Atheney Devin Johnson |
|
| Past members | |
| Alan Garcia Brandon Vola Aaron Zylman |
|
Contents |
In the fall of 2005, two veterans of the Florida Punk Scene, guitarist Michael Smyth and drummer Glenn Stewart were working together at a debt settlement company. With passions leaning very heavily toward their music, the two found themselves returning to the office late at night to work on songs that would eventually become Do It Yourself, their debut album.
“We had a full drum kit, a half-stack, a bass rig and half-a-dozen guitars lying around Glenn’s office”, says Smyth. “We just kept the door closed and no one seemed to notice.” Eventually the boys converted some unused warehouse space next to their office into a rehearsal room. The space grew and grew until they had actually built a state-of-the- art recording studio.
Buoyed by that accomplishment and with a ton of original songs, they decided it was time to form a band and flesh out all their creative ideas. They brought in bassist Lindsey Pittard, trombonist Aaron Zylman and saxophonist Jay Atheney to complete the line-up. Blending pop hooks with their distinctive fusion of punk and ska, Victims of Circumstance quickly made a name for themselves among the sea of Central Florida bands, both for their energetic performances and their commitment to the local scene.
Victims of Circumstance tapped the talents of Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones to produce their debut album Do It Yourself. When the album was released in late 2007, the band locked down airplay on over 150 independent and college radio stations and a healthy amount of media attention.
Hot on the heels of the in-store date, the boys set out on a tour of the East Coast that Culminated with an invitation to perform with The Mighty Mighty Bosstones at the revival of their legendary Hometown Throwdown in Boston. Road warriors in spirit, they continued to play in the Southeast throughout 2008 opening for bands such as Time Again, Whole Wheat Bread, The Toasters, Everybody Out!, Mustard Plug, and The Voodoo Glow Skulls.
Under the watchful eye of producer Steve Foote of Big D and The Kids Table, the band entered the studio again in early 2009 to record the follow-up. The resulting album, Roll the Dice, released on August 25, 2009 on Financial Records.
"Victims of Circumstance manage to keep things entertaining with their total disregard of genre boundaries." ReadJunk.com
"(Victims of circumstance are) both catchy and clever." Punk News.org
In the 2009 Best of the Bay, Victims of Circumstance were credited with having the Best Horn Section in a Ska Band, stating "Jay Atheney (sax) and Aaron Zylmam (trombone) produces happy-go-lucky melodies and syncopated harmonies with the best of them."
Punknews.org <http://www.punknews.org/review/7030> Read Junk.com <http://www.readjunk.com/reviews/cdreviews/victims-of-circumstance-do-it-yourself-1/> Creative Loafing <http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/page?oid=792428>