Islander (band)

Islander
Islander live performance
Background information
Origin	Greenville, South Carolina
Genres	Nu metal, rap metal, alternative metal, post-hardcore
Years active	2011 (2011)–present
Labels	Victory
Associated acts	Bad Brains, Love and Death, P.O.D.
Members	Mikey Carvajal Chris Doot Eric Frazier J.R. Bareis
Past members	Andrew Murphy

Islander is an American nu metal band from Greenville, South Carolina, founded in 2011. The group signed with Victory Records and have released an EP, Pains (2013), and a studio album, Violence & Destruction (2014).

History

The members of Islander hail from Greenville, South Carolina,^[1][2] and have been playing together since 2006; they broke up for a few years, and got together under the name Islander in 2011.^[3][4][5]

Islander vocalist Mikey Carvajal is a participant in the non-profit outreach organization known as The Whosoevers. Some members of the organization include Brian "Head" Welch and Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu of Korn, Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D., Lacey Sturm formerly of Flyleaf, and motivational speaker Ryan Ries.^[6]

Music

Victory Records signed the band in September 2013, and soon released their first EP, Pains.^[1] Their first studio album, Violence & Destruction, was released the next year.^[7] The music's material was generally well received by critic,^[7][8] as the first single off the Violence & Destruction, entitled "Coconut Dracula", has since been a very successful active rock radio hit, as it hit number 23 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. On January 13 the band released a music video for the track "New Wave", the highly anticipated follow-up to the "Coconut Dracula" music video, which premiered exclusively on Billboard (magazine).^[9]

The band has received support from many big names within the music community. Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D. said "New school band with old school soul and passion. Keep your eyes and ears open for these guys!".^[10] Brian "Head" Welch of Korn tweeted "A new, unique, sick band with a CD full of great songs. You won’t regret getting Islander.".^[11] Lacey Sturm of the band Flyleaf tweeted a picture of Violence & Destruction stating it was her "New Favorite Music".^[12]

Touring

The group has toured with the Mayhem Festival 2014 tour including label acts Emmure, Ill Niño and Wretched in the summer of 2014, followed by tours with Otherwise, Nonpoint and Pop Evil in the fall.^[13] Islander began a U.S. tour with Papa Roach, Seether and Kyng in early January of 2015, extending until early February, after which they will be playing spring/summer festivals such as Carolina Rebellion, Rock on the Range, and Welcome to Rockville with artists such as Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Korn and Linkin Park.^{[14][15][16][17]}

Style

Their music is similar to the Deftones, Glassjaw, Korn, Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit, Mudvayne, P.O.D., and Rage Against the Machine because musically it is alternative metal and rap metal, all the while, having a nu metal sound featuring the subsets alternative rock, hard rock and post-hardcore.^{[5][7][8][18][19][20][21][22][23]} Chino Moreno, Daryl Palumbo, Jonathan Davis, Fred Durst, Chad Gray, Sonny Sandoval, Zack de la Rocha are cited as vocal similarities to Carvajal.^{[5][7][8][18][20][21][23]}

Members

• Current^[24]
  • Mikey Carvajal (Michael Shane Carvajal) – lead vocals
  • Chris Doot (Christopher Robert Doot) – bass guitar
  • Eric Frazier (Eric Lee Frazier) – drums
  • J.R. Bareis – lead guitar

  Former members

  • Andrew Murphy (Andrew Benjamin Murphy) – lead guitar

Discography

• Violence & Destruction (Victory, 2014)
• Pains. (EP, Victory, 2013)

Singles

References

External links

• HM Magazine
• Islander at Victory Records
• Islander on YouTube
• Islander on Facebook
• Islander on Instagram
• Islander on Twitter