The Ohio four-piece
Dead Poetic defines their own punk style fitted for the new millennium.
Brandon Rike (vocals),
Zach Miles (guitar),
Josh Shellabarger (drums), and
Chad Shellabarger (bass) formed
Dead Poetic in 1997 and found themselves following the word of God inside their own hard rock presentation. Tooth & Nail took a liking to them in fall 2000 after the band played and pushed their name at the Cornerstone 2000 Festival. A year later,
Dead Poetic struck a deal and landed studio time with
Barry Poynter (
the Juliana Theory,
Furthermore) at Poynter Studio in Little Rock, AK. The fruit of those sessions resulted in
Dead Poetic's debut album,
Four Wall Blackmail, in spring 2002.
New Medicines appeared in 2004, after which the group basically self-destructed. But
Dead Poetic would soon be reborn with only
Rike and
Miles carrying over. Rounding them out were drummer
Jesse Sprinkle (formerly of
Demon Hunter,
Poor Old Lu) and
Beloved alums, guitarist
Dusty Redmon and bassist
John Brehm. Working with the production team of
Chino Moreno (
the Deftones) and
Aaron Sprinkle (
Jesse's brother), the alternative rock-inspired
Vices surfaced on Halloween 2006. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide