August Burns Red is an American metalcore band from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The band's musical characteristics are based on varied tempo breakdowns and riffs, as well as lyrics focusing on the depression, tolerance, and death of a loved one. On October 6, 2017, the band released a new album called "Phantom Anthem".
August Burns Red was formed in March 2003 when the group members were in high school. After a few local shows in Lancaster, they record their first EP, entitled Fragile Looks After All , which was released on the CI Records label in 2004>. Singer Jon Hershey finally leaves the band the same year, which leads Josh McManness to replace him. After a few months of concerts with McManness, August Burns Red signed to the Solid State Records label in 2005>.
Their name is August Burns Red from an incident that happened to their first singer, John Hersey: "in high school, one of their best friends, John Hersey, who was also the singer at the time, was dating a girl whose name was August. When the relationship started to escalate, he ended it and instead of being sad, his ex-girlfriend was very very upset. John, at that time, had a dog called Redd, a red-haired Irish setter. She came to his house and set fire to his live dog in the doghouse. The name comes from the local newspaper's title the next day: August Burns Red. " However, in an interview with the Beehave webzine, the JB guitarist admits it was a story built from scratch.
McManness left the group in 2006, tired of the tours. He is replaced by Jake Luhrs. Bassist Jordan Tuscan also left the band in the same year and for similar reasons to McManness. He is replaced by bassist Dustin Davidson, a friend of the band. The second album of the group, Messengers , is published on June 19, 2007, and ranks 81> in the ranking Billboard 200>.