BIO

Some bands make music. Other bands shape a whole new sound, bring things to a separate level and strive to forge a new genre in creating living, breathing encounters with the mind, body and soul. Pennsylvania’s This Day Forward borrows all the traditional stylings of hardcore, metal, and rock, then wields them together with childlike passion, profound imagery and astute precision. They are the yinyang of hardcore, forever in search of the perfect equilibrium of darkness and light.

Formed in ’96, This Day Forward began as an after school hobby among five guys with similar musical tastes. Featuring vocalist Mike Shaw, bassist Gary Shaw, then guitarists Randy Wehrs and Mike Golen and drummer Colin Frangicetto, they were the un-band with a bassist who’d never actually touched a bass before and a drummer who only owned a set but actually played guitar.

Like most new comers, things pieced themselves together in the practice room. The band organized shows wherever a drum kit could fit and soon enough TDF were opening small D.I.Y. hardcore-punk rock shows at all the local venues. Before long the band had forged a dedicated following, each show garnering a better turnout than the last.

As the band grew in age and maturity their song writing naturally progressed and eventually TDF grew into their own sound. Conceptual, illustrious dreamscapes of love, hate, regret and fear cocooned in scream soaked deliveries, and racy mood fluctuations.

Compared to such bands as Shai Hulud, At the Drive in, Converge and even the Deftones, TDF compose an intriguing concoction of sounds and atmosphere where labels and categories seem to melt away.

The band wrote some new tunes and hooked up with ultra-indie Break Even Records. The label pressed 1000 copies of their full-length debut, Fragments Of An Untold Story Born By Shunning The Opportunity. Littered with grating breaks, cut throat anger and a rusted mailbox brand of sound quality, the disc was raw adrenaline and sold out after only a few months. The band became cult favorites, their name persistently floating around the scene even if most hadn’t actually heard their stuff. Eventually Eulogy Records courted the band and thus came TDF’s The Transient Effects Of Light On Water. A big break came at Hell fest 2000 where hundreds of kids got their first glimpse of these upcoming emometalcore deities who then returned the following year to an audience who knew them by name. Two years later and the band has an entirely new guitar section along with a brand new record and sound. With new members and long time friends Vadim Taver (formerly of A Life Once Lost) and Brendan Ekstrom (of 200 North), TDF has its most powerful line up to date.

TDF are hardcore oddballs of sorts lumped into a genre they don’t quite belong but wouldn’t fit better anywhere else. Kairos (Eulogy Records), which translates to “The time is ripe for change…” in Greek, poised itself to daintily shred all in change’s path. Picking up where the Transient record left off, but this outing saw the band in a more mature light – still churning aggressive hardcore while highlighting it’s heaviness with an ultra-passionate rock flavor like no other.

After completing numerous US tours and releasing three acclaimed records, This Day Forward joined Equal Vision Records in late 2002. After teaming up with EVR, the band wrote and recorded their third full-length effort entitled, In Response. Without a doubt their most urgent and self-defining release to date, In Response shows the band ever evolving while still maintaining a sound that is all their own. Musically the new record delivers all the punch of previous releases, but the material is much more focused than the older efforts. In Response showcases the band’s diversity by intertwining hardcore and rock music like never before.

This Day Forward ended their career in December 2003 with four shows, the final being held at The First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia – a cherished local music venue where they had played early in their career.

Although This Day Forward seems to be permanently defunct, nearly all of its members have been involved in various musical endeavors since 2003. Mike Shaw is currently involved in two music projects called Chateau with former guitarist Mike Golen. He also has done guest vocals for local band A Trunk Full of Dead Bodies on an unreleased track called “The First to Dance” which also featured Rachel Minton of Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer. Gary is back being a student, while Frangicetto and Ekstrom have teamed up with former Saosin vocalist Anthony Green to form the well-known Circa Survive. Vadim Taver has teamed up in an acoustic emo side project called Superstitions of the Sky with former Hot Cross guitarist Josh Jakubowsky even before This Day Forward had split up. He also appeared on Hot Cross’s 2004 EP Fair Trades and Farewells and played guitar and performed lead vocals in Marigold before leaving and moving to California in summer 2006.