MewithoutYou

The band was originally conceived as a side project. The Weiss brothers and former guitarist Christopher Kleinberg were playing together in another band called The Operation with former bassist Greg Jehanian (who released one album and one EP, 2001's There Is Hope for a Tree Cut Down & 1999's Invisible Man EP, on Takehold Records), but Aaron wanted to start another band to experiment with new sounds. With the help of Ricky Mazzotta, Ray Taddeo, and his brother Mike, Aaron formed what is now formally known as mewithoutYou. At first the band was a four piece, with Aaron Weiss on both bass and vocals. However, in only a few months Chris Kleinberg joined to play third guitar. The band released their first EP, I Never Said That I Was Brave, in 2001 and shortly thereafter signed to Tooth & Nail Records after a show at Cornerstone Festival the same year. Around this time Taddeo had moved on, and Daniel Pishock was recruited to be the first official and permanent bass player of the band. The Operation disbanded soon afterward, and mewithoutYou's debut full-length album, [A→B] Life, was released in 2002. The band garnered more attention for their second release, 2004's Catch for Us the Foxes, which was produced by Brad Wood (Smashing Pumpkins, Sunny Day Real Estate). In December 2004 Pishock had made the decision to retire as the bassist to pursue a career in teaching and explore other musical ventures, and former Operation frontman, Greg Jehanian, was selected to replace him. In 2005, mewithoutYou won mtvU's "Left Field" award for most original artist for their song "January 1979." Their third album, Brother, Sister, again produced by Wood, was released on September 26, 2006. In late 2007, guitarist Christopher Kleinberg left the band, to pursue a degree in medicine. Pete Syoum filled in for guitar in the fall of 2007, but later Kleinberg returned to play with the band on their 2008 Summer tour since school was not in session. Kleinberg also played some shows on their It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright tour in June 2009.

Aaron Weiss provides narration for the Forgive Durden album entitled, "Razia's Shadow: A Musical" which was released October 28, 2008. He also provides vocals for Norma Jean's "Memphis Will Be Laid to Waste" and Indie/Hip Hop project Bella Futuro's "70 X 7".

In September 2008 the band finished recording the follow-up to Brother, Sister titled, It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright. The title of the album is taken from parable 518 in the book 'The Golden Words of a Sufi Sheikh" by Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. In this he writes, "It's all false, It's all a dream, It's all crazy, It's all over, It's all right, Let's see what's next".[8] This album is a departure from Weiss' trademark shouting and the band's rough grooves. The mile-a-minute rants, thick with lyrical angst, are traded for simpler melodies with lyrics about anthropomorphic food and animals. Similarly, the band has scaled back their edgier post-hardcore sound, at times trading riffs for chords and guitars for pianos and harp; a classical composer was called into their Fishtown, Philadelphia studio for various arrangements on several tracks.[9] The album was produced by Dan Smith (Danielson, Sufjan Stevens) and Brian McTear and was mixed by Brad Wood.

They toured in a 42-foot 1976 MC8 Charter bus that runs on vegetable oil. Before July 2009 the side of the bus read "Altus Bulldogs." The bus has since been painted in a light beige and marked with paintings of flowers and vines by artist Salihah Moore.[10] The bus broke down on June 3, 2016 while on tour in Canada.[11]

In a June 2011 interview with Kick/Snare/Hat, drummer Rickie Mazzotta stated that mewithoutYou were writing for their fifth studio album.[12] The band booked studio time at the end of July and through August. They also added Brandon Beaver of Buried Beds to play second guitar, as stated on their blog by Rickie Mazzotta.

On August 10, 2011, Chris Kleinberg and wife Nikki had a baby girl, Jubilee Kleinberg.[13] Because of this, the August 13 show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was one of the first local shows where Kleinberg did not join the band on stage since his departure in 2007.

Later in August, Mazzotta stated in an interview that the band has parted ways with Tooth & Nail Records due to perceived restrictions placed on them by the label. They hinted at starting their own label as they prepared to release their fifth album.[14] Other band members, however, expressed satisfaction with and gratitude and affection toward their old label, citing different reasons for ceasing to work with them: namely, having completed their contract, the declining relevance of record labels in the current music world, and simply the excitement to try something new.

In February 2011, Alternative Press announced that the band's fifth album was due spring 2012, and was produced by Daniel Smith. Thirteen songs were recorded in the studio sessions, eleven planned for the album and two b-sides.[15] On March 1, 2012 the band announced that their new album, titled Ten Stories, would be released on May 15, 2012.[16] It was revealed that Hayley Williams of Paramore provided guest vocals on one new track, rumored to be "Fox's Dream of the Log Flume" and "All Circles".[17] The album art, created by Vasily Kafanov, was revealed as a series of puzzle pieces through the band's Facebook page.[18]

On May 8, 2012 the band announced on their blog that a pre-release of Ten Stories could be streamed in its entirety on Spotify.[19]

In April 2014, the band announced that a Catch for Us the Foxes 10-year anniversary tour along the US west coast and south west[20] followed by a second leg along the US east coast.[21] In September 2014, the band announced a vinyl reissue of the album.[22]

In March 2015, the band announced that their 6th album will be released in the summer of 2015 on Run For Cover Records.[23] In April 2015, the band announced that they would support their album, Pale Horses, with a mid-year tour and revealed the album would be released on June 16.[24]

On August 11, 2017 the band announced an [A→B] Life 15th anniversary tour with Pianos Become the Teeth, Strawberry Girls and Slow Mass and also reissued the album on vinyl and cassette.[25]

On August 13, 2018, the band announced a new single, "Julia (or, 'Holy to the LORD' on the Bells of Horses)", from their seventh album. The single was released through Run For Cover Records. In an interview with Billboard the band confirmed that Will Yip would be returning to produce the new album.[26] The album, Untitled, was released on October 5, 2018.[27]

In October 2019, mewithoutYou announced through their social media that 2020 would be their final year as an active band.[28]

The Weiss brothers are of Jewish descent and their songs use Jewish, Muslim and Christian imagery to explore spiritual themes. The Weiss brothers were raised in a Sufi Muslim household: their mother had converted from the Episcopal church, and their father from Judaism.[29] Due to the Christian imagery in some of Aaron Weiss' lyrics, they have been categorized as a Christian band, although in interview, A. Weiss has stated he doesn't think they are a Christian band.[29] Their lyrics reflect a personal relationship with God, and are not evangelistic. Other lyrical themes explored include suffering and self-doubt.

Many lyrics are taken from the Sufi poet Rumi including the song "The Cure for Pain" from [A→B] Life and a line in the song "Seven Sisters" from Catch for Us the Foxes.[30]

In the song "Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt" from their album [A→B] Life, Aaron Weiss' lyrics are based on a poem from the metaphysical poet John Donne called "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning". John Donne wrote the poem to his wife to explain that there is no need for dreading their physical separation or distance because their spiritual love will always keep them together. The lines of the song "thy firmness makes my circle just, and makes me end where I begun" are directly from John Donne's poem where the conceit is revealed as a compass (Stanza 9, ll. 35–36). The title of the song itself is a Kurt Vonnegut quote.

The title of their second album Catch for Us the Foxes is taken directly from Song of Songs 2:15: "Catch for us the foxes, / the little foxes / that ruin the vineyards, / our vineyards that are in bloom" (New International Version).[31]

In a 2007 interview[32] singer Aaron Weiss states that the title of their third album, Brother, Sister, comes from a verse in the Bhagavad Gita.[33]

Their fourth album, It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright explores many of the teachings of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. The Sufi teacher's story of "The Fox, the Crow, and the Cookie" from My Love You My Children: 101 Stories for Children[34] is told as well as his story about the "King Beetle" from The Divine Luminous Wisdom that Dispels Darkness.[35] Other concepts from the teacher are explored in "Allah, Allah, Allah," about seeing God in every blade of grass and in "Fig with a Bellyache" dealing with sexual temptation from The Divine Luminous Wisdom and The Golden Words of a Sufi Sheikh.[36] Guitarist Mike Weiss has been quoted as saying that the themes of the album reflect a time in vocalist Aaron Weiss' life where he is "sort of revisiting [religion] and holding himself up to those teachings that there's no one religion that's going to be the only way to God [...]," reveals Weiss. "If you really want to just try to follow a path to God, I don't believe you need anything beyond [Jesus Christ], but it's just the idea that you're fixed on the only way and that everybody else is just completely misguided [...] that is a sort of obtuse attitude that can hurt your own spirit."[37]

Current

• Aaron Weiss – lead vocals, guitar, accordion (2001–present)
• Michael Weiss – guitar, keyboards, vocals (2001–present)
• Rickie Mazzotta – drums (2001–present)
• Greg Jehanian – bass guitar, vocals (2004–2016, 2018–present)
• Brandon Beaver – guitar, vocals (2012–present)[38]

Former

• Dominic Angelella – bass, vocals (2016-2018)
• Christopher Kleinberg – guitar (2001-2006)
• Daniel Pishock – bass guitar, vocals, keyboards (2001-2004)
• Ray Taddeo – guitar (2001)

Touring musicians

• Brandon Beaver (2010-2012)
• Kris Klein – guitar (2011)
• Christopher Kleinberg – guitar (2008-2010)
• Pete Syoum – guitar (2007)
• Stephen Smoker – bass (2001)

Additional musicians

• Timbre – harp
• Lauryn Peacock – piano
• Matt Chapin – trumpet
• Derek Paquette – trombone
• Kim Tice – accordion
• Scottie Kruger – vocals
• Jay Beck – Percussion

• "Bullet to Binary" from A→B Life directed by Shane Drake
• "January 1979" from Catch for Us the Foxes directed by Shane Drake
• "Disaster Tourism" from Catch for Us the Foxes directed by Casey McBride & Daniel Davison
• "Leaf" from Catch for Us the Foxes directed by Josh Bender (unfinished)
• "Paper Hanger" from Catch for Us the Foxes directed by Lex Halaby
• "Nice and Blue, Pt. 2" from Brother, Sister directed by Shane Drake
• "The Fox, the Crow, & the Cookie" from It's All Crazy! It's All False . . . directed by David Bell & Amy Carrigan
• "February, 1878" from Ten Stories shot by The Ely Brothers & Arsenal AV, edited by Andre Comfort
• "All Circles" from Ten Stories directed by Michael P. Heneghan
• "Red Cow & Dorothy" from Pale Horses by Daniel Davison
• "Julia (or, 'Holy to the LORD' on the Bells of Horses)" from [Untitled] directed by Michael Parks Randa

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• Official website