September Mourning

Marc Silvestri of Top Cow Productions became involved after Lazar pitched the idea of the band to him via Myspace. Together, they developed the world and storyline of September Mourning.[1] Lazar described the project:

"It's a storyline that has a musical component to it. An artistic component to it. The storyline is what holds it all together. The music is like the icing on the cake. It's very important of course, but it's the vehicle to tell the story."[2]

In early 2009, Lazar began to focus on the project's music. Together with guitarist and programmer Chris Egert and guitarist James Duran, Lazar began writing songs for September Mourning and touring with rotating drummers and bass players.[3] After moving from New York to Los Angeles in late 2010, the lineup changed with Lazar becoming the only constant member. At the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con, Top Cow Productions announced the creation of Marc Silvestri and September’s concept story, September Mourning, whose preview story summary would be published that year in the first edition of their Holiday Special.[4][5] In late 2011, at the San Diego Comic Con, MTV Geek[6] announced a partnership with Marc Silvestri and September to create webisodes based on the characters in the storyline September Mourning, as well as online comics and other media for their website, and David Hine signed on as writer for the series. The unfortunate cancellation of MTV Geek led to the webisodes never coming to fruition.

At the start of 2011, Egert and Lazar began self-producing an album containing the first demo songs written by the band. Melancholia was released on Repo Records exclusively in Germany on May 18, 2012, and features guest drummer Ryan Seaman of Falling in Reverse and bassist Phil Buckman of Filter. The album was mixed and mastered by Dave Ogilvie. On July 17, 2012, a demo of a new song, Before the Fall,co-written and produced by Sahaj Ticotin, and its music video, were featured in the TNA Wrestling commercial for their Hardcore Justice PPV August 2012. This single was released independently to the digital media outlets the following week and showcased the progression of the band's songwriting and move towards a more commercial sound. In September 2013 they played the Schecter Guitars party at NAMM. Lazar continued to develop the look and theatricality of the band and to write new material for the project. They played some one-off shows in the California area while being shopped to labels. Later in 2013 the band was signed to Virgin Records.

In mid 2014 a new song premiered on CrypticRock called "Superhuman",[7] co-written by Kane Churko.[8] Later that year, the band premiered a new song, "Children of Fate", co-written by Sahaj Ticotin and produced by Howard Benson on Loudwire.[9] On July 12, 2015, September Mourning launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the release of the first issue of a comic book connected to the project's storyline.[10] The campaign achieved its funding goal in under 72 hours.[11] In September, Loudwire premiered another track from their debut EP, Eye of the Storm.[12] The EP, mixed and produced by Sahaj Ticotin, was released on October 2, 2015.

The comic titled A Murder of Reapers, was released in October 2015 through Top Cow Productions/Image Comics alongside Volume I, the band's first release in the US. The Front Row Report said, "all components of the project's impact present the sensation of strength and vitality. With such a unique method of storytelling and direct communication of passion, September Mourning have set themselves up for success with Volume 1".[13] Live-metal.net stated that "in less than 20 minutes, Volume I establishes September Mourning as one of the few truly unique acts active today. The title implies this is the only beginning, which is a promising, exciting thought."[14]

The band signed to Sumerian Records in March 2016, and released the music video for "Eye of the Storm".[15] The full-length album, Volume II produced by Sahaj Ticotin, was released on July 29, 2016, alongside the second issue of the comic. Lazar stated that "Volume II is a continuation of the first step in our journey which began with our self-released EP, Volume I and A Murder of Reapers, the first issue of our comic book. Volume II follows our hero, September Mourning's tale throughout the second issue of the comic book entitled, The Hand of Fate".[16] To promote the release, an animated lyric video for "Skin and Bones" premiered on Loudwire in July 2016.[17]

Their second EP, Volume III, was released in September 2019, and includes four tracks: "Unholy", "Hiding From Heaven", "Madness" and "Overdose". On October 3, 2020, the song, "Wake the Dead", was announced with the release date of December 11.[18] The song has been confirmed to be the first single from their new album, Volume IV.[19] On December 11 the song released as expected. Their new single "Kill This Love" was announced on January 25 with the release date of February 19,[20] after being teased the day before.[21]

Current[22]

• Emily "September Mourning" Lazar – lead vocals, keyboards (2009–present)
• Rich Juzwick – guitars, backing vocals (2014–present), bass guitar (2018–present)
• Patrick Romanelli – guitars, backing vocals (2017–present), bass guitar (2018–present)
• Kyle Mayer – drums (2018–present)

Former

• James Duran – guitars, bass (2009–2010)
• Chris Egert – guitars, bass, programming (2009–2010)
• Nobuaki Hayashi – guitars (2012)
• Steve Podgorski – guitars (2012–2013)
• Xavier Moreux – guitars (2014–2015)
• Skot Christ – bass, backing vocals (2012–2013)
• Shawn Cameron – drums (2012–2013)
• Tommy Joe Ratliff – bass (2014–2015)
• Clayton Ryan – bass (2015)
• Jeriah Eager – bass (2015–2016)
• Andy DeCicco – bass (2016–2018)
• Kyle Ort – guitars (2015–2017)
• Josh Fresia – drums (2014–2018)

Timeline

• Official website
• Top Cow Holiday Special Volume 1; December 2010 at the Comic Book DB
• RVAFreaks; June 2010
• / 10 questions with Emily Lazar