Miami, FL · alternative · electronicore · screamo

I Set My Friends On Fire

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Crunk-screamo maximalism — the most 2008 band that has ever existed, affectionately, MySpace chaos preserved in amber and played loud.

I Set My Friends On Fire formed in Miami in 2007 around Matt Mehana and Nabil Moo, who had previously played together in a local band called We Are the Cavalry. The pair built an early following on MySpace with a cover of Mike Jones' "Back Then" that circulated widely before the band had released an album. The group signed to Epitaph and issued its debut, You Can't Spell Slaughter Without Laughter, in 2008.

The album drew a mixed critical reception but still reached the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart. Around the same time the band twice teamed up with comedy duo Smosh on music videos, "Sex Ed Rocks" in 2008 and "Four Years Foreplay" in 2009, the latter featuring new drummer Chris Lent, formerly of From First to Last.

The sound welds screamed and cleanly sung vocals to breakdowns, drum-machine programming, synth patches and vocal effects, drawing on Southern rap and crunk cadences as often as on post-hardcore.

A second album, Astral Rejection, was recorded through 2010 but shelved by Epitaph for a year before its release in mid-2011. Moo left the band in 2010 to focus on school and family, and Lent departed not long after. A planned third record, Caterpillar Sex, was announced in 2013 but has never come out.

After Moo's departure the project continued largely under Mehana, moving further toward electronic production while keeping the same abrupt shifts in tempo and texture.

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