The band was formed in 2000, in Raleigh, North Carolina after the demise of the metalcore bands From Here On and Prayer for Cleansing, of which Rogers, Waggoner, and Goodyear were members.[1] Nick Fletcher and Jason King subsequently joined on guitar and bass respectively. The name "Between the Buried and Me" was chosen after a section of lyrics in the Counting Crows song "Ghost Train".
Between the Buried and Me's first release was a demo containing three songs, all of which were re-recorded for the band's self-titled debut album, released through Lifeforce Records in 2002. The song "Aspirations" became the band's first music video. The album was not initially successful but did manage to catch the attention of Victory Records, to which they later signed. Victory reissued the album in 2004 as an enhanced CD. The band toured in support of their first album with Canadian metalcore group The End.[2]
The Silent Circus, Alaska, and The Anatomy Of (2003–2006)
In August 2003, Between the Buried and Me traveled to Q Division Studios in Somerville, Massachusetts to record their second record, The Silent Circus, released in October the same year. It was later re-released in 2006 with a live DVD of the band's performance at The Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on July 17, 2005. Mark Castillo played drums on The Silent Circus, replacing Goodyear.
After the release of The Silent Circus, the band went through numerous members before the current lineup was assembled for their third album, Alaska. On drums, Mark Castillo was replaced by Jason Roe, and later by Blake Richardson. On guitar, Fletcher was replaced by Shane Blay, and later by Dustie Waring. And on bass, King was replaced by Kevin Falk, and later by Dan Briggs. This remains the current lineup.
In September 2005, Between the Buried and Me released Alaska. The album released the songs "Selkies: The Endless Obsession", "The Primer", and "Backwards Marathon" as singles. In the following year, the band released their first cover album, The Anatomy Of, a collection of covers of bands that influenced them, including Metallica, King Crimson, Pantera, Faith No More, Queen, Pink Floyd, Earth Crisis, Counting Crows, and Soundgarden.
In early 2006, Between the Buried and Me was on tour supporting Bleeding Through along with Every Time I Die and Haste the Day. They were also on the Ozzfest 2006 Second Stage, and they played as the main support band for DragonForce on their Ozzfest off-date headline tour.[3] In late 2006, they were on the Radio Rebellion Tour headlined by Norma Jean.[4]
Colors and The Great Misdirect (2007–2009)
In September 2007, Between the Buried and Me released their fourth studio album (fifth if including The Anatomy Of), Colors. Band members called it "a 65 minute opus of non stop pummeling beautiful music... we have described this release as 'new wavepolkagrunge'."[5] The band also described the album as "adult contemporary progressive death metal".[6]
In September 2007, after the release of Colors, the band went on tour with Animosity and Horse the Band. Giant (now known as BraveYoung) also supported their shows in the US. The run concluded with their November 4 appearance at the Saints and Sinners Fest in Asbury Park, New Jersey. In December 2007, they again embarked on a headlining tour, supported by August Burns Red and Behold... The Arctopus. The band were also the main support on The Dillinger Escape Plan's 2008 UK tour. Between the Buried and Me were one of the acts that took part at "Progressive Nation '08", the first in what became an annual progressive music festival, also featuring Dream Theater, Opeth, and 3.
Starting in summer 2008 and continuing in the fall, they performed as a supporting act for Children of Bodom's US headlining tour, alongside The Black Dahlia Murder. In early December 2008, they went on a short four-show tour around the Carolinas and Georgia (US) with other bands from the Carolinas, such as He Is Legend, Advent, and Nightbear. Between the Buried and Me finished a month-long tour of Australia on January 9 with headliners Bleeding Through, As Blood Runs Black, In Trenches, and The Abandonment. In September 2009, Between the Buried and Me performed a Canadian Tour with Killswitch Engage and In Flames co-headlining, along with the support of Protest the Hero.[7]
On May 31, 2009, the group went into the studio to record their fifth album (sixth if including The Anatomy Of), The Great Misdirect. They released the single "Obfuscation" on September 29 and the album on October 27.
In February 2011, Between the Buried and Me were confirmed to play at the New England Metal & Hardcore Festival on Saturday, April 16 in Worcester, MA. They were main support for Hatebreed. In April and May 2011 they headlined a tour featuring Job for a Cowboy, The Ocean, and on select dates Cephalic Carnage.
Between the Buried and Me also announced a headlining European tour beginning in Paris on September 2, 2011, and continuing throughout the mainland and into the UK, ending up in Moscow on September 30. The tour was supported by Animals as Leaders. In July 2011, the band announced their headlining North American "Saints&Sinners Tour" playing throughout November and December with Animals as Leaders and TesseracT. The band created a few medleys just for this tour, and performed songs that they hadn't played in years. They co-headlined the 2012 Summer Slaughter under Cannibal Corpse with numerous other metal bands such as Exhumed, Job for a Cowboy, The Faceless, and Veil of Maya, followed by a co-headlining tour through Europe and UK with Periphery and The Safety Fire.
In fall 2013 they embarked on The Future Sequence Tour, where they played The Parallax II: Future Sequence all the way through. Support was provided by The Faceless, The Contortionist, and The Safety Fire.
On February 14, 2014, it was announced Between the Buried and Me would record and release a live album for The Parallax II: Future Sequence, playing it in its entirety with additional instruments, including a saxophone, percussionists, flute, and a string quartet. The release, titled Future Sequence: Live at the Fidelitorium, was released September 30, 2014.
Coma Ecliptic and Colors 10th Anniversary Tour (2015–2017)
On March 17, 2015, they announced that Coma Ecliptic would be released through Metal Blade Records on July 7, 2015, and released a song titled "Memory Palace" on July 10.
From 2015 - 2017, Between the Buried and Me went out on their Coma Ecliptic World Tour and headlined with / co-headlined for August Burns Red, Animals as Leaders, Devin Townsend Project, Fallujah, Enslaved, and The Contortionist.
The band released "Coma Ecliptic: Live" on April 28, 2017, which has their entire Coma Ecliptic album played live in its entirety.
In the fall of 2017, Between the Buried and Me toured for the Colors 10th Anniversary Tour where they performed the whole album.[15]
Automata and Sumerian Records (2018–2019)
Between the Buried and Me performing in 2018
Recording of the band's upcoming eighth full-length album began on July 31, 2017[16] and finished on September 6, with the release date scheduled in early 2018.[17]
On December 28, 2017, bassist Dan Briggs posted footage of a song they had finished recording separate from the eighth studio album completed in September 2017. It was later revealed to be their interpretation of The Dear Hunter's track "The Tank" for an exclusive 7-inch split with the band.[18]
In January 2018, the band announced Automata, a two-part studio album. Automata I was announced a release date of March 9, 2018, via Sumerian Records. The second part, Automata II, was released on July 13, 2018.[19]
Their "Between the Buried and Me Spring 2018 Tour" was announced as well, spanning March 2 to April 7, 2018, across the contiguous United States. The tour would be supported by The Dear Hunter with special guests Leprous. Additionally, it was announced on the Thomas Giles Instagram how their exclusive split 7-inch single with The Dear Hunter would be available for VIP package buyers on the tour. The split 7-inch would contain each band recording their interpretation of an existing song from the other band.[20]
In early 2019, they toured Automata II in the US beginning in February and ending in March. Opening acts were Astronoid and TesseracT, except for a few dates.
Postponed 20th anniversary tour and Colors II (2020–present)
In spring 2020, the band was set to headline a 20th anniversary tour across North America, with the first set composed of songs spanning their career and the second set being The Great Misdirect performed in its entirety.[21] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band postponed the tour until it was safe to tour again.[22] The tour was rebranded as a 21st anniversary tour in 2021 and kicked off in Atlanta on August 3 of that year.
The band revealed on November 16, 2020, that they have been writing their upcoming tenth studio album and are recording it for a scheduled release sometime in 2021.[23]
On June 24, 2021, the band announced the release of their new album Colors II (follow-up to 2007's Colors) through SiriusXM's Liquid Metal channel. The album was released on August 20, 2021.[24] The album's first single, "Fix the Error", was released online on June 25, 2021, along with a music video on July 7.[25]
The band announced in March 2023 a North American tour from June to July, in which they performed The Parallax II: Future Sequence in its entirety.[26] Following sexual assault allegations, it was the second tour without Dustie Waring.[27] His position was filled by Tristan Auman of Sometime in February from Charlotte, North Carolina.[28] Waring had sat out on their previous Island in Limbo tour in Europe due to back issues,[29] but later performed at a festival in September 2023 along with the band following the allegations.[30] Waring was dropped once again on their following tour in which they performed Colors and Colors II across two nights in each city.
Tommy Giles Rogers has an electronica side project named Giles. A music video for the song "Slumber Party" is featured on the DVD that is included on the re-release for Between the Buried and Me's second album The Silent Circus. Rogers also released a solo album on February 1, 2011, entitled Pulse. The album is credited under the name Thomas Giles. Also, under the name Thomas Giles, he released "Modern Noise" in November 2014 and "Velcro Kid" in November 2016. In 2018 he released the album Don't Touch the Outside.
Shane Blay is now in the bands Oh, Sleeper and Wovenwar and was formerly in the band Evelynn.
Dan Briggs, along with Walter Fancourt (Casual Curious, Brand New Life) and Matt Lynch (Eyris) are members of a progressive rock/jazz fusion band named Trioscapes who are also signed under Metal Blade Records. As of 2020, they have released two albums. In 2012 they released their debut album Separate Realities, followed by Digital Dream Sequence in 2014.
Dan Briggs, along with Richard Henshall (Haken), Matt Lynch, and Pete Jones, are in a supergroup, Nova Collective, which has released one instrumental jazz fusion album, The Further Side.[48]
Dan Briggs has an experimental solo project called Nightmare Scenario and released his debut EP Beyond What Is Real in 2019.
Jason Roe is now in Society's Finest and formerly was in Evelynn.
^Freeman, Phil (October 28, 2009). "Article announcing early 2010 tour dates". MSN Superfans. MSN. Archived from the original on October 30, 2009. Progressive metal band Between The Buried And Me, whose latest album, The Great Misdirect, hit stores yesterday, will be launching another one of those tours where the openers kick the headliner's ass night after night in early 2010.
