Biography
Eighteen Visions is a Metalcore band formed in Orange County, California in 1995 by singer James Hart, guitarists Keith Barney and Brandon Schieppati, bassist Jav Van Huss and drummer Ken Floyd.
The quintet signed for Trustkill Records who issued the 3-track EP “No Time For Love” in October 1999 and the band’s debut full-length album, “Until The Ink Runs Out”, in August 2000.
The following year Van Huss left the band; Eighteen Visions found a new bass player in Mick Morris and planned the release of “The Best Of Eighteen Visions”, a collection of re-worked material as well as one new song.
In May 2002 arrived the second album of all-new-material, “Vanity” that distilled the Orange County mob’s convoluted, technical Metalcore of yore into blisteringly powerful yet melodiously songs.
Over the next couple of years former guitarist Brandon Schieppati departed and the remaining members went on to record “Obsession”; they also enlisted the help of drummer Trevor Dark Baby while Floyd moved to rhythm guitar. “Obsession” was finally released in mid-2004 and vaulted into the top 10 of the Billboard’s Independent Albums chart, eventually making the national Billboard Top 200 Sales list reaching #147. The CD included the minor hit “I Let Go”.
In July 2006 Eighteen Visions returned back in action with their self-titled album climbing up The Billboard 200 to #74. The set included “Victim”, which fell just shy of reaching the top 10 of The Mainstream Rock Tracks; two more singles, “Tonightless” and “Broken Hearted”, made it into the top 40 on the same chart.
When Eighteen Visions dried up, in 2007, frontman James Hart began his new musical venture: Burn Halo.
On 2017, an official Instagram account of the band was launched, with James Hart, Keith Barney, and Trevor Friedrich being tagged on the first picture that contained the message “the countdown begins…”. All three members uploaded the same picture onto their respective private accounts as well. The band have since shared some footage of them working in the studio, along with a 15-second long clip of a new song. Mick Kenney was chosen by the band to do production, mixing, and mastering of the comeback record. Ten years from the day of the farewell live performance, the band confirmed the details surrounding their new album, “XVIII”, which would be released on June 2, 2017 via their new label home at Rise Records, and released a full stream and music video for the album’s first single, “Oath”. On May 9, 2017, “Crucified”, the second single off the new record, was released as a lyric video on YouTube. Both songs were under two minutes in length and marked the return of heavy screaming as a prominent element of the band’s sound. The band also confirmed that one of the album’s tracks, “Live Again”, is a tribute to Mick Morris. On May 25, 2017, “The Disease, the Decline, and Wasted Time”, the third single off “XVIII”, was released. In June 2017, it was revealed that a founding member, guitarist Ken Floyd, could not take part in the reunion due to his full-time job as a tour manager for Zedd. It was also reported that the band decided not to replace the late Mick Morris with any other bass players, primarily out of respect for him. Instead, his bass tracks will be used at live shows for the songs released prior to 2017. Keith Barney, however, ruled out the possibility of an extensive touring in the near future due to full-time jobs that band members have. “XVIII” was released as planned on June 2, 2017. It is the first album since 2002’s Vanity to feature movie quotes at the beginning of some songs. A music video for the song “Live Again” was also released on the same day.
