Flee The Seen
Encyclopedia
Flee the Seen was a post-hardcore
band based out of Kansas City, Missouri
composed of Kim Anderson (vocals), R.L. Brooks (vocals/guitar), Manuel Sanchez
(guitar), Aaron Crawford
(drums), and Lucas Dills (bass). They were signed to Facedown Records
in December, 2005 and released their first full length record, Doubt Becomes The New Addiction
, on March 14, 2006. Anderson also played bass from 2003–07, including on their debut album. Dills was recruited about a year after the release.
in St. Joseph
. They formed a band, Stellar, in 2001 with Anderson on bass and vocals, Brooks on guitar, and Tom Flaska as drummer. The group played a handful of local shows before disbanding when Anderson left for St. Louis
to finish school. When she returned to Kansas City in 2003, she and Brooks made contact again and formed a new band called Fighting Chance with drummer Jared Hoffman, releasing one self-titled EP in 2003 under that name.
Fighting Chance continued playing several local shows throughout the year as a three-piece band, first with Hoffman on drums, then with a handful of rotating fill-in drummers, until a permanent replacement could be found. Toward the end of 2003, the band began to consider recruiting a second guitarist. Having met Manuel Sanchez as a mutual acquaintance at a few prior shows, Brooks contacted him in November of that year about possibly playing with the band. Sanchez ended up inviting Brooks to his birthday party, where the two became more closely acquainted and arranged a time to practice together. Within a matter of days, Sanchez was officially added as a second guitarist.
In early 2004, while playing a show with a temporary drummer at Groundwork Coffee House in Leavenworth, Kansas
, sound technician Aaron Crawford arrived to fix a problem with the building's PA System
. After watching the band perform he requested to audition for the position as the band's permanent drummer. Crawford became the band's official drummer shortly afterward.
Throughout most of the year, the band performed scores of shows in the Kansas City area. On August 17, 2004 they announced the bands’ name-change to "Flee the Seen". They released their second EP The Sound of Sirens
(their first under the new name) in September 2004. The band continued playing several shows throughout 2004 and 2005 and gained significant airplay on local stations. 96.5 The Buzz helped arrange for the band to open for such acts as Weezer
in July 2005 and Coheed and Cambria
in December 2005.
Flee the Seen signed with Facedown Records
on December 4, 2005 and made a formal announcement of the signing later that week. Despite the label's Christian hardcore
roots, Facedown was actually looking to expand their catalog of genres and sign a more melodic act.
Flee the Seen's debut full length album Doubt Becomes the New Addiction
was released on March 14, 2006, having been recorded, mixed and mastered almost a year earlier. Shortly thereafter, the band was named to Alternative Press
Magazine's "100 Bands To Know" in 2006. The album has sold 10,000+ copies to date.
Flee the Seen has toured in support of Haste The Day
, Heavy Heavy Low Low
and Calico System
. On February 9, 2007 the band announced that Anderson would begin performing solely as a vocalist, and would no longer play bass. The band hired a fifth member, Lucas Dills, to take over bass duties. They had initially planned to spend the next months finishing songs for their second album which had been scheduled to begin recording in the spring of 2007.
Unfortunately, disagreements with Facedown and the band's management over recording time and studios impeded on the completion of the album whose recording and release was consistently pushed back throughout 2007 and into 2008. Relations finally reached a head when the band requested to be dropped from the label, with which the label complied and the two amicably parted ways in August 2007. The band self-released four demos in November 2007. By 2008, the band recorded three more songs at Covenant Studios in Parkville, Missouri
, but in the meantime Crawford had left the band to take a job with the U.S. Government, requiring him to travel often. Brooks and Anderson were becoming more preoccupied with their jobs running a t-shirt/merch business, and event coordinator at Kansas City's Uptown Theater, respectively; and Sanchez re-enrolled in college to finish his degree and enter a nursing program. The band played a handful of shows throughout the spring and summer with fill-in drummers, and occasionally a fill-in guitarist when Sanchez had prior engagements with school. Occasionally Crawford would play at some of these shows when time allowed, and during a short tour in the fall, Dills played drums, and Anderson once again took on singing and bass guitar. However, by October 2008, the band came to an agreement to split when it was evident that they could no longer devote all of their time and energy to making music. A final show was announced in January 2009 followed by the official release of the three "Covenant Studios" recordings from the prior year, exclusively onto iTunes
. The band performed together for the last time at the Uptown Theater on April 3, 2009. The show featured all five official members (Anderson, Brooks, Sanchez, Crawford & Dills) who performed the entire Doubt Becomes The New Addicition album in its entirety, front-to-back, plus five songs that were featured from their final EP and Covenant recordings.
Post-hardcore
Post-hardcore is a genre of music that developed from hardcore punk, itself an offshoot of the broader punk rock movement. Like post-punk, post-hardcore is a term for a broad constellation of groups...
band based out of Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
composed of Kim Anderson (vocals), R.L. Brooks (vocals/guitar), Manuel Sanchez
Manuel Sanchez
Manuel Anthony Sanchez was the guitarist for the Kansas City-based post-hardcore band, Flee the Seen. Manuel is a 2000 graduate of Lafayette High School in St. Joseph, MO, and currently resides in Kansas City, MO.- References :...
(guitar), Aaron Crawford
Aaron Crawford
Aaron Crawford was the drummer for the Kansas City based Post-Hardcore band, Flee the Seen. He is easily recognized from his other band members due to his tall stature and ubiquitous hair. Aaron currently resides in Parkville, Missouri...
(drums), and Lucas Dills (bass). They were signed to Facedown Records
Facedown Records
Facedown Records is a Christian record label based in Fallbrook, California, devoted mostly to hardcore punk and metalcore bands . Founded by No Innocent Victim drummer Jason Dunn, the label started off small with a number of 7" record releases by bands such as Overcome, Dodgin Bullets, and Born...
in December, 2005 and released their first full length record, Doubt Becomes The New Addiction
Doubt Becomes the New Addiction
Doubt Becomes the New Addiction is the first full length album by Kansas City band Flee the Seen. It was released on March 14, 2006. The record was recorded at Aaron Crawford's home studio in Leavenworth, KS, and mixed at Sonic Temple in Union, MO almost a year prior to its release. It was...
, on March 14, 2006. Anderson also played bass from 2003–07, including on their debut album. Dills was recruited about a year after the release.
Biography
Kim Anderson and R.L. Brooks met in 2000 while attending Missouri Western State UniversityMissouri Western State University
Missouri Western State University is a public, co-educational university located in Saint Joseph, Missouri. The school enrolls 6,010 undergraduate students and 124 graduate students.-History:...
in St. Joseph
Saint Joseph, Missouri
Saint Joseph is the second largest city in northwest Missouri, only second to Kansas City in size, serving as the county seat for Buchanan County. As of the 2010 census, Saint Joseph had a total population of 76,780, making it the eighth largest city in the state. The St...
. They formed a band, Stellar, in 2001 with Anderson on bass and vocals, Brooks on guitar, and Tom Flaska as drummer. The group played a handful of local shows before disbanding when Anderson left for St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
to finish school. When she returned to Kansas City in 2003, she and Brooks made contact again and formed a new band called Fighting Chance with drummer Jared Hoffman, releasing one self-titled EP in 2003 under that name.
Fighting Chance continued playing several local shows throughout the year as a three-piece band, first with Hoffman on drums, then with a handful of rotating fill-in drummers, until a permanent replacement could be found. Toward the end of 2003, the band began to consider recruiting a second guitarist. Having met Manuel Sanchez as a mutual acquaintance at a few prior shows, Brooks contacted him in November of that year about possibly playing with the band. Sanchez ended up inviting Brooks to his birthday party, where the two became more closely acquainted and arranged a time to practice together. Within a matter of days, Sanchez was officially added as a second guitarist.
In early 2004, while playing a show with a temporary drummer at Groundwork Coffee House in Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth is the largest city and county seat of Leavenworth County, in the U.S. state of Kansas and within the Kansas City, Missouri Metropolitan Area. Located in the northeast portion of the state, it is on the west bank of the Missouri River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
, sound technician Aaron Crawford arrived to fix a problem with the building's PA System
Public address
A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...
. After watching the band perform he requested to audition for the position as the band's permanent drummer. Crawford became the band's official drummer shortly afterward.
Throughout most of the year, the band performed scores of shows in the Kansas City area. On August 17, 2004 they announced the bands’ name-change to "Flee the Seen". They released their second EP The Sound of Sirens
The Sound of Sirens
The Sound of Sirens was the second EP released by Kansas City band Flee the Seen, in October 2004. The record was the first the band released under the name "Flee the Seen," and is also the first album with guitarist Manuel Sanchez, and drummer Aaron Crawford.Earlier working versions of "Broken...
(their first under the new name) in September 2004. The band continued playing several shows throughout 2004 and 2005 and gained significant airplay on local stations. 96.5 The Buzz helped arrange for the band to open for such acts as Weezer
Weezer
Weezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
in July 2005 and Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria is an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York. Formed in 1995, the group incorporates aspects of progressive rock, punk rock, metal and post-hardcore....
in December 2005.
Flee the Seen signed with Facedown Records
Facedown Records
Facedown Records is a Christian record label based in Fallbrook, California, devoted mostly to hardcore punk and metalcore bands . Founded by No Innocent Victim drummer Jason Dunn, the label started off small with a number of 7" record releases by bands such as Overcome, Dodgin Bullets, and Born...
on December 4, 2005 and made a formal announcement of the signing later that week. Despite the label's Christian hardcore
Christian hardcore
Christian hardcore refers to metalcore and hardcore punk bands that promote Christian beliefs. How these bands promote Christianity, and to what extent, varies between bands...
roots, Facedown was actually looking to expand their catalog of genres and sign a more melodic act.
Flee the Seen's debut full length album Doubt Becomes the New Addiction
Doubt Becomes the New Addiction
Doubt Becomes the New Addiction is the first full length album by Kansas City band Flee the Seen. It was released on March 14, 2006. The record was recorded at Aaron Crawford's home studio in Leavenworth, KS, and mixed at Sonic Temple in Union, MO almost a year prior to its release. It was...
was released on March 14, 2006, having been recorded, mixed and mastered almost a year earlier. Shortly thereafter, the band was named to Alternative Press
Alternative Press (music magazine)
Alternative Press is an American music magazine based in Cleveland, Ohio. It generally provides readers with band interviews, photos, information on upcoming releases, and music charts. It was founded in 1985 by Mike Shea, who is the current president....
Magazine's "100 Bands To Know" in 2006. The album has sold 10,000+ copies to date.
Flee the Seen has toured in support of Haste The Day
Haste the Day
Haste the Day was an American Christian metalcore band signed with Solid State Records that was formed in Carmel, Indiana 2001. Their band is named after a lyric in the hymn "It Is Well With My Soul." The band released their debut release, an extended play titled That They May Know You, in 2002,...
, Heavy Heavy Low Low
Heavy Heavy Low Low
Heavy Heavy Low Low is a four piece Mathcore band from San Jose, California.-Biography:Formed in early 2004 in San Jose, California, Heavy Heavy Low Low began playing what may be called thrash , then metalcore, before evolving into a decidedly more style, and now, with the release of...
and Calico System
Calico System
Calico System was a metalcore band from St. Louis, Missouri. Eulogy Recordings was the label that Calico System were signed to as of Tuesday, July 17, 2007, when Calico System disbanded. via blog, they stated "CALICO SYSTEM IS BREAKING UP".-History:...
. On February 9, 2007 the band announced that Anderson would begin performing solely as a vocalist, and would no longer play bass. The band hired a fifth member, Lucas Dills, to take over bass duties. They had initially planned to spend the next months finishing songs for their second album which had been scheduled to begin recording in the spring of 2007.
Unfortunately, disagreements with Facedown and the band's management over recording time and studios impeded on the completion of the album whose recording and release was consistently pushed back throughout 2007 and into 2008. Relations finally reached a head when the band requested to be dropped from the label, with which the label complied and the two amicably parted ways in August 2007. The band self-released four demos in November 2007. By 2008, the band recorded three more songs at Covenant Studios in Parkville, Missouri
Parkville, Missouri
Parkville is a city in Platte County, Missouri, United States. The population was 4,059 at the 2000 census. Parkville is known for its antique shops, art galleries, and historic downtown. The city is home to Park University and English Landing Park....
, but in the meantime Crawford had left the band to take a job with the U.S. Government, requiring him to travel often. Brooks and Anderson were becoming more preoccupied with their jobs running a t-shirt/merch business, and event coordinator at Kansas City's Uptown Theater, respectively; and Sanchez re-enrolled in college to finish his degree and enter a nursing program. The band played a handful of shows throughout the spring and summer with fill-in drummers, and occasionally a fill-in guitarist when Sanchez had prior engagements with school. Occasionally Crawford would play at some of these shows when time allowed, and during a short tour in the fall, Dills played drums, and Anderson once again took on singing and bass guitar. However, by October 2008, the band came to an agreement to split when it was evident that they could no longer devote all of their time and energy to making music. A final show was announced in January 2009 followed by the official release of the three "Covenant Studios" recordings from the prior year, exclusively onto iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
. The band performed together for the last time at the Uptown Theater on April 3, 2009. The show featured all five official members (Anderson, Brooks, Sanchez, Crawford & Dills) who performed the entire Doubt Becomes The New Addicition album in its entirety, front-to-back, plus five songs that were featured from their final EP and Covenant recordings.
Band members
- Kim Anderson (vocals) (bass:2003-2007)
- R.L. Brooks (vocals/guitars)
- Manuel SanchezManuel SanchezManuel Anthony Sanchez was the guitarist for the Kansas City-based post-hardcore band, Flee the Seen. Manuel is a 2000 graduate of Lafayette High School in St. Joseph, MO, and currently resides in Kansas City, MO.- References :...
(guitars) - Aaron CrawfordAaron CrawfordAaron Crawford was the drummer for the Kansas City based Post-Hardcore band, Flee the Seen. He is easily recognized from his other band members due to his tall stature and ubiquitous hair. Aaron currently resides in Parkville, Missouri...
(drums) - Lucas Dills (bass)
Albums
- Fighting ChanceFighting ChanceFighting Chance was the first recording released by Flee the Seen in 2003. It is actually a self-titled EP as the band was then known as "Fighting Chance" at the time of its release. The band did not take the name Flee the Seen until close to a year later. Kim Anderson and R.L...
EP (2003) - The Sound of SirensThe Sound of SirensThe Sound of Sirens was the second EP released by Kansas City band Flee the Seen, in October 2004. The record was the first the band released under the name "Flee the Seen," and is also the first album with guitarist Manuel Sanchez, and drummer Aaron Crawford.Earlier working versions of "Broken...
EP (2004) - Doubt Becomes the New AddictionDoubt Becomes the New AddictionDoubt Becomes the New Addiction is the first full length album by Kansas City band Flee the Seen. It was released on March 14, 2006. The record was recorded at Aaron Crawford's home studio in Leavenworth, KS, and mixed at Sonic Temple in Union, MO almost a year prior to its release. It was...
(2006) - November 2007 Demos EP (2008)
- Covenant Studios Sessions EP (2009)
Awards
- "Best Vocalist: Kim Anderson" 2005 Heavy Frequency Awards
- "Best Hardcore/Punk/Crossover Band: Flee the Seen" 2005 Heavy Frequency Awards
- "Achiever of the Year: Flee the Seen" 2005 Heavy Frequency Awards