welcome to the family: All About Attack Attack!

This article is about the American band. For the Welsh band, see Attack! Attack!.

Attack Attack!
Attack Attack! performing in 2010 in Tempe, Arizona as a part of their This Is a Family Tour. From left to right: John Holgado, Caleb Shomo, Andrew Wetzel and Sean Mackowski.
Background information
Origin	Westerville, Ohio
Genres	Metalcore, post-hardcore, electronica
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Rise
Associated acts	For All We Know, Of Mice & Men, DJ Club, Lakeland, My Ticket Home, The March Ahead
Website	www.attackattackoh.com
Members
Andrew Wetzel Andrew Whiting John Holgado Caleb Shomo
Past members
Johnny Franck Austin Carlile Nick Barham Nick White Ricky Lortz

Attack Attack! is an American metalcore band from Westerville, Ohio. The group is currently signed to Rise Records. Since their inception in 2005, Attack Attack! have released one EP, If Guns Are Outlawed, Can We Use Swords? and two full-length albums, Someday Came Suddenly and a self-titled album.
Although the group's songs contain Christian-based lyrics, not all members of Attack Attack! follow the religion. As such, they do not consider themselves a Christian band.

Formation and Someday Came Suddenly (2005–2008)

Attack Attack! was founded in 2005 by members Austin Carlile, Ricky Lortz, Andrew Whiting, Nick White, and Andrew Wetzel as a primary metalcore group. As time went on they added keyboard player Caleb Shomo. Several months later Nick White announced his departure from the group and John Holgado was added on bass. In early 2008 they self-released their debut EP titled If Guns Are Outlawed, Can We Use Swords?. Later they signed to Rise Records in June 2008 and released their debut album, Someday Came Suddenly, on the label late that year.^[2] Someday Came Suddenly peaked at #25 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart and #193 on the Billboard 200,^[3] with sales of more than 3,600 in its first week.

Carlile's departure and Barham's arrival (2008–2009)

Later, halfway through a tour supporting Maylene and the Sons of Disaster,^[5] vocalist Austin Carlile was fired by the group due to personal differences. Carlile was replaced by Nick Barham, former vocalist of For All We Know. In 2009 for Fearless Records' eighth Punk Goes... album, Punk Goes Pop 2, Attack Attack! covered Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" with Austin Carlile performing the lead vocals, before his departure from the band. Attack Attack! then toured with Escape the Fate, William Control, Black Tide and Burn Halo early in 2009.^[6] Attack Attack! was included on Warped Tour 2009 and did signings for the non-profit organization Music Saves Lives where they met with fans who gained special access to the band by donating blood.^[7]

Barham's departure (2009–2010)

Attack Attack! at 2009's Bamboozle festival held in New Jersey.

Attack Attack! released a music video for their highly criticized song "Stick Stickly", and made its premiere on MTV2's Headbangers Ball. Two music videos were created, with one of them being produced by a company named DecembersEdge. The band decided to go with the other video featured on their Myspace profile. The "Stick Stickly" video has led to a number of criticisms, including lengthy pieces by Buddyhead and the British newspaper The Guardian.^[8]^[9] The band also has a "live" video for the song "Dr. Shavargo Pt. 3".^[10]
On October 19, 2009, lead vocalist Nick Barham announced his departure from Attack Attack! just two days short of their headliner tour. He stated in his blog on MySpace that "It was just time for change," and that there was no conflict between him and the other band members.^[11] The band then made the decision of Caleb Shomo to be moved as the band's primary vocalist but still remaining at his place as the keyboardist as well.^[12]
Near the end of 2009, Attack Attack! toured with I Set My Friends On Fire, Miss May I, Our Last Night, and The Color Morale as part of the "Shred Til You're Dead" tour. Attack Attack! started playing "Sexual Man Chocolate", which was the first song leaked from their self-titled album.

Self-titled album and Franck's departure (2010–present)

Attack Attack! headlined the 2010 Artery Across the Nation Tour with support from Asking Alexandria, I See Stars, Breathe Carolina and Bury Tomorrow in early 2010. The group performed three songs off their self-titled album live during the tour before its release. The songs performed were "Sexual Man Chocolate", "AC-130", and "A For Andrew".^[13] The self-titled album was released on June 8, 2010. The working title for it was intended to be "Shazam!", but was changed due to copyright issues.
The group performed on the Altec Lansing Stage during Warped Tour 2010 for the entire tour. They will be venturing on the This Is a Family Tour in November.^[14]
On November 10, 2010 Johnny Franck announced he had departed from the band to focus on his relationship with God. He has started a new project called The March Ahead.^[15]^[16] With this news also came a clip of a new song featuring Caleb Shomo doing both clean, and unclean vocals.^[17] Sean Mackowski of My Ticket Home substituted for Franck's position in the band during their tours.^[18] The music video for "Smokahontas" was released on January 21, 2011 and was directed by Thunder Down Country films.^[19]

Musical style

Attack Attack! have been known to perform the metalcore^[20] and post-hardcore^[8] genres combined with electronica influence.^[21] This combination usually features distinct traits into Attack Attack's music which include (but are not limited to) Auto-Tuned singing, techno-influenced breakdowns and keyboard solos.

Band members

Current

John Holgado - bass guitar (since 2007)
Caleb Shomo - lead vocals, programming (since 2009), synthesizers, keyboards, piano (2007–Present)
Andrew Wetzel - drums (since 2005)
Andrew Whiting - guitars (since 2005)