Bury Your Dead is an American metalcore band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 2001. The current lineup is guitarist Chris Towning, lead vocalist Mat Bruso, drummer Mark Castillo, and bassist Aaron Patrick. To date, they have had eight releases: one EP (Bury Your Dead), one live DVD (Alive), and six studio albums (You Had Me at Hello, Cover Your Tracks, Beauty and the Breakdown, Bury Your Dead, It's Nothing Personal and Mosh N' Roll).
History
You Had Me at Hello (2001–2002) In 2001, Bury Your Dead began as a side project of the band Hamartia featuring drummer Mark Castillo and guitarist Brendan "Slim" MacDonald. With the metalcore sound of Hamartia growing tiresome to both of them, they started writing less technical songs in their free time. They recruited Steve Kent to play bass, second guitarist Jesse Viens, and Joe Krewko as vocalist and began playing shows in Massachusetts and Connecticut under the name Bury Your Dead. News of their unbridled energy and destructive live show spread immediately around the East Coast hardcore scenes and the band was courted by Alveran/Eulogy.
The band recorded and released their debut album titled You Had Me at Hello in March 2002, borrowed a van, then toured in support of it. After several successful tours, Bury Your Dead decided to go their separate ways. Castillo moved back to Philadelphia and began touring with Between the Buried and Me, bassist Rich Casey went back to running his own screen-printing business and MacDonald began playing guitar in the band Blood Has Been Shed.
Cover Your Tracks (2002–2005) After several months had passed, Casey contacted MacDonald and expressed his interest in reforming Bury Your Dead. They rounded up some of their old lineup, with a few others to fill in, and played some shows before heading down to Florida to play the annual Gainesville Fest. After acquiring vocalist Mat Bruso, they ran into their old drummer, Mark, who was touring with Between the Buried and Me, and they discussed their desire to make Bury Your Dead a serious band again. Castillo agreed, and the band did a few short tours as well as appearances at hardcore festivals including Hellfest and The New England Metal and Hardcore Festival.
With their lineup in place Bury Your Dead was approached by Victory Records in July 2003 and they signed a deal with the label the following spring, while on tour with Walls of Jericho and Martyr AD. Bury Your Dead spent the next several months touring and when summer approached they holed up in Massachusetts and did nothing but eat, sleep, and breathe the new Bury Your Dead songs, which would comprise their Victory Records debut titled Cover Your Tracks. "The whole writing process this time around was a lot different than the last", said MacDonald. "We had so many ideas floating around in our heads, so we decided to shut out the outside world and do nothing but get these ideas put together into songs. Literally, for two weeks, we did nothing else but write Cover Your Tracks." They entered the studio in June 2004, choosing to record at Q-Division studios in Somerville, MA with producer Matthew Ellard. "Recording with Matthew was great, he added so much to the record", noted MacDonald. "It was also nice that Matthew already knew Mark from his days in Between The Buried And Me, so it was a really comfortable feeling in the studio right off the bat."
Cover Your Tracks was released October 19, 2004. The band toured heavily in support of the album and on May 10, 2005, filmed a live DVD/CD combo at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, California. The DualDisc-format release, titled Alive, hit shelves on July 12, 2005, while the band was touring with As I Lay Dying, Rob Zombie, Arch Enemy, It Dies Today and many other bands on the second-stage of that year's Ozzfest.
On July 24, 2005, actor/rapper Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who fronts Wicked Wisdom, rapped/jammed with Bury Your Dead during the last song of the band's set at Ozzfest 2005 at the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Virginia.
Beauty and the Breakdown (2006–2007) In July 2006 Bury Your Dead released Beauty and the Breakdown, which was produced by Jason Suecof (Trivium, God Forbid). Prior to the making of the album, Aaron "Bubble" Patrick replaced Casey on bass. Around this time the quintet could be found on artist Derek Hess' nationwide Strhess Tour, alongside acts like Shadows Fall, Poison the Well, and Throwdown. In the fall, Bury Your Dead participated in the 2006 Family Values Tour as well as a few co-headlining off-dates with Walls of Jericho.