From Autumn to Ashes is a metalcore band based in Long Island, New York. The group formed in 2000 under the name Who's to Blame. While the band had gone through many lineup changes, the members include Francis Mark (lead vocals, drums), Scott Gross (guitars), Benjamin Perri (screamed vocals), Brian Deneeve (guitars, backing vocals), Stephen Salvio (guitars), Josh Newton (bass guitar, backing vocals), Mike Pilato (bass, backing vocals), Rob Lauritsen (guitars), Jonathan Cox (guitars) and Jeff Gretz (drums, backing vocals).
Described as "melody and lushness meets brutality," the band released their debut full-length album Too Bad You're Beautiful in 2001. The album featured former band member Benjamin Perri on harsh vocals, with Mark providing the clean vocals and acted as drummer. The year 2003 saw the release of The Fiction We Live and 2005, the release of Abandon Your Friends, the last From Autumn to Ashes album with Perri and Mark in their respective roles. After Perri's departure shortly after Abandon Your Friends, Mark became lead vocalist and in 2007, the band released Holding a Wolf by the Ears. On June 9, 2008, the band announced that they had gone on "indefinite hiatus." They insisted that the decision was amicable and the band had simply reached its natural conclusion. They have since reunited and played several shows but have yet to release any new music.
History
Formation and Too Bad You're Beautiful (2000–2002) From Autumn to Ashes formed on Long Island in 2000 with Francis Mark (drums, vocals), Steve Salvio (guitar) and Benjamin Perri (vocals) — Perri provided screaming vocals, while Mark sung clean vocals. Commenting on the name of their band, Scott Gross (guitar) said, "you are absolutely not going to get the right answer on this one because that would pretty much end the band" and that "no one is going to know the reason and we are going to keep it that way." The term "Autumn" refers to both the season and a fictional character the band created. Mark and Gross planned to use the character in a book. For the first few months as a touring band, From Autumn to Ashes claimed to have sold half of their equipment, a car, and spent between $3,000 and $4,000 making demos and hand distributing them.
To find a record label, the band says "we pretty much just sent packages to every record label, a shit load of phone calls harassing people." In 2001, From Autumn to Ashes performed in Long Island with Ferret Music bands Skycamefalling and Martyr AD, where the founder of Ferret Music, Carl Severson, attended. The following day, Severson contacted the group and they were soon signed in 2001. The band's debut full-length album, Too Bad You're Beautiful, was released on August 14, 2001. Too Bad You're Beautiful, which was written entirety about a relationship Perri had, sold over 100,000 records in the United States, and thus, From Autumn to Ashes became the highest selling band on Ferret Records. It had also featured vocals on the song "Short Stories With Tragic Endings" from Melanie Wills of the band One True Thing. A reviewer on Punk News stated the album had the ability to "put you to sleep like a baby's lullaby, then smash you awake with the most gut wrenching, floor pounding hardcore this side of the Mississippi freakin' river." In 2000, under the music label Tribunal, the band released the Sin, Sorrow and Sadness EP on March 5, and later took part in the Warped Tour during the summer months. In 2002, the band employed a live drummer for a number of songs so that Mark could focus on the songs in which he did more vocals.