Every Time I Die is an American band of five members from Buffalo, New York. The band was formed in 1998 The band was formed by Jordan Burkley(the lead guitarist), Andy Williams(a rhythm guitarist), and Michael Novak(a drummer). Later on Keith Buckley joined on the vocals and John McCarthy as a bassist. The band has since lost some members and gained new ones in between but maintaining the Buckleys and Andy Williams.
Every Time I Die’s first official show was in Hamilton, Ontario. They promoted their music with a short tour spanning their hometown, Buffalo and Toronto. It is then that they met Goodfellow Records producer Chris Logan who gave them a shot by releasing their debut EP, The Burial Plot Bidding War in December 1999. Before then, the band had actively contributed to “Sound and the Fury” –a Redstar Records’ Various Artists compilation.
Soon afterward, there was a new addition to the band Aaron Ratajczak who replaced McCarthy as the bassist. With Aaron on the team, Every Time I Die went into Zing Studios in Westfield, Massachusetts and began recording their debut full-length in 2001. The result was Last Night In Town. They then embarked on an East Coast tour with the support of Killswitch Engage. The same year saw one of the many bass changes as Ratajczak did not stay long. He was replaced by Stephen Micciche of Kid Gorgeous. Despite the many changes, the band soldiered on strong and today they deliver energetic and intense live shows.
Our top 10 countdowns will feature Every Time I Die’s greatest hits of all time from the past to date. Although they initially formed as a hardcore punk band, their music style also manifests strong influences from heavy metal and rock. However, they are strongly influenced by Southern rock. Their sound may seem chaotic, sharp, and manifold but their lyrics are intentionally crafted to be strange sarcastic, and sardonic.
#10 – C++ (Love Will Get You Killed)
This song was one of the many written by Keith Buckley after he abandoned the band’s tour to be with his wife Lindsay and their unborn child. Lindsay had suffered life-threatening complications in 2015 in his 7-month-old pregnancy that forced her to give birth prematurely to their daughter. While in the hospital, Buckley would write lyrics at night to make sense of his confusion. This particular song is about the first night he spent with his wife and their newborn in the intensive care unit and how helpless he felt at the moment. The song was released in 2016 as the third single of their eighth studio album.
#9 – Thirst
“Thirst” is the first song of Every Time I Die’s seventh studio album, From Parts Unknown. The album’s track listing and artwork were released on May 19 2014 with “Thirst” as one of its most popular songs. The song’s music video features two men running through the outskirts of Buffalo City on their way to a house party. The song is the shortest track out of all others in the album, running slightly under one and a half minutes.
#8 – Glitches
Every Time I Die frontman Keith Buckley wrote “Glitches,” after the Paris terrorist attack in 2016. The occurrence set him back a great deal as he once said in an interview. He revealed his unpreparedness to deal with a tragedy of that caliber, messing up his pre-established system of peace and patience. The song was released on September 23, 2016, as a single from the band’s Low Teens. The song exudes an intense and energetic vibrant tune with Its meaning- a sudden change or malfunction.
#7 – Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space
This track is the first single from their sixth studio album, Ex Lives. Bimbo in this context was derived from the Italian word meaning “baby.” The song was released in 2012 and recorded by Joe Baressi, who has also worked with other rock bands like Coheed and Cambria, and Queens of the Stone Age. The video was directed by ETID frontman Keith Buckley, paying attention to acknowledge the masochism he wrote about in the song. Interestingly, the album’s cover photo was brought to Keith’s attention by a fan on Twitter.
#6 – The Coin Has A Say
“The Coin Has A Say” was written by the 5-man team; Andy Williams, Keith Buckley, Jordan Buckley, Stephen Micciche, and Daniel Davison. The song has a Hardcore and Heavy metal style to It and was released as the ninth single from their Low Teens album. The album peaked at number one on eight different charts in Australia, Canada, German, Scotland, the UK, and the US. Their success is remarkable in the US, as out of the 8 charts, three were American. The highest chart position was attained on the US Vinyl Albums, where Low Teens was first on the list.
#5 – Ebolarama
“Ebolarama” was released as the first single of Every Time I Die’s Hot Damn album. The song’s video was shot on the band’s March 2003 tour with Unearth and Evergreen Terrace. Although they had initially planned to release the album in June but It was done a month later after reporting progress on February 13, 2003. It was released on July 1, 2003 and was received quite well before embarking on an American tour to support Steve-O, the Jackass star.
#4- Fear and Trembling
This track’s title was inspired by the book Fear and Trembling by the existentialist Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. The book examines the Biblical binding of Isaac. Keith Buckley puts his history as an English teacher and his love for British literature to good use to come up with the song, of course with the help of his bandmates. They released the song under Epitaph Records on September 23, 2016, as the first single of their Low Teens album.
#3 – Post Boredom
This song was a comeback from a long period of lockdowns and arrests caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. It was released as a single for Every Time I Die’s Radical album, which was released on October 22, 2021. The album was recorded, produced, and released via Epitaph Records, and a pop-up show in their hometown of Buffalo. The song came as a surprise to fans as It was released on the same day and later debuted on The Ghost Inside’s East Coast return show.
#2 – A Colossal Wreck
“A Colossal Wreck was released on December 8, 2020, ahead of Every Time I Die’s live stream event. The event took place 11 from the track’s release date instead of the band’s annual show, Tid the Season. They also released “Desperate Pleasures” along with this song. These two tracks are singles from their ninth album which was completed in early 2020. However, due to the escalation of the Coronavirus pandemic, they decided to put Its release on hold until they were able to promote it on tour as they have for their previous albums.
#1- “It Remembers” (feat. Brendon Urie)
We close out our Top 10 Every Time I Die songs list with the killer track “It Remembers.” Listen to that guitar lick that starts out the tune. It’s Led Zeppelin meets Black Sabbath. The song features Brandon Urie of Panic At The Disco. The song It Remebers was released on the album Low Teens. The album was released in 2016.
Feature Photo: Henry Laurisch, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Top 10 Every Time I Die Songs article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2023
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