Current & Former Members of Every Time I Die, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Norma Jean & Kid Gorgeous Form Better Lovers & Share "30 Under 13" Single (SharpTone Records)
As you may recall, early 2022 ushered in the break-up of Buffalo, New York Metalcore/Hardcore Punk behemoth Every Time I Die (ETID.) In the media and across their various personal and band social media accounts, ETID's Jordan Buckley, Andy Williams, Stephen Micciche & Clayton Holyoak were seemingly pitted against one-time ETID frontman and Jordan's own brother, Keith Buckley. Buckley, Williams, Micciche & Holyoak appeared to all be working on a new project together (with a then-unannounced new singer) and Keith Buckley seemed to be cooking up something of his own. It seemed to be a messy legal dispute and an unfortunate demise for one of the sub-genres' greatest bands. Just yesterday, we got news of the sheer existence of one of those new post-ETID projects.
Better Lovers, a newly-formed band featuring vocalist Greg Puciato, guitarists Jordan Buckley & Will Putney, drummer Clayton "Goose" Holyoak, and bassist Stephen "Steve" Micciche, have released their debut single, "30 Under 13," via SharpTone Records. The blistering, four-minute track and accompanying Eric Richter directed video serve as the perfect introduction to Better Lovers, a band whose music is as uncompromising, unapologetic, and undeniable as anything they've done individually. Collectively, Better Lovers members count themselevs as both current and former members of Every Time I Die, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Fear Before The March of Flames, Norma Jean, Soul Patch, Kid Gorgeous, Error, Killer Be Killed, Spylacopa, The Black Queen, Bayonet, END, and Fit for An Autopsy.
"Looking back, I'm so happy everything got me to where I am," explains Buckley. "The Pandemic and the last few years made me hungrier and more grateful. This isn't a hobby. This isn't temporary. This is the next evolution for each of us. Greg & Will rejuvenated me and made me even more confident. Now, everybody needs to know we're a wild animal that just broke out of the zoo—there's no trying to put it back in the cage." "Jordan sent me some already finished instrumental tracks and they hit me at just the right time," adds Puciato. "Those tracks woke up a side of me that I thought was fully extinct, but was merely evolving and changing. To my complete surprise, there was still something left in that area to dig at and the vessel for it made sense."
Putney, who had worked on the most recent Every Time I Die albums and won a 2021 GRAMMY Award for his production work on Body Count's Carnivore, encapsulates the band's thoughts: "it's a group of loaded weapons all firing at full-power ready for the next chapter of our music careers and I can confidently say our collective best work is ahead of us." As you will notice, Better Lovers features Putney, rather than Andy "The Butcher" Williams, who seemed to have been part of this project or another following the demise of ETID. It appears as though Williams other career as The Butcher from AEW wrestling tag team duo The Butcher & The Blade with Jesse "The Blade" Guilmette is now taking priority over his music career. A press release yesterday ended explaining, "tour dates are imminent" and mere hours later, Underoath & The Ghost Inside announced their co-headlining Summer Tour '23 with openers We Came As Romans and, you guessed it... Better Lovers! It appears as though news on more new music from Better Lovers is only imminent, as well, but for now, "30 Under 13" is now avialble on streaming services. Better Lovers is signed to SharpTone Records.