Biography
Vince Scheuerman, who fronts Army of Me, did not grow up amid the typical record-filled households that frequently populate rock biographies, yet neither he nor his three bandmates should be dismissed as potential standard-bearers of indie-alternative achievement. He entered the world inside a religious cult based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where he and bassist John Hutchins formed a childhood friendship while sharing that environment. Both men later described those formative experiences as “repressive and damaging.” At age seventeen the pair began performing in assorted local groups across Maryland and brought drummer Dennis Manuel into the fold, with guitarist Brad Tursi joining the lineup shortly afterward. Scheuerman temporarily stepped away from music to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland. The qualification led to a short-lived laboratory position examining atoms under a microscope, but lingering challenges adapting to life outside the cult persisted; for the singer, songwriter, and guitarist, music served as the primary release for those ongoing tensions with secular society. By 2002 Army of Me had begun logging frequent East Coast dates. Over the ensuing three years the band shared bills with Hot Hot Heat, Good Charlotte, Coldplay, the Strokes, Ben Lee, and the Vines while selling 7,000 copies of its demo recordings. An EP titled Fake Ugly also surfaced in early 2004 via the Florida indie label Pop Up Records. Extensive road work had become the group’s primary occupation, and although it collected multiple “best unsigned band” honors by 2005, Army of Me still lacked a label contract at the close of that year. The situation shifted in March 2006 when the musicians signed with Doghouse Records; around the same period Hutchins departed amicably. Army of Me carried on, issuing the Rise EP that November and then delivering its first full-length album, Citizen, in April 2007. A subsequent tour featured new bassist Conrado Bokoles.
Albums
