Emerging from America’s plains in 2013, Blacklite District blended classic hard rock, hip-hop, alternative rock, trap, and electro-pop under the direction of vocalist, songwriter, guitarist, rapper, and producer Kyle Pfeiffer. Before the project shifted to a solo venture for Pfeiffer in 2018, the outfit had already issued two full-length albums and two EPs, propelled into wider view the previous year by the breakthrough single “Cold as Ice.” Two years after that transition, Pfeiffer issued the full-lengths You’re Welcome and Instant // Concern under the Blacklite District banner.
Vocalist Roman James and guitarist Kyle Pfeiffer had performed separately for years across South Dakota’s Black Hills region when they connected with producer Stephen Short in early 2011 and entered a production deal. Blacklite District took shape that year and closed it with the EP This Is Where It Ends. The following year the group moved from South Dakota to Los Angeles and onward to Florida after signing with Warner-affiliated Silent Majority Group, the imprint run by Paramore and Creed manager Jeff Hanson. In 2013 the label put out the With Me Now EP, which the band promoted on a national tour alongside Saving Abel and Art of Dying. Their debut album, Worldwide Controversy, arrived in 2014. Two years later the more hip-hop- and pop-oriented To Whom It May Concern appeared, with Pfeiffer assuming lead vocal duties. The 2017 release Instant Gratification contained the viral track “Cold as Ice,” after which Pfeiffer adopted Blacklite District as his own stage name while Roman James began operating both collaboratively and solo under the alias R8eDR. In 2020 the albums Instant // Concern and You’re Welcome surfaced, the latter yielding “Falling,” Blacklite District’s highest-charting single to date. Both projects were released through Pfeiffer’s AK19 Entertainment LLC.
