Biography
Emerging in 2007 from Lexington, Kentucky, Emarosa formed a year earlier as an American rock outfit whose post-hardcore origins blended emo and metalcore textures. Guitarist ER White and lead vocalist Bradley Walden have remained the constant figures while the group’s sound shifted toward alternative rock and pop on the 2008 debut album Relativity before fully embracing synth pop on Peach Club in 2019 and Sting in 2023.
Chris Roetter on vocals, ER White on guitar, bassist Will Sowers, drummer Lukas Koszewski, and keyboardist Jordan Stewart launched the project in 2006; rhythm guitarist Madison Stolzer joined them for the seven-track EP This Is Your Way Out, recorded the following year. Rise Records released the full-length Relativity in 2008, which brought in vocalist Jonny Craig, previously of Dance Gavin Dance, to replace Roetter and guitarist Jonas Ladekjaer to replace Stolzer. The record incorporated pop and alternative rock elements that helped it reach the Billboard 200 and Heatseekers charts.
The self-titled 2010 album climbed to number 69, outperforming its predecessor. After Craig’s departure in 2011, Emarosa added Tilian Pearson of Tides of Man; Craig’s short-lived return in 2013 ended when he formed Slaves, at which point Bradley Scott Walden, formerly of Squid the Whale, became the permanent singer. Recording sessions late that year produced Versus, issued in September 2014 and peaking at number 61 on the Billboard 200—the band’s strongest chart showing to date. Ladekjaer and Koszewski soon exited, prompting the 2015 recruitment of touring rhythm guitarist Matthew Marcellus from This or the Apocalypse and drummer Branden Morgan.
Once Sowers departed, the group moved to Hopeless Records and issued 131 in 2016. The 131 Revisited EP followed in 2017, presenting drastically reworked versions of four tracks from the prior album. With White and Walden steering the direction, Peach Club arrived in early 2019 and introduced new wave and synth pop textures; Sting, released in 2023, intensified that approach and featured the singles “Stay” and “Preach.”
Chris Roetter on vocals, ER White on guitar, bassist Will Sowers, drummer Lukas Koszewski, and keyboardist Jordan Stewart launched the project in 2006; rhythm guitarist Madison Stolzer joined them for the seven-track EP This Is Your Way Out, recorded the following year. Rise Records released the full-length Relativity in 2008, which brought in vocalist Jonny Craig, previously of Dance Gavin Dance, to replace Roetter and guitarist Jonas Ladekjaer to replace Stolzer. The record incorporated pop and alternative rock elements that helped it reach the Billboard 200 and Heatseekers charts.
The self-titled 2010 album climbed to number 69, outperforming its predecessor. After Craig’s departure in 2011, Emarosa added Tilian Pearson of Tides of Man; Craig’s short-lived return in 2013 ended when he formed Slaves, at which point Bradley Scott Walden, formerly of Squid the Whale, became the permanent singer. Recording sessions late that year produced Versus, issued in September 2014 and peaking at number 61 on the Billboard 200—the band’s strongest chart showing to date. Ladekjaer and Koszewski soon exited, prompting the 2015 recruitment of touring rhythm guitarist Matthew Marcellus from This or the Apocalypse and drummer Branden Morgan.
Once Sowers departed, the group moved to Hopeless Records and issued 131 in 2016. The 131 Revisited EP followed in 2017, presenting drastically reworked versions of four tracks from the prior album. With White and Walden steering the direction, Peach Club arrived in early 2019 and introduced new wave and synth pop textures; Sting, released in 2023, intensified that approach and featured the singles “Stay” and “Preach.”
Albums
Peach Club
2019
131 Reimagined
2017
131
2016
Versus
2014
Emarosa
2010
Relativity
2008
This Is Your Way Out
2007
Singles
