Every Time I Die took shape as a cornerstone of American metalcore at the start of the 2000s, merging hardcore punk with alternative metal colored by Southern rock. The band developed a devoted audience yet stayed largely outside the mainstream until securing a contract with Epitaph shortly before issuing its fifth album, the widely praised New Junk Aesthetic, in 2009. Follow-up releases such as Low Teens in 2016 and Radical in 2021 sustained the group’s output of working-class metalcore that balanced introspection and openness with ferocity and drive. After more than two decades together, Every Time I Die declared its dissolution in January 2022.
Based in Buffalo, New York, the band formed during the winter of 1998. Brothers Keith, handling vocals, and Jordan Buckley, on guitar, led the original lineup that also featured guitarist Andrew Williams, bassist John McCarthy, and drummer Michael “Ratboy” Novak. On an early brief run through New York and Canada the newcomers connected with Goodfellow Records founder Chris Logan, who issued their debut EP, The Burial Plot Bidding War, in 2000. Aaron Radaczyk replaced McCarthy on bass before the recording of the first full-length, Last Night in Town, which Ferret Records released in spring 2001. The group promoted the album on tour with Killswitch Engage and joined the summer 2002 edition of Warped Tour.
Steven Micciche joined on bass in time for the 2003 sophomore album Hot Damn! and a U.S. tour supporting Jackass alumnus Steve-O. Micciche stepped away in early 2005, after which ex-Between the Buried and Me bassist Kevin Faulk entered the fold only to be removed three months later once sessions for the third album, Gutter Phenomenon, concluded. Former Nora bassist Chris Byrnes was brought in as his replacement. Phenomenon appeared that August, and touring followed.
Every Time I Die performed on Warped’s main stage throughout summer 2006, after which Byrnes announced his own departure. The band soon enlisted bassist number six, Keller Harbin from the Chariot, and continued performing into November with Atreyu and From First to Last before starting work on the next record. The concert film Shit Happens was also released in late October; shortly afterward the group entered the studio with producer Steve Evetts (Dillinger Escape Plan, Saves the Day) to create 2007’s well-received The Big Dirty, which helped secure the Epitaph deal. Harbin was succeeded that year by From Autumn to Ashes bassist Josh Newton, and the band resumed its demanding touring schedule.
Mike Novak exited in 2009 and was succeeded by drummer Ryan Leger a week before the release of the acclaimed fifth album New Junk Aesthetic. Ex Lives arrived in 2012 and carried Every Time I Die further into the mainstream, topping both U.S. and U.K. rock charts. The seventh studio album, From Parts Unknown, appeared in 2014 under the production of Converge’s Kurt Ballou. While touring that record Buckley was summoned home after his pregnant wife suffered a life-threatening complication that required an emergency caesarean delivery of their premature baby. Both mother and child survived without harm, yet the experience deeply affected Buckley and shaped much of the lyric writing for the next album. The Low Teens, which became the band’s second U.S. Hard Rock Chart number one, surfaced in 2016 and took its title from the subzero temperatures during the recording sessions with producer Will Putney. In subsequent years Daniel Davison departed and Clayton Holyoak took over on drums; the group was also honored with an official ETID Day on December 15th in its hometown of Buffalo. By late 2019 the members began writing their next album and returned to the studio in early 2020.
Later that year Every Time I Die released the singles “A Colossal Wreck” and “Desperate Pleasures” ahead of the October 2021 arrival of its ninth full-length, the relentlessly energetic Radical, again produced by Putney. Although the album earned strong critical praise, it proved to be the band’s final release. Just months afterward, in January 2022, Every Time I Die issued a statement confirming the end of the group.
