About "Abandon All Ships"

Abandon All Ships is a Canadian rock band from Toronto, Ontario. Formed in 2006, the group is currently signed to Universal Music Group, Underground Operations along with Rise Records and its subsidiary, Velocity. The band has since released a self-titled EP independently in 2009 and one full-length studio album, Geeving in 2010 through Universal and Rise.
Abandon All Ships was founded in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, originally playing covers of Norma Jean songs. Most of the band members attended Dante Alighieri Catholic Secondary, including lead vocalist Angelo Aita, keyboardist Sebastian Cassisi-Nunez, and original guitarist David Stephens. The three just started the band to play gigs and their career escalated from there. They eventually toured and opened for many larger bands in their same genre or home country such as Silverstein.
Abandon All Ships widely were thought to be a Christian band, but this is controversial due to the band's regular use of profanity and suggestive lyrics in their songs and eventually settled the debate that while a majority of the members are Christians, the band is not a Christian band. Abandon All Ships quickly became popular on the Internet through Myspace, and were noticed even more after their appearance on the MuchMusic's television program Disband early-on in their career.

Geeving (2009–2010)

In early 2010, the group was signed to Underground Operations, Rise Records, and Velocity Records. They released their first single, "Take One Last Breath" formerly "Pedestrians Is Another Word for Speedbumps" on June 29, 2010; the music video premiered online the same day^. They played at the 2010 Bluesfest in Ottawa, Ontario. At the festival they played some new songs, including "Geeving", "Guardian Angel" which features Lena Katina from the Russian band t.A.T.u.. "Maria (I Like It Loud)", and their first single "Take One Last Breath" all were to be featured on the then-upcoming album, Geeving.
The single "Megawacko 2.0" was released on iTunes on August 24, 2010, along with the music video premiering on MuchMusic that same day. By September of that year, "Bro My God" also premiered with online streaming. Abandon All Ships with their increasing popularity were then included on the Monument tour from October 29, 2010 to December 5, 2010 with Miss May I, Sleeping with Sirens, The Crimson Armada, and Bury Tomorrow.

[edit] Departure of the Paiano brothers (2011–present)

On January 24, 2011, lead guitarist, Kyler Browne left the band. Browne left a note on his Facebook profile stating: "I have left AAS due to my own personal reason's having nothing to do with anyone in the band personally. The guys are all brother's to me however my heart was not in it anymore. I thank you all for all the love and support and I wish you all the best." Taking Kyler's place is lead guitarist Daniel Ciccotelli. Abandon All Ships will be participating in the 2011 Vans Warped Tour for selected dates on the east leg.
On July 14, 2011 the Paiano brothers, Andrew (rhythm guitar) and Daniel (drums), parted ways with the band^. At first, it was unclear exactly what led to the departure of these members, but it was later revealed that they were kicked-out as opposed to it being their choice as not continuing as a part of the group. The remaining members explained "Well if you haven't already heard the news, Andrew and Dan Paiano will not be continuing in Abandon All Ships due to personal reasons I would not like to touch upon at this point and time. We wish them the best of luck with whatever they do in the future. As for Abandon All Ships, we will without a doubt be continuing the band." Shortly after the incident, Andrew was invited to join Velocity Records labelmates Woe, Is Me as lead guitarist, to which he accepted to. Chris Taylor, formerly of Kingdoms, has joined the band since Abandon All Ships' time on Warped Tour, performing drums.

Christianity label

Although having Christian themes in the band's music as a regular feature, Abandon All Ships is not a Christian band. Also notably is that despite including these Christian themes in their music, the band's lyrics also frequently feature profanity. In addition, the name of their album, "geeving", is taken from the Urban Dictionary definition of the word,^[8] which directly reads "Couldn't care less. Don't give a shit. Leave me alone. Fuck off. Happy Thanks Geeving."^[9] Also, vocalist, Angelo Aita has commented that the title track to Geeving is "about not giving a fuck."

[edit] Band members

Current members

• Angelo Aita – unclean vocals (since 2006)
• Martin Broda – clean vocals (since 2006), bass guitar (since 2009), drums (2006–2009)
• Sebastian Cassisi-Nunez – synthesizers, keyboards (since 2006)
• Daniel Ciccotelli – lead guitar (since 2011)
• Chris Taylor - drums (since 2011)

Former members

• Kyler Stephen Browne – lead guitar, backing vocals (2009–2011)
• Nick Fiorini - bass guitar (2009)
• Francesco Pallotta - bass guitar (2006–2009)
• David Stephens - lead guitar, backing vocals (2006–2009)
• Andrew Paiano – rhythm guitar (2008–2011)
• Daniel Paiano – drums (2009–2011)