Poison the Well (band)
Poison the Well is an American metalcore band from Miami, Florida who were originally active between 1997 and 2010. Lead guitarist Ryan Primack and drummer Chris Hornbrook are the only remaining founding members, with long-serving vocalist Jeffrey Moreira being featured on all five of their studio albums. The band reformed for numerous shows in 2015, and again in both 2016 and 2020; they have since reunited permanently and will release their first studio album in 17 years, Peace in Place, in 2026. Their albums have sold a combined total of over 300,000 copies in the United States as of 2012.
History
Formation: Doubting Thomas to An Acre Lost (1997–1998)
Poison the Well was originally formed under the name Doubting Thomas by lead vocalist Aryeh Lehrer and lead guitarist Ryan Primack in the autumn of 1997. Lehrer was responsible for coining the name Doubting Thomas. The band was originally based in Coral Springs, Florida, where the two attended J. P. Taravella High School, but later moved to a rehearsal space in Miami, Florida. Lehrer, who had previously played in the band Reaching Out, recruited rhythm guitarist Russel Saunders, formerly of the band Side Order, and bassist Shane Halpern who had recently moved from North Carolina down to Florida.In December 1997, Doubting Thomas was renamed An Acre Lost, a name Saunders' girlfriend came up with.
''The Opposite of December... A Season of Separation'' (1999–2001)
From October 2–10, 1999, Poison the Well recorded their first full-length album, The Opposite of December... A Season of Separation, with producer Jeremy Staska at Studio 13. The band invited former vocalists Hosein and Lehrer to provide backing vocals on the song "Not Within Arms Length", the lyrics of which had been written by Hosein before he left the band in 1998.Bassist Landsman was kicked out of the band in late September 2000 due to ongoing personal differences. Landsman had been the vocalist in the Florida metalcore band Until the End and would later front the band Target Nevada with several ex-Poison the Well members. Nevertheless, Landsman agreed to honour Poison the Well's already-booked upcoming show on October 6, 2000, at Club Q in Davie, Florida. The show was a landmark event, not only as Landsman's final show with Poison the Well, but because it also celebrated the release of Until the End's debut extended play, already released on September 12, 2000, through Equal Vision Records. Despite rumors that he walking off stage mid-way through their show, Landsman finished Poison the Well's set and went on to perform with Until the End later that evening. However, Hornbrook was later asked to leave Until the End at Landsman's insistence.
Michael Gordillo was immediately announced as Landsman's replacement. Gordillo's first show with Poison the Well was on October 20, 2000, at the Downtime in Manhattan, New York.
Poison the Well continued touring for most of 2001 in promotion of The Opposite of December... A Season of Separation. They performed at the Board Festival in Boston, Massachusetts, Hellfest in East Syracuse, New York, Monster Fest in Burlington, Vermont and Krazy Fest 4 in Louisville, Kentucky
In February 2001, Gordillo departed; a month later he was replaced by California-based bassist Javier Van Huss, formerly of the bands Enewetak, Eighteen Visions, Throwdown, Breakneck, Bleeding Through and Wrench. From mid-March to mid-April 2001, Poison the Well toured with Candiria, Origin and Cryptopsy.
Bassist Iano Dovi, formerly of the band Pintsize, joined in August 2001, just in time for a two-week tour with Unearth, God Forbid and Martyr AD across Canada, the Northeast and the Midwest.
Unreleased splits and ''Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder'' reissue (2000–2002)
In August 2000, Poison the Well announced that a split 7-inch vinyl was in development for release through a one-off deal with Pennsylvania-based record label Surprise Attack Records and Georgia-based record label Jawk Records. The band sharing the split was originally meant to be their touring mates Twelve Tribes and Poison the Well recorded two exclusive songs in early October 2000: "Sticks and Stones Never Made Sense" and a cover of The Smashing Pumpkins' "Today". These were the band's first recordings played in Drop C tuning and to feature their new bassist Mike Gordillo. By November 2000, the split, which had been scheduled for release in December 2000, had been pushed back to late January–early February 2001 and Twelve Tribes was replaced by Florida-based band A New Kind of American Saint. Poison the Well had been touring with A New Kind of American Saint's guitarist Michael Peters the month prior.The second release with Undecided Records was to be another split 7-inch, this one with Eighteen Visions. The split for Undecided Records was to feature a Metallica cover from each of the bands as part of the record label's Crush 'Em All series, which had already seen a split by Shai Hulud and BoySetsFire released as Volume 1 in March 2000. The series was also planning other splits for Indecision and Walls of Jericho, Today Is the Day and Supermachiner and Disembodied ; Poison the Well and Eighteen Visions were to be the third release in the series with a tentative release date for the summer of 2001. In January 2001, the Crush 'Em All series switched from 7-inch vinyl to compact discs. Poison the Well planned to record a cover of Metallica's "...And Justice for All", but due to complications with Trustkill Records, were unable to record it and their split with Eighteen Visions was shelved.
Poison the Well's split for Surprise Attack Records and Jawk Records was also going through delays. Although both Poison the Well and A New Kind of American Saint had recorded their songs, Trustkill Records was unhappy that Poison the Well would be releasing new and original material on another record label. Trustkill Records originally wanted both songs, "Sticks and Stones Never Made Sense" and their cover of The Smashing Pumpkins' "Today", to appear on their forthcoming sophomore full-length. On February 11, 2001, it was announced that an agreement had been struck with Trustkill Records but that it could not be released until after Poison the Well's new album was out, leading A New Kind of American Saint to drop off the project.
Only week later, on February 18, 2001, it was reported that Throwdown, which featured members of Eighteen Visions, would replace A New Kind of American Saint on the split 7-inch vinyl. Throwdown immediately planned to enter the studio to record two new songs: "False Idols" and a cover of Weezer's "Say It Ain't So". But Throwdown's recording session was pushed back by several months due to their touring schedule. In March 2001, Surprise Attack Records used the recording of "Sticks and Stones Never Made Sense" on their Various Artists sampler Budget Sampler: ''It's All About the Money, co-released with Canadian record labels Goodfellow Records and Redstar Records. Poison the Well then performed their cover of "Today" at Hellfest 2001 on Friday, July 6, 2001, at Liquids in East Syracuse, New York. Throwdown finally entered the studio to record their side of the split in mid-August 2001; by this time, their choice cover had changed to Deftones' "Around the Fur".
"Sticks and Stones Never Made Sense" was eventually re-recorded for Poison the Well's sophomore full-length Tear from the Red in October–November 2001. Throwdown's original song "False Idols" was also later re-recorded for their full-length album Haymaker. Jawk Records announced that the artwork for the split was designed in October 2001, and in January 2002 the test presses of the 7-inch vinyl had been received. Nevertheless, the release was ultimately shelved. The original recording of "Sticks and Stones Never Made Sense" was later used as a bonus track on the Japanese version of You Come Before You, released by Warner Music Japan on October 29, 2003, and appeared on the b-side to the 10-inch vinyl single for "Ghostchant" ". The band later posted it on their Myspace page on October 10, 2006. Poison the Well's cover of "Today" was never released; the band later recorded another The Smashing Pumpkins cover, "Soma" for the ReIgnition Recordings Various Artists compilation The Killer in You: A Tribute to Smashing Pumpkins''.
''Tear from the Red'' (2001–2002)
Poison the Well had originally planned to record their sophomore album in April 2001, after returning from a booked Asian tour, with a scheduled release date of August 1, 2001. At that time, the release was to be made up of eleven original songs and a cover song. The cover song was quickly dropped and the band announced that they would instead track twelve original songs. Once the Asian tour was cancelled, the band took the opportunity to spend more time writing the album and opted to tour North America during the spring and summer of 2001. Tear from the Red was written over a period of one year, from the summer of 2000 to the summer of 2001, during which time the band played with five different bassist. Landsman, Gordillo, Van Huss, Albert and Dovi each contributed to the songwriting and arrangements.Jacob Bannon was originally consulted to design the artwork for Tear from the Red but the band instead hired Demon Hunter bassist Don Clark at Asterik Studio. The compact disc edition booklet was designed to include a semi-transparent parchment paper after every page. Poison the Well planned to release Tear from the Red on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2002. However, the date fell on a Thursday and Trustkill Records was forced to work with music industry standards of releasing new music on Tuesdays. The date was therefore set for the first Tuesday after Valentine's Day, February 19, 2002. Trustkill Records began accepting pre-orders on February 8, 2002, and any orders placed prior to the release date included a free 18" by 24" poster.
Poison the Well then reunited with Hatebreed for the Perseverance Tour 2002 which took the bands through the Midwest and West Coast from February 28 to March 19, 2002. They were accompanied by Bane and What Feeds the Fire on all dates and Hemlock for one of the legs; Bane, however, had to pull out towards the end of the tour when their close friend Steve Neale passed away. It was while Poison the Well was on this tour that Tear from the Red blew up in the media. The album entered Billboard's charts on March 9, 2002, reaching number 23 on the Independent Albums chart and number 36 on the Heatseekers Albums charts. Tear from the Red also entered CMJ
Poison the Well welcomed new bassist Geoffrey Bergman, formerly of Curl Up and Die, in mid-May 2002, but he did not officially take up the position until June 1, 2002, when the band embarked on a tour with Strung Out, Rise Against and Rufio The bands hit the road from June 1–29, 2002 playing in the South, East Coast, Midwest and West Coast. From July 9 to August 9, 2002, Poison the Well toured across the entire United States supporting Kittie, Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage. Due to van troubles upon leaving Florida, however, Poison the Well missed the first two shows of the tour; Killswitch Engage also missed the first couple of dates because of their performance at Hellfest.
On August 27, 2002, Poison the Well played a surprise show at Kaffe Krystal in Miami, Florida, disguised under the name Tear from the Red on the bill. The event highlighting local Florida hardcore band Destro's final show, but also celebrated the release of Poison the Well's Tear from the Red 7-inch vinyl singles on Trustkill Records and the band's first DVD Tear from the Road. The DVD included a documentary and live footage of the band on their recent tours promoting Tear from the Red, along with the music video for "Botchla" and a making-of the video feature. The DVD was edited by Christopher Sims through his film production company TimeCode Entertainment, and was marketed through Trustkill Records and Velvet Hammer's promotional division Streetwise Concepts & Culture.