Three Days Grace

Three Days Grace balance moments of extreme emotion on an axis of pummeling hard rock anthems and pensive balladry. Along the way, the Juno Award-nominated multiplatinum record-breaking Ontario, Canada quartet have amassed billions of streams and millions of album sales, sold out arenas on multiple continents, and reached unprecedented heights, earning a staggering 17 total #1 entries on the Mediabase Active Rock Chart and sharing the record for “Most #1 singles on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs Chart” with 16. In the wake of 2018’s Outsider, they picked up “Rock Artist of the Year” at the iHeartRadio Music Awards and “Rock Songwriters of the Year” for the single “The Mountain” at the SOCAN Awards. The album garnered nods for “Album of the Year” and “Rock Album of the Year” at the 2019 Juno Awards. Three years prior, 2015’s Human housed the gold-selling “I Am Machine” and “Painkiller.” Achieving dozens of gold and platinum certifications worldwide, their catalog comprises the double-platinum Three Days Grace [2003], triple-platinum One-X [2006], gold-certified Life Starts Now [2009], and epic Transit of Venus [2012]. As “one of the most-streamed rock bands in the world,” they impressively attract over 8 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Speaking to quietly inescapable presence, they appeared on the NBA2K19 Soundtrack curated by Travis Scott, while Jeris Johnson served up a viral cover of “Never Too Late” and the late Lil Peep and Lil Tracy have sampled “The Real You.” Thus far, their number one smashes span “Chalk Outline,” “The High Road,” “Misery Loves My Company,” “World So Cold,” “Good Life,” “Break,” “Never Too Late,” “Animal I Have Become,” “Pain,” “Just Like You,” and “Home.” However, the band ascend to another stratosphere on their 2022 seventh full-length offering, Explosions [RCA Records].

Wage War have forged an ironclad hybrid of battering ram grooves, gnashing guitars, and melodic hooks in the heat of those extremes. Following the most trying year in recent memory, the Florida quintet—Briton Bond [lead vocals], Cody Quistad [rhythm guitar, clean vocals], Seth Blake [lead guitar], Chris Gaylord [bass], and Stephen Kluesener [drums]—only strengthened their creative bond on their fourth full-length offering, ‘Manic’ [Fearless Records]. Musically, the band struck a seamless balance between bludgeoning grooves, soaring melodies, electronic fits, and battering ram riffs, straining their past, present, and future into one cohesive statement. Thematically, they confronted everything from personal struggles to trolls and two-faced friends. After amassing nearly 300 million streams and receiving widespread acclaim from Billboard, Loudwire, Alternative Press, and more, the group delivered eleven anthems meant to connect through turbulence. “Manic’ encompasses everything we’ve gone through as musicians in the last year-and-a-half,” exclaims Stephen. “The whole industry halted, and we technically lost our jobs. Our scene was among the first to leave and the last to come back. The album captures the whole period. That’s how I’d describe ‘Manic.’” “Mania is a wild emotion,” observes Cody. “The last year was all severe highs and lows. We had some victories, but we’ve also had so many low points. We’ve built this thing for the last ten years and put all of our chips into it. We’ve missed birthdays and funerals, but we’ve done some extraordinary things. Last year, we found ourselves wondering if it would ever come back. That’s really what the album is about. ”’Manic’ represents the apex of an intense creative journey. They built a diehard audience with ‘Blueprints’ [2015] and ‘Deadweight’ [2017] and through incessant touring. 2019’s ‘Pressure’ exploded right out of the gate. “Low” piled on 23 million streams with “Who I Am” at 12 million streams and “Me Against Myself” at 8 million streams. Beyond bringing their total stream tally past ­a-quarter-of-a-billion, it landed on Loudwire’s “50 Best Metal Albums of 2019,” while New Noise Magazine graded it “4-out-of-5 stars” and Alternative Press raved, “Wage War are unapologetically changing the game on all fronts on ‘Pressure’.”

A rapper, singer, and musician with an aggressive style and an angry world view, Zero 9:36 rose from a cult figure in the Philadelphia hip-hop community to an alternative artist with a nationwide following by the time he was 22. Under the name Zero, his machine-gun delivery and caustic verses made him a talent to watch with his 2016 mixtape Paradise Campground. By 2019, he'd changed his handle to Zero 9:36 and combined rapping and singing as guitars and electronics took on a bigger place in his arrangements on the 2019 EP You Will Not Be Saved.

Zero 9:36 was born Matthew Cullen on May 11, 1997 in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, a suburb 25 miles from Philadelphia. His first experience in a recording studio came when he was ten years old; a relative who worked in music production needed a child's voice for a vocal sample, and young Matthew got the job. By the time he was 12, Cullen had discovered rap music, citing Tory Lanez, Blackbear, and D-Pryde as key influences. Adopting the stage name Zero, he began honing his skills as a rapper, devising a rapid-fire flow and a confrontational lyrical stance that led to frequent comparisons to Eminem. In 2013, Zero's father died, and the loss added to the hard edge of his music and the intensity of his lyrics.

Zero developed a powerful underground following that grew with the release of his 2016 mixtape Paradise Campground, a hard-hitting set that included guest spots from his hero Tory Lanez (on "All the Time") and Huey Mack (on "We Don't Care"). Zero's star continued to rise as he landed a spot on Futuristic's "As Seen on the Internet" concert tour, his independent success attracted the attention of major labels, and he struck a deal with Atco Records. Zero changed his billing to Zero 9:36, and his production developed a bigger and more abrasive sound that incorporated elements of electronic and industrial music, alternative rock, and metal. His first track under the Atco deal, "Leave the Light On," appeared on March 1, 2019, while "Aim Steady," a collaboration with Boonn, was released on June 25, 2019. An ambitious seven-track EP, You Will Not Be Saved, made noise when it was issued on September 27, 2019.