The Appleseed Cast

The Appleseed Cast
At Colorado Springs, October 2005
Background information
Origin	Lawrence, Kansas, United States
Genres	Alternative rock, indie rock, emo,post-rock
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Deep Elm, Tiger Style, The Militia Group, Graveface, Vagrant Records
Associated acts	Old Canes, Hundred Hands
Website	greenkansas.wixsite.com/theappleseedcast
Members	Christopher Crisci Taylor Holenbeck Nathan Wilder
Past members	Louie Ruiz Jason Wickersheim Josh "Cobra" Baruth Jordan Geiger Nathan "Jr." Richardson Aaron Coker Marc Young Aaron Pillar Nathan Whitman Ted Stevens John Momberg Lucas Oswald

The Appleseed Cast is an American rock band, based in Lawrence, Kansas, with 20 years of recording and touring. The band was founded in the early days of emo by singer-guitarist Christopher Crisci and guitarist Aaron Pillar, and quickly grew to fame. The Appleseed Cast has steadily evolved over the release of eight full-length albums with Crisci at the songwriting helm, changing lineups but never breaking up, continuing to hone the TAC sound. The band’s current lineup includes Crisci, Taylor Holenbeck and Nathan Wilder, and touring musicians Ben Kimball and Nick Fredrickson, among others.

TAC’s predominantly guitar-based music has morphed from an early "emo" sound with an ethereal, yet punk sensibility, sharing context with such acts as Mineral, Braid and Sunny Day Real Estate, to a unique “post-rock” meets “indie” sound hinging on inventive, intricate drumming, sometimes subtle guitar arpeggios, and crowd-loving vocals, peaking with orchestrated cacophonies of instrumentation and a vast range of effects. Major acclaim first came in the early 2000s and earned them a 9.0 from Pitchfork for their album set Low Level Owl, Vol I and Vol II. The band has enjoyed continued high praise for their work on Two Conversations, Peregrine, Illumination Ritual, and others. Since the band's beginning in 1996, Crisci's unique style as a songwriter has created the highly revered and unique "Appleseed" sound, which has remained relevant and strangely timeless through its evolution, allowing the band to continue on, while others that came up at the same time have come and gone.

The band formed in 1996 in Southern California with Crisci and Pillar joining bassist Jason Wickersheim and drummer Louie Ruiz under the name December's Tragic Drive (derived from lyrics of the song "Seven" by Sunny Day Real Estate). In 1998, the band – now billed as The Appleseed Cast - signed to Deep Elm Records out of New York — before relocating to North Carolina — and released its debut album, The End of the Ring Wars. The album was met with considerable approval from the emo and underground scenes.

In 1999, the band relocated to Lawrence, Kansas without Ruiz, recruiting new drummer Josh "Cobra" Baruth. Later that same year the group entered the Red House studio in Eudora, Kansas, with producer Ed Rose, who would go on to produce the next four Appleseed Cast records. The end result was Mare Vitalis, the band's second full-length album. The album showed progression from the dynamics-heavy rock of The End of the Ring Wars. Essentially a concept album on the movements of the sea – encapsulated in such song titles as "Mare Mortis," "Poseidon" and "Kilgore Trout" (also an allusion to the recurring Kurt Vonnegut character of the same name) —, the album is a fan favorite, heavy on atmosphere, crescendo, subtly undulating guitar arpeggios and the intricate drumming of Baruth, who clearly brought a new dimension to the band's sonic palette.