Army of Me

Army of Me started with Vince Scheuerman, a singer and guitarist raised in a religious community in Gaithersburg, Maryland, who turned to music when mainstream culture left him cold. He and his longtime friend John Hutchins, on bass, did a stint in a ska band called Sidewinders SC, then walked out to build something of their own, and in 2001 they formed Cactus Patch with drummer Dennis Manuel.

Cactus Patch churned out three CD-R EPs and a self-titled album on their own dime, then won WHFS's Big Break contest, which bought them an opening slot at the 2001 HFStival; the name change to Army of Me came soon after. Their Washington, D.C. following was built the hard way, with street teams, constant touring and year after year on the HFStival's street stage. Guitarist Brad Tursi joined in 2003 to fill out the live sound, and the independently released Fake Ugly EP and Demos EP carried them up and down the East Coast and through the Midwest.

The Rise EP in 2006 delivered "Going Through Changes", a guitar-heavy slice of self-examination with a title that says exactly what's on its mind: no irony, just crunching chords and a vocal that sounds like it means every word.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.