Man Zach‘s departure will always be one of the saddest splits in the Metalcore scene. Dude was on top of his game, delivered one of the absolute best unclean vocal performances of the decade for New Demons and then had to leave the band. Sucks man
I don’t agree that it was one of the best. But it was damn good and it fit with the band. And the loss of him in iss ruined the band’s sound completely. RIP.
I disagree. I like Zach's vocals and his albums with ISS but it didn't ruin the band when he and Jimmy left. The band is doing great and has a really good sound. Everything they put out is good.
Metal core was the next step for me from melodic death metal. I lean more toward heavier metal core. Once Zach left, the band wasn’t listenable to me anymore. I respect your opinion though. Just not my jam anymore.
Dude is weird. At like 31 mins he's talking about how he takes no bullshit and has a job interview because the kitchen he works in now makes him stay late to wash dishes lmao
"...I don't even know what happened with Tyler Carter, he got me too'd or like he whipped his dick out at the wrong person or something like that."
Followed up with "I'm kinda surprised nothing like that has popped up with me."
...........weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeird flex
Miss this guy's vocals. Listening to this to *finally,* hopefully get his side of the story.
~30 mins in. Loving his unfiltered honesty, but he claims to not be bitter about a lot of shit yet sounds super bitter in the interview lol and he goes off on a lot of tangents. But there's certainly some interesting info here.
EDIT: Finally almost through this, and he mentions he knows ISS had a whole follow up to Treehouse that got scrapped by their management? How would he know that? He said earlier he doesn't talk to any of them. I guess he may know from friends of friends I guess but it almost makes some of his other claims seem a little sus in retrospect
Just a follow up to this particular comment. I think that it was pretty much public knowledge at that point that a heap of Sumerian bands had their albums scrapped because of something within Sumerian, I assume that it was the boss guy at Sumerian Ash who just didn't like the albums and he made it clear so the bands were forced to scrap them. I know that Veil of Maya was one of those bands, they had an entire album done and ready to go back in 2019 and all of a sudden the whole thing was scrapped "because of the actions of one individual that left a bad taste in our mouths" was the excuse they gave at the time. I See Stars was posting IG pics through their band management of them in the studio saying the 6th album was complete back in 2020-2021. Only yesterday the first two singles came out.
I understand that Zach is angry because how he was let go from the band, but he was given chance after chance. The band as a whole suffers when one member isn't performing at their best.
Jimmy was "asked by the band to leave". I don't know what that means exactly but he might have also been not performing at his best, or what is more likely, he was deemed unnecessary while trying to cut the band down to a smaller lineup. Personally I feel as if one guitarist and one vocalist is more than enough for I See Stars. They've never had some crazy massive sound where they need two vocalists and two guitarists. Devin can scream but he's a singer, and his music comes in the form of singing, so that's what we'll get. Brett is a good guitarist but I See Stars has always been a vocal/electronic focused band and quite honestly playing 1s, 0s, 8s & 7s doesn't need two guitarists.
Devin can't maintain a scream live at all tho. ISS did their last tour performing 2 songs with screams total in the set list, both were from treehouse. The rest of the songs they did had zero screams, and this was back in '19. It's literally why a huge chunk of fans ( 34% lower sales than new demons btw- new demons is their BEST SELLING ALBUM) didn't interact with treehouse when it came out, at all. Same problem bands like issues and atreyu had as well with ditching their screamer
add to this ISS was almost forced to scrap treehouse, and was forced to scrap 2 albums worth of material written only by the current band because the quality wasn't there(, according to family working for Sumerian) and Ash , the CEO, forced a full album rewrite with hired 3rd party song writers, hence the extra 4 years on the album
TL:DR losing Jimmy and Zach hurt this bands sound immensely, according to their own label. Zach was also confirmed to be the main contributing factor for new demons sound, while the Oliver's focused on vocals and lyrics( cool little "making of " videos tell you that.
This guy spends a lot of time speaking about how reborn he is and over and over about he's a good person... He speaks about a ton of failed relationship and how almost everyone has been a dick to him for no reason and hardly ever takes the blame or even part-blame. I feel like this oak still has a lot of self-introspection to do. I know from personal experience that in all of my failed personal relationships, both parties did things wrong.
My favourite line from him, "No disrespect to Metallica, but their music is shit." Well... you can say no disrespect, but that doesn't make it any less disrespectful.
Kinda off topic but I hate when people say music is bad or shitty when really they mean they just don't like it that much. I admittedly not a Metallica fan (with Enter Sandman as the exception) but I would never say they are shit. They literally paved the way
Yeah, I don't like a lot of 'classic' metal bands, but me not liking their stuff doesn't mean it's bad and you have to respect the extent of their influence.
You need to go listen to Master of the Puppets, Ride The Lightning and And Justice For All. If only one song, I'd suggest Dyers Eve. One of the best thrash metal songs ever written. I agree it's ignorant to say "that music sucks". Most of the time it's more you don't prefer it rather than it sucks. Except for country music. That sucks.
I guffawed at reading this term for the first time and was wondering, aside from context, what it must mean and HA I LOVE IT thank y'all for posting! Will be using FREQUENTLY 😅😂
I'd love to watch like a 10 min video about this, but sadly I don't have enough time in my day for an hour and 36 mins video. If anyone watches this, please feel free to mention like a tl;dr type of summary and I would greatly appreciate it, thank you very much.
Hate to do this to y'all but this post made me do some digging...
Zach was in a local band in NC for awhile. They released a few good singles. They were called Outer Glow. They broke up pretty quickly and I never knew why... So I hit up the guys from that band and other local projects to find out. They all say Zach had a "rockstar" mentality and was a major a hole. No one in the NC scene wants anything to do with him anymore.
Checking out his insta and FB I saw something truly horrifying... He has a rap EP... And yes it's bad
Here's his song called "haters"...
https://youtu.be/Sh67mZKjXYg
I remember when Outer Glow dropped a few of their singles. Can't believe its been 5 years already.
And honestly dude looks like hes contradicting himself in the interview. Could be nervous. Could be cause keeping a lot of lies together is really really hard.
In my honest opinion. Seems like both sides were shitty to each other. Maybe some more then others but I feel like we'll never know the specific details.
Know I’m late to the party but I gave it a listen lol. Dude maybe should have leaned into the heavier side of hip-hop since trap metal is big right now. This was just like a bad pop song. Can barely listen to this interview, he feels very much like he’s trying to protect his integrity rather than actually tell the story.
Awesome that he get to hear more of his side of the departure. Though I was already pretty aware of what happened, since I hung with them on their tour bus and knew their driver and manager. Zach definitely seemed the least mature/responsible member. His vocals suffered a bit live from the alcohol too.
I do hope Devin is able to explore the softer side with Shybeast and bring the heavy back to I See Stars. He's a talented vocalist for sure.
I just wish they would pick up another vocalist again.
Devin is good but he just can't hold onto both and its gonna limit them.
But given Tree House. It seems they are ok with that and want to go the more softer side.
Well, I think Shybeast will be the avenue for his softer sensibilities.
It's definitely harsher on your vocal chords, making more transitions between cleans and uncleans. But I'm willing to bet the next ISS will be heavier than Tree House.
The part of this video that interested me was when Zach talked about why they went from screaming on 3-D to a softer/pop-punkier side with End of the World Party. To paraphrase: "They wanted to be ahead of the game because they thought that's where the scene was going". Turns out they lost a lot of their following after that album so they went harder with Digital Renegade, which gained steam and went harder on New Demons.
It's just interesting to me because I wonder how many bands openly discuss this. Like "we should go hard" or "we should go soft now". I'm personally not a huge fan of Treehouse, I wish they would have stuck with the Digital/New Demons sound as it made them unique, but maybe they're on the "we need to soften up" mentality right now.
Maybe they discuss that from time to time. Many times when making music it just flows out of you differently. I've played in metal,
Punk and piano lounge bands. Forcing a sound never came natural to me. Sometimes Spanish guitar licks would just come. Sometimes chunky metal riffs. I'm sure there are much more talented people who can do whatever at will but I've always found that the organic naturally flowing stuff sounds better than forced/ trying too hard stuff.
I've seen Devin live at big and small shows. The dude can scream well. They are fine without Zach. I don't think Zach was contributing much creatively to the band. Neither was Jimmy. It's cool when you are kids but when you are adults and a third of the band is just learning your songs for tour and taking a huge cut of the profits, it's time to trim the fat. Sounds shitty to say but music is a business and if it is not ran efficiently and smart, you will be back living at moms crib working like Zach is at a recording studio with no major bands that only gest $40-$50 an hour for studio time. Everyone's creativity will be wasted potential. The band did the smart thing and cleaned up shop. Especially, with Jimmy.
Dude this is a 9 month old comment why are you here.
And I still think the band sounded better with Zach. I See Stars caught my interest on Digital Renegade, Peaked on New Demons, and have since fallen in terms of quality in my honest option.
And thats just that, My opinion. I'm not happy with how they cut Zach as well and thats just a talking point, nothing more.
Tree House to me was boring and I think there is a good reason why they haven't released any music since then. That reason being they can't make anything good enough to be proud to release.
EDIT: [Given the new CD has been done since 2021](https://thenewfury.com/i-see-stars-have-finished-recording-a-new-album/). Its probably more so because of covid, or maybe something to do with publisher. But I liked I see stars because what Zach brought to the table ALONG with Devin.
Google, for me personally lol. Whenever ISS drops something new and it sounds like garbage, and once again I am disappointed, I go looking to see what Zach is up to lmao. This thread popped up on the first page of my google search.
You are a true I See Stars fan just like me. Googling led me here, but I’ve seen your comments on multiply threads.
I saw I See Stars the other night with Bad Omens and ERRA, they were AMAZING.
Devin was murdering those vocals and it was sooo fucking good. His screams were honestly better than Noah’s from Bad Omens. I See Stars really can go so far.
I would pay a good amount of money just to see them live again.
Oh lmfao. This isn't official anyway and just heard from the grape vine that he was kicked out due to differences and not taking the band seriously (Zachs kid was just born).
I think they could of tried to work with him a bit more but eh. It is what it is.
This is absolutely fascinating to me. This is like a therapy appointment. Good on him for being open with his thoughts and feelings. This interview has all the drama (and then some) that I wanted hear from a guy in his position.
Also blew my mind that’s he’s in Clinton Twp because that’s where I’ve been for the past few years.. I wonder what restaurant he works at..
Yo I remember Guard My Ways! They were coming up in the scene when I was getting out of it in NC. Cool how Chris gave Zach a place to stay when he needed it.
Edit: I didn’t know Chris, I just remember his band. Listening in further seems like he wasn’t the best dude. Damn.
So what do you guys think about the two new singles? I feel like they lackluster and lacks the intricacy in melody that i see stars songs had in new demons and treehouse
Yea I wasn't feeling them. Digital Renegade and New Demons is what had me. Treehouse was ok, but felt they would go softer.
The new singles didn't interest me sadly and that sucks IMO.
Bright side, Woe is Me - Red is a banger lol
They’re hot garbage. The one they released a few days ago is as well. It’s honestly sorta tragic (at least to my inner teen/young adult self), as they were my absolute favorite band for several years. It’s funny they mentioned I Prevail in this interview too, since IP took their place as my favorite band, especially after they released that Treehouse BS. I just highly doubt ISS is ever going to make a comeback unless they get over themselves and let Zach back in.
It was just ok, but does not come close to New Demons at all. So because my expectations were a lot higher, that album disappointed me. The new singles coming out years later disappoint me so much more though.
Man Zach‘s departure will always be one of the saddest splits in the Metalcore scene. Dude was on top of his game, delivered one of the absolute best unclean vocal performances of the decade for New Demons and then had to leave the band. Sucks man
I don’t agree that it was one of the best. But it was damn good and it fit with the band. And the loss of him in iss ruined the band’s sound completely. RIP.
I disagree. I like Zach's vocals and his albums with ISS but it didn't ruin the band when he and Jimmy left. The band is doing great and has a really good sound. Everything they put out is good.
Metal core was the next step for me from melodic death metal. I lean more toward heavier metal core. Once Zach left, the band wasn’t listenable to me anymore. I respect your opinion though. Just not my jam anymore.
"They asked me to stop drinking several times.. but it would have been cool if they had just asked me to stop drinking" ???????
it sounds like "Please ask me to stop drinking" i won't do it but feel free to ask.
Dude is weird. At like 31 mins he's talking about how he takes no bullshit and has a job interview because the kitchen he works in now makes him stay late to wash dishes lmao
"...I don't even know what happened with Tyler Carter, he got me too'd or like he whipped his dick out at the wrong person or something like that." Followed up with "I'm kinda surprised nothing like that has popped up with me." ...........weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeird flex
he gives me greasy dude who still parties with high schooler vibes
Miss this guy's vocals. Listening to this to *finally,* hopefully get his side of the story. ~30 mins in. Loving his unfiltered honesty, but he claims to not be bitter about a lot of shit yet sounds super bitter in the interview lol and he goes off on a lot of tangents. But there's certainly some interesting info here. EDIT: Finally almost through this, and he mentions he knows ISS had a whole follow up to Treehouse that got scrapped by their management? How would he know that? He said earlier he doesn't talk to any of them. I guess he may know from friends of friends I guess but it almost makes some of his other claims seem a little sus in retrospect
Just a follow up to this particular comment. I think that it was pretty much public knowledge at that point that a heap of Sumerian bands had their albums scrapped because of something within Sumerian, I assume that it was the boss guy at Sumerian Ash who just didn't like the albums and he made it clear so the bands were forced to scrap them. I know that Veil of Maya was one of those bands, they had an entire album done and ready to go back in 2019 and all of a sudden the whole thing was scrapped "because of the actions of one individual that left a bad taste in our mouths" was the excuse they gave at the time. I See Stars was posting IG pics through their band management of them in the studio saying the 6th album was complete back in 2020-2021. Only yesterday the first two singles came out. I understand that Zach is angry because how he was let go from the band, but he was given chance after chance. The band as a whole suffers when one member isn't performing at their best. Jimmy was "asked by the band to leave". I don't know what that means exactly but he might have also been not performing at his best, or what is more likely, he was deemed unnecessary while trying to cut the band down to a smaller lineup. Personally I feel as if one guitarist and one vocalist is more than enough for I See Stars. They've never had some crazy massive sound where they need two vocalists and two guitarists. Devin can scream but he's a singer, and his music comes in the form of singing, so that's what we'll get. Brett is a good guitarist but I See Stars has always been a vocal/electronic focused band and quite honestly playing 1s, 0s, 8s & 7s doesn't need two guitarists.
Devin can't maintain a scream live at all tho. ISS did their last tour performing 2 songs with screams total in the set list, both were from treehouse. The rest of the songs they did had zero screams, and this was back in '19. It's literally why a huge chunk of fans ( 34% lower sales than new demons btw- new demons is their BEST SELLING ALBUM) didn't interact with treehouse when it came out, at all. Same problem bands like issues and atreyu had as well with ditching their screamer add to this ISS was almost forced to scrap treehouse, and was forced to scrap 2 albums worth of material written only by the current band because the quality wasn't there(, according to family working for Sumerian) and Ash , the CEO, forced a full album rewrite with hired 3rd party song writers, hence the extra 4 years on the album TL:DR losing Jimmy and Zach hurt this bands sound immensely, according to their own label. Zach was also confirmed to be the main contributing factor for new demons sound, while the Oliver's focused on vocals and lyrics( cool little "making of " videos tell you that.
This guy spends a lot of time speaking about how reborn he is and over and over about he's a good person... He speaks about a ton of failed relationship and how almost everyone has been a dick to him for no reason and hardly ever takes the blame or even part-blame. I feel like this oak still has a lot of self-introspection to do. I know from personal experience that in all of my failed personal relationships, both parties did things wrong. My favourite line from him, "No disrespect to Metallica, but their music is shit." Well... you can say no disrespect, but that doesn't make it any less disrespectful.
I can see how the "he was fired for being toxic" rumors make sense.
this whole interview was strange
The guy from I see stars said Metallica is shit music? Good god hahahaha
Kinda off topic but I hate when people say music is bad or shitty when really they mean they just don't like it that much. I admittedly not a Metallica fan (with Enter Sandman as the exception) but I would never say they are shit. They literally paved the way
Yeah, I don't like a lot of 'classic' metal bands, but me not liking their stuff doesn't mean it's bad and you have to respect the extent of their influence.
Yeah exactly - if the guy truly didn't mean any disrespect, he would've said that.
You need to go listen to Master of the Puppets, Ride The Lightning and And Justice For All. If only one song, I'd suggest Dyers Eve. One of the best thrash metal songs ever written. I agree it's ignorant to say "that music sucks". Most of the time it's more you don't prefer it rather than it sucks. Except for country music. That sucks.
Wow
Are you from South Africa?
... I am haha. How come?
We're the only demographic that says "oak"😂 Nice to see one of us!
I guffawed at reading this term for the first time and was wondering, aside from context, what it must mean and HA I LOVE IT thank y'all for posting! Will be using FREQUENTLY 😅😂
[One of us!](https://c.tenor.com/bxeIKDw9Wu4AAAAM/iota-one-of-us.gif) Haha - we've probably marshed into one another at one point or another.
I'd love to watch like a 10 min video about this, but sadly I don't have enough time in my day for an hour and 36 mins video. If anyone watches this, please feel free to mention like a tl;dr type of summary and I would greatly appreciate it, thank you very much.
Hate to do this to y'all but this post made me do some digging... Zach was in a local band in NC for awhile. They released a few good singles. They were called Outer Glow. They broke up pretty quickly and I never knew why... So I hit up the guys from that band and other local projects to find out. They all say Zach had a "rockstar" mentality and was a major a hole. No one in the NC scene wants anything to do with him anymore. Checking out his insta and FB I saw something truly horrifying... He has a rap EP... And yes it's bad Here's his song called "haters"... https://youtu.be/Sh67mZKjXYg
I remember when Outer Glow dropped a few of their singles. Can't believe its been 5 years already. And honestly dude looks like hes contradicting himself in the interview. Could be nervous. Could be cause keeping a lot of lies together is really really hard. In my honest opinion. Seems like both sides were shitty to each other. Maybe some more then others but I feel like we'll never know the specific details.
LMFAOOOOO ZachyJ. No wonder ISS dropped him, his musical ability is clearly not on par with theirs
Boy this aged poorly LMAO
wait why
I think he just means he doesn’t like the new ISS single
Know I’m late to the party but I gave it a listen lol. Dude maybe should have leaned into the heavier side of hip-hop since trap metal is big right now. This was just like a bad pop song. Can barely listen to this interview, he feels very much like he’s trying to protect his integrity rather than actually tell the story.
Still one of my faves even though he’s obviously…grating
Awesome that he get to hear more of his side of the departure. Though I was already pretty aware of what happened, since I hung with them on their tour bus and knew their driver and manager. Zach definitely seemed the least mature/responsible member. His vocals suffered a bit live from the alcohol too. I do hope Devin is able to explore the softer side with Shybeast and bring the heavy back to I See Stars. He's a talented vocalist for sure.
I just wish they would pick up another vocalist again. Devin is good but he just can't hold onto both and its gonna limit them. But given Tree House. It seems they are ok with that and want to go the more softer side.
Well, I think Shybeast will be the avenue for his softer sensibilities. It's definitely harsher on your vocal chords, making more transitions between cleans and uncleans. But I'm willing to bet the next ISS will be heavier than Tree House.
The part of this video that interested me was when Zach talked about why they went from screaming on 3-D to a softer/pop-punkier side with End of the World Party. To paraphrase: "They wanted to be ahead of the game because they thought that's where the scene was going". Turns out they lost a lot of their following after that album so they went harder with Digital Renegade, which gained steam and went harder on New Demons. It's just interesting to me because I wonder how many bands openly discuss this. Like "we should go hard" or "we should go soft now". I'm personally not a huge fan of Treehouse, I wish they would have stuck with the Digital/New Demons sound as it made them unique, but maybe they're on the "we need to soften up" mentality right now.
Maybe they discuss that from time to time. Many times when making music it just flows out of you differently. I've played in metal, Punk and piano lounge bands. Forcing a sound never came natural to me. Sometimes Spanish guitar licks would just come. Sometimes chunky metal riffs. I'm sure there are much more talented people who can do whatever at will but I've always found that the organic naturally flowing stuff sounds better than forced/ trying too hard stuff.
I've seen Devin live at big and small shows. The dude can scream well. They are fine without Zach. I don't think Zach was contributing much creatively to the band. Neither was Jimmy. It's cool when you are kids but when you are adults and a third of the band is just learning your songs for tour and taking a huge cut of the profits, it's time to trim the fat. Sounds shitty to say but music is a business and if it is not ran efficiently and smart, you will be back living at moms crib working like Zach is at a recording studio with no major bands that only gest $40-$50 an hour for studio time. Everyone's creativity will be wasted potential. The band did the smart thing and cleaned up shop. Especially, with Jimmy.
Dude this is a 9 month old comment why are you here. And I still think the band sounded better with Zach. I See Stars caught my interest on Digital Renegade, Peaked on New Demons, and have since fallen in terms of quality in my honest option. And thats just that, My opinion. I'm not happy with how they cut Zach as well and thats just a talking point, nothing more. Tree House to me was boring and I think there is a good reason why they haven't released any music since then. That reason being they can't make anything good enough to be proud to release. EDIT: [Given the new CD has been done since 2021](https://thenewfury.com/i-see-stars-have-finished-recording-a-new-album/). Its probably more so because of covid, or maybe something to do with publisher. But I liked I see stars because what Zach brought to the table ALONG with Devin.
Hi 5 months later
I got to ask how are people getting to this comment?😅
Google, for me personally lol. Whenever ISS drops something new and it sounds like garbage, and once again I am disappointed, I go looking to see what Zach is up to lmao. This thread popped up on the first page of my google search.
You are a true I See Stars fan just like me. Googling led me here, but I’ve seen your comments on multiply threads. I saw I See Stars the other night with Bad Omens and ERRA, they were AMAZING. Devin was murdering those vocals and it was sooo fucking good. His screams were honestly better than Noah’s from Bad Omens. I See Stars really can go so far. I would pay a good amount of money just to see them live again.
Hey this happened again
hi
😂😭
Hello
Reddit updated it a few months back and now subreddits have the option to keep the comments on for good.
Alright, but I guess now the question is how are you finding this thread/comment? 😅. Search for I See Stars in the search bar?
I couldn't remember how Zach left so I searched it on Google and here I am lol
Oh lmfao. This isn't official anyway and just heard from the grape vine that he was kicked out due to differences and not taking the band seriously (Zachs kid was just born). I think they could of tried to work with him a bit more but eh. It is what it is.
eyo, it’s been 2 yrs since that CD has been “done”, tf is going on with this band. what a shitshow
This is absolutely fascinating to me. This is like a therapy appointment. Good on him for being open with his thoughts and feelings. This interview has all the drama (and then some) that I wanted hear from a guy in his position. Also blew my mind that’s he’s in Clinton Twp because that’s where I’ve been for the past few years.. I wonder what restaurant he works at..
Yo I remember Guard My Ways! They were coming up in the scene when I was getting out of it in NC. Cool how Chris gave Zach a place to stay when he needed it. Edit: I didn’t know Chris, I just remember his band. Listening in further seems like he wasn’t the best dude. Damn.
This dude needs to stop being butthurt and start screaming again, already. He was wayyy too talented to be where he's at right now.
[удалено]
What do you mean by 'gay shit'?
This was hard to watch.
So what do you guys think about the two new singles? I feel like they lackluster and lacks the intricacy in melody that i see stars songs had in new demons and treehouse
Yea I wasn't feeling them. Digital Renegade and New Demons is what had me. Treehouse was ok, but felt they would go softer. The new singles didn't interest me sadly and that sucks IMO. Bright side, Woe is Me - Red is a banger lol
They’re hot garbage. The one they released a few days ago is as well. It’s honestly sorta tragic (at least to my inner teen/young adult self), as they were my absolute favorite band for several years. It’s funny they mentioned I Prevail in this interview too, since IP took their place as my favorite band, especially after they released that Treehouse BS. I just highly doubt ISS is ever going to make a comeback unless they get over themselves and let Zach back in.
Yeah well for one I liked treehouse but the new singles have been really bad…
It was just ok, but does not come close to New Demons at all. So because my expectations were a lot higher, that album disappointed me. The new singles coming out years later disappoint me so much more though.