Scars Of Life 'What We Reflect' album

Scars Of Life is a powerful five-piece groove oriented metal band that emphasizes depth in musical style and emotionally charged meaning in its lyrics. This quintet hails from South Florida, and is currently taking on the music scene by storm, propelling its music to new heights daily.

After the disbanding of Confined, a Florida metal band which featured 4 of the 5 members of Scars Of Life, the band formed in late 2000 with Kyle Shapiro on vocals, Jason Rodman on Drums, Anthony Parrinello on guitar, Joe Raio on guitar, and Al Torres on bass.

The group entered Studio 13 in Deerfield Beach, FL and recorded their debut CD in January 2001 with Jeremy Staska (Poison The Well, New Found Glory, Nonpoint). In April of 2001, Al Torres decided to leave the band to pursue other ventures (later forming Eversinceve). After months of grueling tryouts for the vacant bass slot, the search ended with good friend Mike Kennedy. He became the group’s new bass player in June 2001. The group then played small gigs around the South Florida area for the next few months to get their name across the state.

In January 2002, Scars of Life's debut CD, "Mute" was independently released to much critical acclaim. The initial response was more than encouraging, with several great reviews being given by local magazines, as well as an impressive amount of airplay on local radio stations.

Since Mute's release, the band has had the opportunity to share the stage with a number of national acts, including Coal Chamber, 40 Below Summer, Ill Nino, Drowning Pool, Taproot, Pulse Ultra, Project 86, Otep, Noise Therapy, E-Town Concrete, and Florida's own Nonpoint, Poison The Well, Endo, Darwin's Waiting Room, and Crossbreed.

Scars of Life also had the distinct honor of being picked by Inside Sessions (a subsidiary of Universal Music) to play the Augusta, Georgia stop of the Locobazooka Tour with other great acts such as Sevendust, Filter, Nonpoint, Earshot, Mushroomhead, Audiovent, Dry Cell, Dragpipe, and Mad at Gravity.

The band's debut disc was honored as the first ever Planet Radio 92.1 CD of the month for March 2002. This was a special honor for Scars of Life, since the CD of the month was picked by the fans.

In July 2002, SOL entered the studio again with the almighty Jeremy Staska at Studio 13. The group intended to only record 4 new songs as record label demo to satisfy the growing demand to hear new material. In September 2002, after a couple month of pressure from fans to release the new songs, SOL decided to release them as a CD, simply titled “2002 Demo”. They held their second CD release party at the Culture Room in Ft. Lauderdale, FL on September 21, 2002 to a capacity crowd! The band was also featured on www.kingsofar.com for September 2002.

In October of 2002, Scars of Life won 2nd Place in the nation-wide InsideSessions Recording Session Contest, beating out over 5000 bands around the world.

Scars Of Life also rounded up some endorsements and licensing deals in late 2002. They are proudly endorsed/sponsored by GHS Strings and Just Promotions (www.justpromotions.com). The group’s first licensing deal came in November 2002 with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for 3 songs off the 2002 Demo to be used in pay-per-views, commercials, compilation CDs, soundtracks, and other UFC related media. 2 of the 3 Songs debuted on the “UFC: Vendetta” pay-per-view on November 22, 2002. In December 2002, those same 3 songs were licensed to Crave Entertainment to be used in the “UFC: Tapout 2” video game. Several other licensing deals were also signed in the next few months with various organizations, including a ski park commercial and motorcycle video.

The band has made quite an impact in late 2002. The group’s songs are constantly reaching #1 on the nu-metal and metal charts on mp3.com, with a tremendous amount of downloads daily. The band had over 285,000 downloads by the time mp3.com shut down in December 2003. Scars Of Life also had the honor of being selected as South Florida's #1 unsigned band for 2002 by 94.9 WZTA.

The group jumped back in the studio in February 2003 to record 2 songs at the world famous Criteria Studios for the Ultimate fighting championship. One song from the 2002 demo was re-recorded, along with a brand new one to be used in the “UFC: Onslaught” pay-per-view event on February 28, 2003. Both songs were expected to be released on the upcoming UFC Soundtracks as well as future UFC events.

Feeling the need for a new release, the band headed back to the studio in July 2003 for a new 5 song EP entitled “Another Tomorrow”. After the recording was done, the group released the songs on MP3.com, which shot 2 songs immediately into the top 10 on the Metal charts and remained there until mp3.com closed its doors in December 2003.

In June 2004, the band decided to take some much needed time off to write a new full-length album. It was during this time that the band and bassist Mike Kennedy decided to part ways. In July, the remaining members began secretly auditioning for a suitable replacement. Through a mutual friend, the band came across ex-Difficult bassist Jason “J” Capps. After 3 auditions, the band welcomed Jason to take the reigns as the new bass player. With the lineup once again complete, the band now focuses again on writing for the new album, which is planned to begin recording in October.

In August 2004, the UFC is scheduled to release their long awaited soundtrack “UFC: Ultimate Beatdowns, Volume 1” compilation. The new track “Dying Here” (recorded at Criteria Studios in 2003) will make its debut along side many other high profile acts such as Slayer, Damageplan, Hatebreed, Sepultura, Chiraira, Motograter, Clutch, American Head Charge, Killswitch Engage, U.P.O., Black Flood Diesel, Shadows Fall, and fellow UFC band Stemm.

In the summer of 2004, SOL signed a recording contact with Musicom Media. The band entered the studio in August 2004 to pull together a full CD for their first national release. The band chose 11 of their songs from their previous 3 cds, as well as a new song that was yet unrecorded. Over the next couple months SOL played a couple of festivals in Orlando put together by Musicom with Drowning Pool, DamagePlan (RIP Dimebag), and Static-X. Unfortunately these festivals led to the downfall of Musicom, which ended up in bankruptcy, therefore leaving the band high and dry with a large studio bill. Over the next 6 months, the band continued to work on the album and managed to finish it just after the new year.

In April 2005, SOL was gearing up to release the new album "What We Reflect" when they signed a management deal with Doug Wimmer from Concept Artist Management and began shopping for a new label. It wasn't long before SOL signed with RockRidge Music in early May 2005 and began switching gears to release the record thru them. 2005 is looking to be the year of SOL, so keep your eyes peeled for them.

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Scars Of Life - What We Reflect