Band Recommendation And History: Asteria

When you hear the name Asteria in relation to music nowadays you probably think of the red haired, hyperpop making, New Zealand, solo musician. Truth is tho, there have been multiple bands and musical projects named Asteria before them, including the one I'm talking about in this post.

THE HISTORY OF THE BAND

Asteria was formed in 2003 by a few teen boys living in Crown Point, Indiana. They would release a demo album in 2004, titled Broken-Hearted Lullabies and Hope-Filled Dreams. The pop-punk sound of this album was crafted by lead singer and lyricist Terrence Kline, lead guitarist and background vocals Seth Henderson, bassist Brandon McQuen, and drummer Sam Henderson. With Ryan Gullet joining soon after the album's making turning Seth into rhythm guitar and him into lead.

After Broken-Hearted Lullabies and Hope-Filled Dreams was released the boys would enter the Indiana Regional Rumble and win multiple regional awards.

In May of 2005 they would release their follow up A Lesson in Charades, adding a bit of an emo edge to the previous album's sound yet still staying pop-punk. Soon after they would be signed to former Hawthorne Heights' member, J.T. Woodruff's record label Carbon Copy Media. Though the partner ship wouldn't last for long, resulting in the band signing with Broken English Records before their next release.

In 2006 Asteria would have vlogs uploaded on YouTube through DONTEVA(formerly known as Comeuppence Network), some of those vlogs being teasers to their next album

Finally, the album Slip Into Something More Comfortable would come out on February 20th of 2007, although it was originally slated from November 2006. This would be their most known album, featuring the song The Taste, The Touch. 2 songs from the previous album would also be added to this one, those being A Lesson In Charades and Pet Names And Fake Fights. The album would hold a more of pop rock sound unlike the other albums. In the same year a "documentary" on the album would be released, named "Asteria, Making of: Slip Into Something More Comfortable"

In 2008 the band would break up with Broken English. Later that year on August 19th they would release a self-titled ep with a completely different sound than SISMC, changing to strong and expressive power-pop.

During summer of 2009 the group would compete in The Next American Star season 1, uploading multiple premonitional blogs for it. They would end up winning 3rd place as the midwest region winners in the male category.

From spring to summer of 2010 the band would promote what would end up being their last album, Momentum. Dropping on September 14th, the band would continue with the power-pop sound whilst also experimenting.

Their last official release would be on December 7th 2011, as a Christmas single named Ribbons and Bows. It would have an accompanying music video.

THE AFTERMATH

From 2012 to 2014 the band's social media would stay frequently active. Throughout the years up until 2015 they would talk about new music being made, but none of those posts would amount to anything. In 2017 they would announce their last show being at Centennial Lanes in Tinley Park, Illinois on November 25th.

Multiple of the members have pursued other musical endeavors. Ryan Gullet temporarily performed as an acoustic solo project named Isle of Manhattan. Both Sam and Seth are audio engineers/producers. They've helped record and produce music with bands like Knuckle Puck, Neck Deep, and Real friends.

FUN FACTS

Terrence has done guest vocals for the songs Rough Seas Makes Better Sailors by We, Who Overcome, Heels Over Flats by TGL, and Just A Little Brighter by The Fastest Kid Alive.

There's an alternative version of the song A Lesson In Charades, called A Lesson In Honky Tonk. It was originally a bonus on the SISMC cd.

There are multiple tracks by the band that were never put on albums or released as singles but were posted elsewhere online, including but not limited to the I Killed A Man Demo and Online Conversations vs. Confrontation

The band have been featured on (atleast) 2 compilation albums, those being Drive-Thru Records' Bands You Love, Have Heard Of, And Should Know and A Day In The Life's Nine Reasons To Say Goodbye

The band once opened for Vanilla Ice and smoked a joint with him

MY TOP 5 SONGS AND FAVE ALBUM

TOP 5(in no specific order):

Briarwood

We Wasted Everything

See You In Virginia

Just Another Let Down

The Detectives Haven't Ruled Out Arson

FAVE ALBUM:

A Lesson In Charades

PERSONAL NOTES

Asteria is my fave band and are criminally underrated. They are absolutely perfect for the current 2000s emo and scene revival. I found them around 2022 through the song The Detectives Haven't Ruled Out Arson. Soon after hearing the song I listened to the full A Lesson In Charades album and instantly fell in love. I later found out about their vlogs and fell even deeper in love. They're a big inspiration of mine, Terrence is one of the reasons I wanna be a lead singer, and Brandon is why I wanna learn the bass. It's saddening that they aren't still completely active, so now I've been trying to get others into the band so they won't be totally forgotten and so other's can enjoy their excellence

LINKS/WHERE TO FIND THEIR MUSIC