At All Cost dropped by label, on hiatus

Austin, Texas band At All Cost has posted a lengthy description of their recent hardships, including being dropped by Century Media Records this past spring. Here's the official word from singer Andrew Collins: "As you have noticed (Have you?), there have been changes in the band, and that's something that should be addressed. About a year ago now, Trey decided to leave to finish school, and start his own rock in Pack of Wolves. It was a huge shock for everyone, and for me. He was a founding member of the band, the last aside from me, who had seen every fucked up twist and turn these eyes, had seen. It broke my heart to see him go, yet there are/were/will never resentments for it, he's my friend. So we replaced him with a friend of Jonny's, named Ryan Goebel who ironically is the brother of Matt who played guitar for AAC in the beginning sounds (New Dance Revolution old school). And that was/is a great fit for the band. After Trey's departure, we set out and did a tour with Dead to Fall (Drunk Amazing) and spent Christmas and New Years together and out on the road with Hatebreed, and Agnostic Front. Although things were great, the grip still seemed to slip. Less and less people were getting into it. Night after night we vengefully, and methodically set out to destroy the minds of everyone who couldn't open up to it. Weeks, months, years of resentment building into something new, something molten, insane, and heavy. Splitting tensions with Bobby, the rock solid bassist who had been on the ride since Death to Distraction, took the stage shows to a whole nother level. I've never felt more alive, primeval, and hateful in my whole life. Still, by January he/we couldn't take it anymore, so he left the band and pursued the Zen of Clean Bobby in Richmond, VA. "So that made two crucial members in 6 months, and I don't think our label took that too well. But fuck them; it was the fans that we really care about. And how many times it did hurt to have to explain where they (vanished members) were was too many for my spirit. Each recital was another crack in the validity of the fight that I have been a part of from the beginning. So we laid low for a while, Mike working at Amy's Ice Cream in Houston, Oz working with the almost dead in a nursing home, me substituting, and Ryan drinking. We collectively hated it, and couldn't wait for the next tour, SXSW, and finding a new and fresh fit for a bassist. "March came around, and we did another South By, as a four-piece. Ryan heroically played bass, Mike shredded like the guitar god he is. And the label and manager were in town for it all. And by that time I think they were realizing that what we were doing, and what we were saying, wasn't the same bullshit metal they so covet and press. New faces, and empty places of the band before their eyes don't go well when they have investments in our commercial success. And by that time, the band couldn't deny the fact that it was a shitty fit, and a bum deal on our newly misfired 'Circle of Demons.' We're not a fucking metal band, were just real people who play real music, music we feel. And it bit us in the ass in the end, because by April, things teetered on the far distant edges of polarity. On the one hand, the band was in many ways the best it's ever been. With the induction of Liam (Lim Lam, 'Aye Wusssup,' Drinkin machine from across the ocean) as bassist, the band had for the first time a tension free world. It was liberating in every way, beautiful anarchy that I could write on forever about. The van and the road were about doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Van rides became miracles of beer cans, drugs, art, and happiness. Disc Golf became our mantra of how great it was to live, and play music, and celebrate every dream we had. And so many of those dreams came true, but others had turned to nightmares. "The tour we were on with Today Is The Day was a lost cause before it began, in the sense of attendance, and money made. For five years, I had given the band everything I had, and night after night under the April moons, saw crumbled remains of a scene, and conquest. Some nights there were literally zero people watching us. Fractions made in comparison to the cost pf driving, eating, sleeping, and playing music. It was the least successful tour of our entire history. And a cold knife in the fire of my heart. So we came home, dreading it more than ever before, because there were no tours booked, and our support team of label, manager, and booking agent by that time stopped giving a fuck entirely, aside from calls and emails about money owed. We had started writing new songs, and an even newer, fiercer sound was being created. With no tour plans, and our beliefs in the bands future straying, we sought out to record a record. By May we found out Century Media had dropped us from their roster. Something that was unimaginable, and specifically negotiated over by our absent wretch of a manager. We had been assured at least two records, and the rug was cut before we hit the floor. For whatever reason they decided, we haven't been told, much less do we care. "Things have officially bottomed out. The machine, which was so finely tuned, has frozen from the cogs and grease balls caught along the way. No label, no press, no money, no tours, no fans, not much hope. But there is and will always be music, and that's something no one could take from At All Cost. We haven't played practiced or played since June, but have written songs that take the band to another sound, another place. We seek our individual futures for now, some working at school, some just working. Waiting. Waiting for the sun to rise again." A new demo track from the group can be heard here.