Architects (American band)


Architects are an American rock band from Kansas City, Missouri. The band was formed by previous members of the punk and ska band The Gadjits, brothers Brandon, Adam, and Zach Phillips, and Mike Alexander.

History

After releasing four albums from 1996 to 2002, The Gadjits signed with RCA Records and were in the process of recording their fifth album, Our Time To... when RCA suddenly dropped them following a merger with Jive Records. Following the band being dropped, Brandon Philips said "we were tired of dragging around the baggage that comes with still being called The Gadjits after many years. So we just killed The Gadjits and became a new thing; that’s it." In June 2004 the Gadjits ceased to exist as a band and a new band, Architects, was formed along with Mike Alexander, the guitarist for The Gadjits. "We basically had to start at zero. … All the touring we’d done as The Gadjits suddenly just didn’t matter at all, and all the records we sold didn’t matter; nothing we’d ever done before mattered. We were basically just a group of dudes with guitars, so we had to start completely fresh and rebuild everything" Brandon Phillips said. The band's debut album, Keys to the Building, was released on the Anodyne label in 2004. Revenge followed in 2006, described by Allmusic as " a solid rock offering with enough soul and punk urgency to keep things interesting from start to finish", and Vice in 2008. Keenan Nichols had replaced Alexander in October 2007. They subsequently signed to Frank Iero's Skeleton Crew label.
In 2013 they started releasing the Border Wars graphic novel/EP series, on which they worked with illustrator Mallory Dorn.

Musical style and influences

The Tucson Weekly described the band's music as "a dynamic, explosive combination of traditional punk, maximum R&B, Midwestern alternative rock, blues-based metal and pop melodies". They were described as "dirty rock & roll tinged with Southern heart and gritty, passionate attitude" by Allmusic.Their influences include AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen, and Meat Loaf.

Band Members

Albums

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