The Dear Hunter is an indie rock band originating in Providence, Rhode Island. It began as a side project of Casey Crescenzo, formerly of post-hardcore band The Receiving End of Sirens. The band's sound is unlike that of Casey's former band, with more alternative and progressive rock tendencies and a wider variety of instrumentation.
The band began as a side project of Casey Crescenzo when he was full time member of Boston band The Receiving End of Sirens. It was originally intended as a vehicle for music Casey had written that didn't fit with the sound of The Receiving End of Sirens. In the winter of 2005 Casey recorded the Dear Ms. Leading demos. He created 10 copies of the demos on burned CDs intended for the ears of friends, and they began circulation.
At the time he did not plan to pursue The Dear Hunter full time and allowed the demos to be placed online for download. On February 2, 2006, The Dear Hunter played its first show with The Receiving End of Sirens as the backing band.
In May 2006, Casey left The Receiving End of Sirens after extensive touring and began work on The Dear Hunter's first studio album. He expanded the scope of the project to a six-album story set at the dawn of the 20th century about the birth, life, and abrupt death of a boy, known only in the story as "The Dear Hunter."
In a 2007 interview with music website Absolutepunk.net, Casey stated that he already has the overall story of The Dear Hunter mapped out, with each act in 1–3 page treatments. Casey produced and recorded the EP by himself with only of the help of his brother on drums and mother on backing vocals. Act I: The Lake South, The River North was released in September 2006 on Triple Crown Records.
Shortly after the EP's release, Casey recruited Luke Dent of the recently split band Faraway for vocals and keyboards and Erick Serna as a second guitarist. Luke brought in his brother Sam on drums and Erick brought long-time friend Josh Rheault in to play bass. The complete band entered the studio in late 2006 to record the follow-up to Act I. Recording finished in early 2007, during which time, the band was featured in Alternative Press' "100 Bands You Need to Know in 2007."
Act II: The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading was released May 22, 2007, only eight months after the band's previous release. Originally, the band had written almost 2 hours of music for the album, but managed to trim the run time down to 80 minutes, the maximum allowed on a compact disc. Act II reached #39 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.
Since the album's release, the band has toured with As Tall As Lions, Saves the Day, Say Anything, Thrice, Chris Conley, The Format, Scary Kids Scaring Kids and Boys Night Out along with some headlining dates. In November 2007, the band embarked on a tour with Circa Survive, Ours, and Fear Before the March of Flames.
The band filmed a music video for the song "The Church and the Dime". A book based on the story of Act II was released as part of the deluxe edition of Act III: Life and Death. Artist Kent St. John was selected to do the illustrations.
Prior to a string of dates with Circa Survive, Josh Rheault and brothers Sam and Luke Dent all left the band. Temporary replacements for the following tour dates included Cliff Sarcona and Julio Tavarez of As Tall As Lions (drums and bass, respectively), Christopher Tagliaferro of Tiger Riot (bass), and Andy Wildrick of The Junior Varsity (guitar/keys). Wildrick would later join the band as a permanent member, along with Sagan Jacobson of Crown Atlantic on bass and Casey's brother Nick on drums.
The band embarked on their first headlining tour in mid-2008 with Lydia, Eye Alaska, and You, Me, and Everyone We Know. After the tour, the band entered the studio to record Act III. The album was set for release on June 23, 2009.
The lead singer Casey was featured on a track from Razia's Shadow: A Musical, released on October 28, 2008. He sings on the track "Genesis" playing the character O The Scientist.
On December 9, 2008, it was announced that Nate Patterson, Casey's former band mate in The Receiving End of Sirens, would begin playing bass for the band, as Sagan Jacobson had left.
The band's third full length, Act III: Life and Death was released on June 23, 2009 on Triple Crown Records.
During this time, former bassist Josh Rheault announced on tour that he had rejoined The Dear Hunter on acoustic guitar, backing vocals, and keyboards.
The Branches EP is three songs in length and was released exclusively to those who purchased the band's "Lifetime Fan Package" on May 5, 2010.
At a concert at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco on April 23, 2010, Casey announced that the band would be taking a break from the Acts I-VI project to record music for their color project over the summer of 2010. He also stated that Act IV would most likely not be seen for quite some time. He later announced that the project, titled The Color Spectrum, would consist of nine EPs, each corresponding to a certain colour (specifically, Black, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet and White).
On January 8, 2011, in a post on the www.tdhcolors.com website (a site created to keep fans up-to-date with the recording of the Spectrum) Casey stated that the White, Violet, Orange, and Green EPs were fully completed, and that at the end of the month he would be flying to Atlanta to record more Colors music. On February 11, a new post by Casey stated that Red was done and members of Manchester Orchestra helped in the recording process. On Casey's Twitter feed he suggested that the EPs might be out as early as May.
On February 24, 2011, Alternative Press revealed the EPs would be released June 7, 2011 in multiple formats, including a physical CD that contains select tracks from each of the EPs. The date was later pushed back to June 14, 2011.
At some point prior to the completion of The Color Spectrum, Josh Rheault and Erick Serna both left the band to pursue their respective musical projects.
In a June 2011 interview Casey stated that he would like to record and release Acts IV, V, and VI on his own with a possible online or self-pressed release.
Members: Casey Crescenzo – Vocals, Piano, Guitar, Bass, Arrangements, Direction (2005–present) Nick Crescenzo – Drums, Percussion, Vocals (2005–present) Maxwell Tousseau – Guitar, Vocals (2010–present)
Discography Demos: Dear Ms. Leading (2005, misc. demos)
Full Lengths Act I: The Lake South, The River North (2006) Act II: The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding Ms.
Leading (2007) Act III: Life and Death (2009) The Color Spectrum (2011) Act IV (TBA)
EPs Random EP #1 (2007) Random EP #2 (2008) The Branches EP (2010)
