Coming straight out of Tulsa, Oklahoma The Agony Scene was formed in 2000. Inspired by bands like Zao and Overcome the band set out as a three piece, but soon added a fourth member to round out the band. The band released three albums, beginning with their self-titled album in 2003 on Solid State Records. The majority of bands on the Solid State label were Christian bands; However, The Agony Scene in a later interview explained they were not a Christian band. followed up by ‘The Darkest Red’ on Roadrunner Records, and ‘Get Damned’ on Century Media Records om 2007. It wasn’t long after that album’s release that vocalist Mike Williams confirmed on October 8, 2008, that the band had broken up early in that year. After 8 years the band decided it was time to put The Agony Scene back together and in August of 2016 they announced plans to tour and release a new full length album. The band has now released that album titled ‘Tormentor’, as July 20, 2018 via Outerloop Records.
This week on Talk Toomey: The Metal Nexus Podcast host Joshua Toomey welcomes The Agony Scene vocalist Mike Williams. Mike talks about what reunited the band and got them back on the road and releasing new music. Toomey also talks to Mike about the bands first tour in 11 years which is The Summer Slaughter Tour which features Between The Buried And Me, Born Of Osiris, Veil Of Maya and more. The tour wraps on on August 19th in Austin, Texas. Mike also explains how the cities have changed since the band was last out on the road and the development of local breweries. Mike also talks about how the band had a pretty substantial Myspace following and while the band was broken up Facebook came along and said “We feel the gap between the Myspace era and Facebook era”, but also mentioned they are gaining new fans ever day and have a pretty good presence now on social media. Coming from Tulsa, Oklahoma Mike also talks the biggest 2 bands to come out of Tulsa are The Agony Scene and Hanson. He also talks about how nuts their fan base is consisting of mostly 30 year old women. Mike also talks about the bands past and being labeled as a Christian band saying that the original version of the band was a Christian band when they were kids and the original vocalist was a Christian and it tended to lean that way. By the time Mike was singing and hashed out the original Solid State era lineup we were no longer writing Christian music.
You can hear the entire interview below:
