Caleb Shomo
American musician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
American musician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Caleb Joshua Shomo (born December 1, 1992)[1][2] is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and producer. He is most well known as the lead-vocalist of Beartooth, though he records all studio instrumentals for the band. He is also the former lead vocalist, keyboardist, and early backing vocalist of Attack Attack!, and the owner of Studio Records in Columbus, Ohio. Shomo joined Attack Attack! as keyboardist at 15 years old while maintaining a passion for electronic music and eventually grew into record production by 18.
Caleb Shomo | |
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Shomo at Rock im Park 2019 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Caleb Joshua Shomo |
| Born | December 1, 1992 |
| Origin | Columbus, Ohio, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 2006–present |
| Member of | Beartooth |
| Formerly of | Attack Attack! |
Shomo was raised in Westerville, Ohio, since he was ten years old.[3] His dad was a pastor of a church and his mom works as a nurse, who also was a part of a church band.[3][4] As a result, he grew up going to church, however, he saw "a lot of damage" it had done to people in his life and to his family, and has since moved away from religion. Despite this, he stated that he "will always have respect and understanding of it," as it played a big role in his life.[4] He began getting into music at the age of four, as he grew up in a musical family. His grandfather was a gospel singer and his uncle played in bands in the 70s.[3] He started taking piano lessons at a young age, before quitting to learn guitar, bass and drums all at the same time when he was ten.[3] From the age of ten, Shomo has suffered from depression and anxiety, and was misdiagnosed with ADHD since he had trouble concentrating.[5] When he was in high school, he met and befriended former Attack Attack! member, Johnny Franck.[3] He dropped out of high school at the age of 15 to focus on the band and touring full-time.[4]
In 2006, Shomo joined Attack Attack!, an American metalcore band from Westerville, Ohio, formed in 2005 as a synth player and programmer when he was 14 and a freshman in high school.[5] He joined the group after he was asked by his friends who were looking for a keyboard player.[6] The addition of his keyboard and synth playing was influential on the band's sound. In 2008, they signed to Rise Records and released their debut studio album Someday Came Suddenly on November 11.[5] It peaked on the Billboard 200 at number 193.[7]
In late 2009, Shomo became the group's primary vocalist, following the departure of Nick Barham.[8] According to Shomo, he had to learn how to sing and struggled how to do scream vocals, but managed to get through it.[4] They released their self-titled second studio album on June 8, 2010, and peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200, selling more than 15,000 copies in its first week.[9] Shomo features clean vocals on tracks 1 to 5 and 17 and 18 of their deluxe release of their second album.[10] In November 2011, the band announced their third studio album titled This Means War.[11] It was released on January 17, 2012, and has since become the band's best charting Billboard topping album, debuting and peaking at number 11 on the Billboard 200, selling more than 17,000 copies in its first week.[12]
Despite the band's growing success, Caleb Shomo left the band later that year due to clinical depression he had been dealing with since middle school. This had been causing him to have suicidal tendencies, and struggle with eating disorders, self-image problems and various substance abuse and addictions for the past year. Despite this, he left the band on good terms with the rest of the band supporting his decision.[13] The band itself officially disbanded in May the same year.[14]
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Caleb Shomo began writing Beartooth songs while he was still in Attack Attack! as "a different musical outlet". Shomo has said the band originally "started as a joke band" with members of My Ticket Home, as a way to make fun, punk-rock, hardcore, wild music, play crazy shows and have a good time without pressure from anything. He wrote and recorded everything with all the instruments and did all of the production for their music. The band was originally called Noise, but was switched to Beartooth upon realization the name was already taken.[15]
On June 7, 2013, Shomo announced that Beartooth was now signed to Red Bull Records.[16] Beartooth released their debut EP Sick for free on their website on July 26, 2013.[17] On May 13, 2014 the band's Facebook page announced the release date for their debut album, Disgusting, as June 10, 2014, along with its track listing.[18] The band released their first single of the album the same day, titled 'Beaten in Lips', along with its music video.[19] The album was available to stream online a day before its release.[20]
On June 3, 2016, Beartooth released another album titled Aggressive, with the headlining track of the album posing the same name. In an interview with Kerrang! Magazine, Shomo stated that he felt that the album had a much happier outlook than the previous album, Disgusting. That being said, he still cites that there are parts of the album that refer to the constant battle that he faces with clinical depression, and mentions that is shown in the song "Find a Way". The songs "Aggressive", "Always Dead", "Loser", and "Hated", were all released prior to the album being released.
On July 18, 2018, the songs "Infection", "Disease", and "Believe" leaked online forcing the band to reveal the name of their new album, Disease, the tracklisting and its artwork. On September 28, Beartooth released their third studio album "Disease".[21] During writing and recording the "Disease" album, a mini-series of videos about 'making of' of the album were posted on YouTube, named after one of the songs "Greatness or Death" from the third album.[22]
Along with the announcement of Beartooth after departing from Attack Attack!, he also announced in 2012 that he started making electronic music under the name CLASS.[23] In an interview with Altpress he expressed that he had always loved electronic music and had been creating such music since before he joined Attack Attack!.[15] He self-released an EP consisting of 4 tracks on January 2, 2013.[24] Since the release the project has remained inactive, but when asked about it he responded with "...I'm ready to go full-force with that. A few of the deals we're working on are addressing the whole thing."[15]
In 2012, he left Attack Attack! citing "horrible clinical depression" and revealed that he had been suicidal since middle school. Sometime that year (around April 1 according to Fleur's Instagram account), he married Fleur Shomo.[23] In 2014 when interviewed by Kerrang! he stated that thanks to the success of his musical career he is moving into a new home where he will build a new sunlit studio to record his own music and produce others.[25]
On December 10, 2020, Austrian duo CueStack released their Through the Night EP featuring David Hasselhoff's first heavy metal performance. A remix of the song, produced by Shomo was also released.[26]
|
| Song | Year | Artist | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Dead Weight" | 2010 | My Ticket Home | The Opportunity to Be |
| "The Solitary Life" | 2011 | In Fear and Faith | Symphonies |
| "Shadow Stalker" | Legend | The Pale Horse[27] | |
| "Ascension" | I Am Abomination | Passion of the Heist[28] | |
| "I Made a Song on Garage Band and All I Got Was a Lousy Record Deal" | City Lights | In It to Win It[29] | |
| "Make Me Believe It" | 2012 | The Dead Rabbitts | Edge of Reality |
| "With Our Friend[s] All Behind Us" | Woe, Is Me | Genesi[s] | |
| "Live Fast, Die Beautiful" | 2013 | Escape the Fate | Ungrateful |
| "Scheme Artist" | Sylar | Deadbeat[30] | |
| "Undead Anthem" | Tear Out The Heart | Violence[31] | |
| "Survive" | 2015 | Gideon | Calloused[32] |
| "Ghost in the Mirror" | Crossfaith | Xeno[33] | |
| "Scatter My Ashes Along the Coast or Don't" | 2017 | Seaway | Vacation[34] |
| "Burn It Down" | 2019 | Silverstein | A Beautiful Place to Drown[35] |
| "ACTION (with Taka Moriuchi, Tyler Carter, and Tilian Pearson)" | Don Broco | Action[36] | |
| "Thicc Thiccly" | Bilmuri | Rich Sips[37] | |
| "The Lottery" | 2020 | The Used | Heartwork[38] |
| "Black Hole" | 2021 | We Came as Romans | Darkbloom[39] |
| "Set the Room Ablaze" | Can't Swim | Change of Plans[40] | |
| "Red, White & Boom" | 2022 | Motionless in White | Scoring the End of the World[41] |
| "Cut the Line" (new version) | 2023 | Papa Roach | Non-album single[42] |
| Album title | Release date | Artist | Label | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Attack! (deluxe edition re-issue) | June 8, 2010 | Attack Attack! | Rise | Engineer, mastering, mixing, producer, programming[43] |
| The Pale Horse | May 16, 2011 | Legend | Rise | Composer, lyricist[44] |
| This Means War | January 17, 2012 | Attack Attack! | Rise | Engineer, mixing, producer[45] |
| To Create a Cure | January 31, 2012 | My Ticket Home | Rise | Engineer, mastering, mixing, producer[46] |
| Violence | March 19, 2013 | Tear Out The Heart | Victory | Producer[47] |
| Ungrateful | May 14, 2013 | Escape the Fate | Eleven Seven | Composer[48] |
| Sick | July 26, 2013 | Beartooth | Red Bull | Composer, producer[15] |
| To Whom It May Concern | May 12, 2014 | Sylar | Razor & Tie | Engineer, mastering, mixing, producer[49] |
| Disgusting | June 10, 2014 | Beartooth | Red Bull | Composer, engineer, mixing, producer[50] |
| Vans Warped Tour 2014 Compilation | June 10, 2014 | Various | Side One Dummy | Composer[51] |
| Shapeshifter | July 1, 2014 | The Dead Rabbitts | Tragic Hero | Composer[52] |
| Dead, Everywhere | January 27, 2015 | Tear Out The Heart | Victory | Composer, engineer, mixing, producer |
| Earthbound | January 29, 2016 | Bury Tomorrow | Nuclear Blast Records | Composer, engineer, mixing, producer[53] |
| Aggressive | June 3, 2016 | Beartooth | Red Bull | Composer, engineer, mixing, producer[54] |
| Dark Divine | November 3, 2017 | Like Moths to Flames | Rise | Mixing, mastering |
| Disease | September 28, 2018 | Beartooth | Red Bull | Composer, engineer, mixing, producer[55] |
| Below | June 25, 2021 | Beartooth | Red Bull | Composer, engineer, mixing, mastering, producer[56] |
