Reckless & Relentless
Asking Alexandria’s rocky story so far
2003 Guitarist Ben Bruce and fellow Brit James Murray – expats living in Dubai – form Amongst Us, a synthcore band which would later become end Of reason and eventually Asking Alexandria.
2007 The Dubai lineup of AA release a 12-track debut called The Irony Of Your Perfection, which you’ve never heard for many, many good reasons.
2008 Ben moves to the UK and reforms AA as a six-piece with Danny Worsnop (vox), ryan Binns (keys), James Cassells (drums), Cameron Liddell (rhythm guitarist) and Joe Lancaster (bass).
2008 ryan leaves the band. AA fly to the US, buy an rV and drive back and forth across the country. The 90date campaign launches them to the head of metal’s latest class of upand-comers.
2008 Sam Bettley replaces Joe Lancaster in December and joins the guys in the US a month later. The classic AA lineup is solidified.
2009 AA sign with Sumerian records and release their debut, Stand Up And Scream, in September. It peaks at No.170 on the Billboard 200. They follow with Life Gone
Wild, an eP consisting of remixes, demos and Skid row covers.
2010 AA play LA’s storied Whisky A Go Go for the first time. Danny tears his ankle ligaments during the first song but soldiers through a set that ends with a trip to the hospital and a bottle of Vicodin.
2011 The band embark on a world tour that includes more than 100 dates in 14 countries.
2011 At a show at Studio 7 in Seattle, an intoxicated Danny is reportedly so belligerent towards audience members that he is escorted offstage to a chant of ‘Drunk piece of shit!’ Ben pleads, “Who here will support us in putting my best friend through rehab and making him better?”
2011 Reckless & Relentless is released in April to largely positive reviews. AA dip their collective toe in the waters of the rock mainstream with the clean-vocal track Someone, Somewhere.
2011 Charlie Sheen invites the band to open for him on his bizarre My Violent Torpedo Of Truth standup tour in the US. Due to touring obligations, the band are forced to decline, which turns out to be a good thing – Sheen’s tour is widely regarded as a disaster.
2011 Danny and guitarist Jeff George form We Are Harlot, a riff-oriented band inspired by classic rockers like Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Bad Company.
2012 Another huge year of touring, including the Outbreak tour with As I Lay Dying. Danny is forced to miss some dates due to a ruptured vocal cord. He recovers in time to perform with Suicide Silence at the benefit concert for Mitch Lucker.
2013 AA headline Brixton Academy in January, which they will release as Live From Brixton And Beyond in December, 2014.
2013 In August, AA release third album From Death To Destiny. In a
2015 interview with Metal Hammer, then-frontman Denis Stoff will say, “I was a big fan of the band but to be honest, they lost me with their third album.”
2014 We Are Harlot sign with roadrunner and announce that they’ll record a full-length debut. Danny insists that his commitment to AA remains solid.
2015 In January, Danny resigns from AA to focus on Harlot.
2015 Sumerian records CeO Ash Avildsen suggests they check out labelmate Denis Stoff, from Down & Dirty. Denis sends over a few AA covers with clean vocals and joins the band soon after.
2015 AA release I Won’t Give In, their first single with Denis. Due to Denis’s visa issues, however, the band are forced to cancel their first two gigs with the singer at Manchester Academy III and London Underworld.
2015 We Are Harlot release their debut. We say it “showcases a fiery amalgam of monster riffs, fullthrottle tempos and arena-friendly choruses that erupt with blood-pumping vitality”. They win a Metal Hammer Golden God award for Best New Band in June.
2016 With Denis firmly entrenched as the new singer, AA kick off another world tour.
2016 In March, AA release The Black
– their only record with Denis. It enters the UK Top 20 and peaks on the Billboard 200 at Number 9.
2016 In October, Ben reveals on Facebook Live that Denis has broken off communication with the band. He blows everybody’s mind by revealing they’ve already replaced him – with Danny Worsnop.
2017 In February, Danny releases his country album, The Long Road Home. Classic Rock decrees: “There’s no denying the honesty of the venture, or the catchiness of the tunes.”
2017 On December 15, AA’s classic lineup release their fifth album, Asking Alexandria.