The Ohio four-piece Dead Poetic defines their own punk style fitted for the new millennium. Brandon Rike (vocals), Zach Miles (guitar), Josh Shellabarger (drums), and Chad Shellabarger (bass) formed Dead Poetic in 1997 and found themselves following the word of God inside their own hard rock presentation. Tooth & Nail took a liking to them in fall 2000 after the band played and pushed their name at the Cornerstone 2000 Festival. A year later, Dead Poetic struck a deal and landed studio time with Barry Poynter (the Juliana Theory, Furthermore) at Poynter Studio in Little Rock, AK. The fruit of those sessions resulted in Dead Poetic's debut album, Four Wall Blackmail, in spring 2002. New Medicines appeared in 2004, after which the group basically self-destructed. But Dead Poetic would soon be reborn with only Rike and Miles carrying over. Rounding them out were drummer Jesse Sprinkle (formerly of Demon Hunter, Poor Old Lu) and Beloved alums, guitarist Dusty Redmon and bassist John Brehm. Working with the production team of Chino Moreno (the Deftones) and Aaron Sprinkle (Jesse's brother), the alternative rock-inspired Vices surfaced on Halloween 2006. ~ MacKenzie Wilson