Secrets

Based out of San Diego, California, post-hardcore band Secrets rose to national success with the release of their 2012 debut, The Ascent, and its 2013 follow-up, Fragile Figures, both of which made solid showings on the Billboard charts. Boasting two vocalists and a heavy, aggressive sound, the band's career has been marked by a series of lineup shifts. Formed in 2010 by singer Xander Bourgeois, guitarists Richard Rogers and Michael Sherman, bassist Marc Koch, and drummer Joe English, the band's punishing sound found them signing to Rise Records just a year after getting started. Secrets made their debut in 2012 with The Ascent, which climbed to the number three spot on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. That same year, the band would see Koch replaced by Michael Owens. The membership changes continued into the next year after Bourgeois announced he was leaving to focus on staying sober. Author & Finisher vocalist Aaron Melzer stepped in to take up lead vocal duties, and in the summer of 2013, the band released their sophomore album, Fragile Figures, which peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. The band's third studio long player, Everything That Got Us Here, saw the departure of Melzer and the arrival of new vocalist Wade Walters. Released in December 2015, it would prove to be their last release for the Rise label. A new deal was struck in 2017 with Made in the Shade Records, who released Secrets' self-titled fourth outing the following year. ~ Gregory Heaney