$27.50 advance $35 day of show
Buy tickets in person (without fees) at the State Theatre box office Fridays & Saturdays 10am-3pm, or the night of any show. The State Theatre box office will open 1 hour before doors night of show.
Memphis May Fire makes anthems for the broken. The four-piece rock band channel a generation’s worth of angst, frustration, and pain, with a focused blend of gigantic melodic hooks and crushing aggression. Even after topping Billboard’s Hard Music Albums chart and breaking into radio’s Active Rock Top 20, Memphis May Fire refuses to sacrifice who they are or the people who made them.
A new season unfolds for the band, filled with revitalization and renewal. Stripping things down to their core elements, hearkening back to the days when they created the music their fans most cherish, Memphis May Fire rekindled the spark within to build an inferno of riffs and inspirational words.
As Memphis May Fire, Matty Mullins, Kellen McGregor, Cory Elder, and Jake Garland confront anxiety, violence, and polarization all over their music, strengthened by a foundation of hope and renewal at the heart of the lyrics. Songs like “Bleed Me Dry,” “Death Inside,” “Only Human,” and “The Fight Within” evoke the cathartic bombast of the band’s best-known songs, a return to their roots with the seasoned polish earned through years of touring and making music together.
Memphis May Fire has toured with a vast list of important rock and metal acts that include Killswitch Engage, Sleeping With Sirens, Black Veil Brides, Sevendust, and Atreyu. They’ve co-headlined with Yellowcard and The Devil Wears Prada, regularly appeared on Warped Tour, and at major rock festivals. The band’s previous six albums’ continued relevance is a testament to the energized connectivity between the band and their audience. Songs like “Miles Away,” “No Ordinary Love,” “Beneath the Skin,” and “Carry On” account for 100 million views and millions of streams.
“We want people to have songs they can sit down and listen to, or play in the gym, or driving in their car, and know the world is bigger than it seems,” Mullins says. “To know they exist in a world with other people that understand that it is okay to be imperfect. That someone else knows your hurt.”
Utilizing Marilyn Monroe’s birth name, Georgia-bred Norma Jean is a metalcore band that emerged in the 2000s after the demise of previous outfit Luti-Kriss. In those early years, they adopted a rap-metal approach that offered a Christian-leaning equivalent to nu-metal groups like Korn. As the band evolved, however, they turned away from that scene in favor of a heavier, no-frills sound centered on brutal screams and pounding sonics. With the new approach, the Southern band built an enthusiastic cult following in the alt-metal underground, where they appealed to both Christian and non-Christian headbangers with their debut Bless the Martyr & Kiss the Child (2002) and their chart peak, The Anti-Mother (2008). Despite enduring multiple personnel changes over the decades (no original members remain), Norma Jean has remained prosperous, issuing late-career triumphs like Wrongdoers (2013) and Deathrattle Sing for Me (2022)
Norma Jean was formed in the Atlanta suburb of Douglasville, Georgia in 1997 by Josh Scogin, Scottie Henry, Chris Day, Josh Swofford, Daniel Davison, and Mick Bailey. By the time the group settled on its hardcore sound, the lineup had shifted, retaining Henry, Day, and Davison while recruiting new vocalist Cory Brandan (who replaced temporary frontman Brad Norris). In the early 2000s, the first iteration of the band recorded two efforts as Luti-Kriss. Their first release was the 5 EP, followed in 2001 by the full-length Throwing Myself on Seattle’s Solid State label, a subsidiary of Tooth & Nail. Often mistaken for rapper Ludacris — who, coincidentally, is also from the Atlanta area — the members of Luti-Kriss adopted the Norma Jean name. Bless the Martyr & Kiss the Child introduced this new moniker in 2002; it was also the band’s heaviest, most brutal effort to date. While Norma Jean’s first recordings inspired comparisons to Limp Bizkit and Korn, Bless the Martyr & Kiss the Child was often compared to Hatebreed. Isis and Mastodon producer Matt Bayles helped out on 2005’s O God, The Aftermath, while producer Ross Robinson helmed the epic Redeemer in 2006. Chris Raines, the drummer for Spitfire, joined the band in early 2008, and the new lineup released The Anti-Mother that summer.
In 2010, Norma Jean released Meridional on new label Razor & Tie. While the album felt like a creative high point for the band, their return to the studio would be a rough one, with bassist Jake Schultz, guitarist Scottie Henry, and drummer Chris Raines parting ways during the two-year recording process. The remaining members pressed on, though, recruiting guitarist Jeff Hickey, drummer Clayton Holyoak, and bass player John Finnegan to join their ranks. The result of their work, the vital and cohesive Wrongdoers, arrived in 2013. The band re-signed with Solid State for their next outing, releasing the singles “1,000,000 Watts” and “Synthetic Sun” in June 2016. The resulting Polar Similar, their seventh studio long-player, arrived later that August. At this point, further lineup shifts included the departures of Day, Holyoak, and Finnegan; in the lead up to their next album, they also lost Jeff Hickey. Forging ahead under Brandan and guitarist/vocalist Philip Farris, they began recording eighth album All Hail. Issued in 2019, the LP peaked at number three on the Billboard hard rock charts. 2022’s Deathrattle Sing for Me saw Norma Jean continue to evolve with a progressive-leaning set of frenzied, metalcore catharsis.
Since their formation over a decade ago, the California based metal-core band SECRETS has been a giant within and beyond their genre. Relentless stalwart drive and progressive creativity has solidified the band’s place in their scene’s development and impact on the masses. After being signed to Velocity Records in 2011, SECRETS released their debut full-length album, The Ascent, in January 2012. The record debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart and became the first Velocity Records release to appear on the Billboard Top 200, debuting at No.185. Aggressive worldwide touring coupled with line-up changes helped to refine the band and their music leading to the release of their second album, Fragile Figures, in July of 2013. The album was a success, selling over 10,000 copies in the first month and charting at No. 59 on the Billboard 200 charts. Following yet another success with their self-titled album, Secrets in 2017, the band continues to create, perform, and push the boundaries of their music and genre. Fronted by the powerhouse duo Wade Walters (vocals) & Richard Rogers (vocals/guitar) and backed by Connor Branigan (guitar) and Connor Allen (drums), the band continues to create and release new music. Their latest single “Hold on” was released in January of 2021. Despite the current condition of the industry and the world, SECRETS momentum continues to accelerate. The band is currently writing new material for their upcoming LP slated for a 2021 release via their return to the recently relaunched Velocity Records.
Underdogs change the game. They turn the tables, defy expectations, and emerge victorious. The rise of SAUL resembles a classic underdog story. The band quietly clawed their way out of the Midwest and into the national limelight with six million-plus streams and the endorsement of tastemakers such as Revolver, Guitar World, Loudwire, and many more. The Iowa quartet – brothers Blake Bedsaul [lead vocals] and Zach Bedsaul [lead guitar, backup vocals], William McIlravy [bass, backup vocals], and Myles Clayborne [drums] – embody this timeless tale on their 2020 full-length debut, Rise As Equals.
