From the garages and warehouses of Oklahoma City, birthed a hard-hitting, multi-genre-crossing, energetic metal band of 5 guys ready to lay waste to where ever they set foot. With their influences crossing all parts of the spectrum, the music reflects it. "Too metal for rock crowds & too rock for metal crowds" has been used to describe Final Riot - similar to a phrase used to describe Metallica in their early days ("too metal for punk crowds, too punk for metal crowds"). The best is yet to come from this quintet and the world will soon find out!
--------------------------------------------------
It all started in the summer of 2004 with just a few friends from school getting together to play their instruments. These young men formed a band, but needed a name. After tossing around many ideas, they came up with Final Riot. In March of 2005 Chris joined on vocals. Then in January 2006, after bad runs with two different drummers, the guys found a reliable drummer and a steady line-up and began to write more original material. Though in early August 2006, after long droughts of no practice and various musical differences, three members of Final Riot quit to form their own project, leaving Tyler Bingaman (guitar) and Chris Stokes (vocals) to find new musicians to continue what they had worked so hard for. Shortly after the dust had settled, Chris called upon a good friend (who was in another band at the time) and bassist Josh Fearing who had offered to fill in. The guys agreed, Josh joined on the bass guitar and Final Riot was slowly on their way back.
After a few weeks with only one guitar player and no drummer, Final Riot was still in search for members. Soon they found Alex Denny, a friend and former co-worker of Tylerâs to play guitar. The four continued searching for their last member, with no luck kept looking but focused on writing music acoustically. After eight months without a drummer and only a few prospects in mind, in March of 2007 Final Riot found their fifth member in former Soul Crisis drummer Brett Johnson. Less than a month later Final Riot was up and running and debuted the new line-up at two local high school battle of the bands before entering the studio to record their first demo.
The band continued to play shows throughout the rest of 2007 and into early 2008, sharing the stage with such acts as the legendary Prong and Bleed The Sky (among many other local, regional and national acts). In March of 2008 Final Riot returned to the studio and recorded two more songs to complete their four song EP entitled âœBlacklistedâ쳌. Soon after, Tyler announced he would be leaving for the Navy soon, so the band began looking for someone to fill in for him while he was gone for basic training. The guys came up with a few names, but only one really stood out. That name was Matt DeWolf, a friend of Chris and Joshâs and a former band mate of Joshâs prior to joining Final Riot full time. Though the likelihood of recruiting Matt was very slim because of rumors of him moving out of state, out of pure coincidence, Chris happened to run into him at a local pool hall and invited him to jam with the band.
Matt caught on quickly and continued to jam with the guys for the rest of the summer. With Tylerâs last show coming in early August 2008, the guys decided it was best to move on and have Matt take over in place of Tyler. Shortly after Matt joined officially Josh decided that he needed to take time to focus on his academics. With Josh's departue, the guys called upon a good friend of the band, Ben Hill (ex-Disruptor/Red Light Massacre) to take on bass duties.
After Ben officially joined, Final Riot prepared to enter the studio and did so in March of 2009, recording at Chin Music Studios in Cleveland, Ohio, working with producers/engineers Johnny Burke (ex-Forever In Terror) and Jeremy Stimpert. A severe dispute over past occurrences led to the departure of drummer, Brett Johnson in June of 2009 which led current bassist, Ben, to switch to drums. After a short search, Final Riot found their bassist in James Rahmoeller. As the band began teaching James the material, guitar player, Alex's schedule began to become busier and busier. At Alex's request, Final Riot brough in his eventual replacement, long-time friend of the band, Ryan Wolf. After over 3 years with the band, Alex left the band and Ryan officially joined in January of 2010. Now the band plans on re-entering the studio to complete their long-awaited album, "In Full View" and hit the road in support of it!
(In no particular order)
Metallica, Pantera, Down, Godsmack, Alice In Chains, Deftones, Pink Floyd, Devin Townsend, Lamb of God, Black Sabbath, Machine Head, Staind, Tool, Rob Zombie, White Zombie, Slipknot, Shadows Fall, Slayer, Disturbed, Black Label Society, Mudvayne, Guns N' Roses, Avenged Sevenfold, Sevendust, Acid Bath, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Superjoint Ritual, Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar, Clutch, Eyehategod, etc...
