Forming almost two and a half years ago, the Brentwood metal band An American Tragedy has continued to be one of the longest lasting musical acts that has received support from the Brentwood Police Activities League who assist local student bands in performing at venues. The line up currently consists of Isaiah Carson performing lead vocals, Heritage High School student Max Schwanke (12) on bass, and Independence High School student Jack Huckabee (11) playing guitar.

     On June 4th, 2019 the band released their first piece of studio material, an EP entitled Red with drumming accompaniment provided by Ty Douglas (10) who has now moved on to working with the group Mammoth. The EP was recorded at Downfall Studios in Pittsburg California with owner Nick Kaufman acting as the producer.

     Although the group doesn’t believe it to be perfect, they feel that the EP has served to announce what An American Tragedy is to the public and has provided them with the greater knowledge of the studio to better assist their future recording endeavors.

     “I felt that the EP showed what we are about, It showed what type of music we make, I think the songs that we did really show what An American Tragedy is. I think that now that we’ve had all this time going into the studio and recording I feel more comfortable getting our bands sound there,” said Carson.

     With the advantages that the studio provided for them to record a greater amount of instruments then they could normally account for on stage, they promoted a live sensibility to the recording, not allowing them to divert from the reality of what they could do in a live show.

     “We tried to do a live kind of performance… we ended up recording all the instruments separately,” said Schwanke.

     “Anything I record I want to be able to do live so if I’m going to do some crazy scream I got to be able to do it live. So we did do use vocals from different takes, but I can do it live without having to stop and catch my breath,” said Carson.

     With the live performance being integral to their image, The group greatly enjoys their time playing on stage, enjoying the rush that they get right before getting on stage.

     “I like when we first start because that’s when everyone is getting there and watching and you just get too unleash, You get to set the tone and I go all out and give all my energy and I’m able to do that for the whole set and I think that’s really something. If I’m going crazy I feel like everybody start to pick up on that,” said Carson.

     “I usually think it’s going to be a great show tonight right before we go out,” said Schwanke.

     They hope to be releasing a full album, covering on what they felt was lacking in their EP, soon. They expect all the songs from their previous work to carry over to the new album while also including new material that they have generated post-EP.

     “For the album we are definitely going to go stronger, the album will be out soon whenever we finish these last few tracks, there gonna be really good, real powerful, real nice,” said Carson.

     Their EP Red is out on most major streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music, and Google Play.