Stavesacre

History

Two of its members, vocalist Mark Salomon and guitarist Jeff Bellew, still wanted to make music, so they brought in bassist Dirk Lemmenes and drummer Jeremy Moffett. Lemmenes was known from his band Focused, which had toured with the Crucified, and Moffett had been Salomon’s roommate and played in the Blamed. The group signed with Tooth & Nail Records because the Crucified had been on that label and Salomon liked working with the people who ran it.

Not long after, Moffett left and was replaced by Sam West, who had drummed for Scaterd Few. The next year they put out Absolutes. AllMusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it four stars, saying the lyrics didn’t grab him but the heavy, foreboding sound made up for it. Ryan Dennee then joined as a second guitarist.

Bellew left to focus on his marriage but still played extra guitar parts on the next record. Doug Van Pelt of HM magazine praised it, writing that the band seemed to open its heart for surgery. Speakeasy became their first album to chart, landing at number 44 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Chart and number 35 on the Top Contemporary Christian Chart. It was their last studio album for Tooth & Nail, which later put out a collection of songs from their first three records called Collective.

Stavesacre also released a split EP with Denison Marrs on Velvet Blue Music. They toured for nearly two years behind Speakeasy and ended up completely worn out from life on the road.