History
Formation (2002–2003)
Misery Signals was formed after the disbandment of several bands, including 7 Angels 7 Plagues, Hamartia and Compromise. Having played briefly with 7 Angels 7 Plagues, former Compromise vocalist Jesse Zaraska was approached by Ryan Morgan and Kyle Johnson for a new project, which would become Misery Signals. Jeff Aust from Hamartia joined on as second guitar, and Ryan Morgan's brother Branden joined as the bands drummer. Aust soon left the band and has since gone on to join With Honor, he was replaced by Stu Ross - a friend of Jesse Zaraska's from St. Albert, Alberta.
Signing to Ferret Music (2004–2009)
The band eventually signed to New Jersey's Ferret Music, releasing their first full-length album, Of Malice and the Magnum Heart. After extensive touring, Zaraska decided to leave the band to focus on a smaller, less aggressive project named Sleeping Girl, at which point the rest of the band decided to put up an instrumental song on their MySpace page, encouraging anyone who wanted to take over the spot of vocalist to record their own voice over the instrumental and e-mail it to the band. This was the way they found new vocalist Karl Schubach, with whom they recorded the album, Mirrors. In July 2008 Misery Signals released their third full-length entitled Controller. After extensive touring in support of Controller in early 2009, members of Misery Signals wanted to pursue other musical directions outside of their band.
Focus on side projects (2009–2010)
Schubach is involved in a heavy metal side project called Solace. He is the sole member of the band, recording guitar, bass and vocals in a D.I.Y.-fashioned home studio. The drums are added in digitally, through the use of a program on his Macbook.
The hardcore/punk band Burning Empires consists of members from Misery Signals, Fall Out Boy and 7 Angels 7 Plagues. Ryan Morgan does the vocals, Kyle Johnson plays bass, Stu Ross and Matthew Mixon play guitar, while Andy Hurley plays the drums. Andy Hurley is an avid supporter of the Wisconsin hardcore scene. The quintet also have a clothing line/record label called Fuck City. In October 2010, Kyle Johnson also announced his departure from the band.
There is also a pop punk/hardcore band named Lowtalker that consists of Branden Morgan and Stuart Ross of Misery Signals. They team up with Casey Hjelmberg and Matt Keil of Comeback Kid to complete the four piece project. Lowtalker are set to release their EP People Worry About Everything in the spring of 2010 through FC records.
In 2010, Stuart Ross became the frontman of a pop-punk band from Vancouver, B.C. named Living with Lions. Ross officially left Misery Signals on September 25, 2010 to put his focus on this new project, and was reportedly tired of performing heavy metal.
New album (2011)
After an extended period of inactivity with a heavy focus on side projects, Misery Signals made an official statement about the state of the band in November 2010. The press release addressed the loss of Ross and Johnson, and also announced that the band had not, in fact, broken up.[3] Ryan Morgan commented that, "In the next few months, we'll group back up and return."[3] Despite losing two of the founding members of Misery Signals, the remaining members did not consider changing the name of the group. On maintaining the continuity of the band's style and keeping the same name, Morgan said, "Stu and Kyle made awesome contributions, but the trajectory of the band remains the same in their absence. If the time came that our sound took a drastically different course, then it wouldn't be Misery Signals anymore, and we wouldn't pretend that it was.
On October 19, 2016, rumours of an original lineup reunion tour and album were confirmed by vocalist Jesse Zaraska. When reached for comment by Nic Huber of www.metalinjection.net, Zaraska had the following to say: "It is the truth, sir. We are in the midst of writing new material together and will be playing some show over the coming year. It has been very cool thus far. We will definitely be doing a proper US tour in 2017."
On March 24, 2018, at the event Midwest Meltdown in Iowa City, Iowa; Misery Signals frontman Jesse Zaraska, announced the band had been holed up on Boise, Idaho over the previous few weeks. He stated that they are, indeed, working on a new album. Zaraska stated on stage, that he believes their newest album "will be the BEST Misery Signals album yet." When asked about the style of the new album, Zaraska replied "It will probably be a lot like of Malice."
On the "Death to False Metalcore Tour 2019" with Darkest Hour and Unearth, the band played a song titled "Sunlifter" from their Absent Light B-Side vinyl release. Zaraska also stated November 2019 as the release date for their new album.
On May 8, 2020, a 26 second fixed-camera video of ocean waves, with only the date "05.15.2020" appearing center screen at the end of the video, was posted to Misery Signals’ social media accounts, suggesting that new music, or a new album, is set to be announced, and/or released, on that date.
On May 14, 2020, Misery Signals announced their upcoming fifth studio album, Ultraviolet, to be released on August 7, 2020, along with the release of the single “The Tempest”
Members
CURRENT LINE-UP:
Ryan Morgan – lead guitar, backing vocals (2002–present)
Branden Morgan – drums (2002–present)
Jesse Zaraska – vocals (2002–2006, 2014–present)
Kyle Johnson – bass guitar (2002–2010, 2013–present)
Stu Ross – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2002–2010, 2014–present)
Former Members:
Jeff Aust – guitar (2002)
Karl Schubach – vocals (2006–2014)
Gregory Thomas – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2011–2014)
Kent Wren – bass guitar (2011–2013)
Discography
Studio albums:
Of Malice and the Magnum Heart (2004)
Mirrors (2006)
Controller (2008)
Absent Light (2013)
Ultraviolet (2020)
EPs:
Misery Signals (2003)
Five Years
Misery Signals Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Looks like your sneaking and all your lies
They did catch up to you this time
I swear I heard you say
Blood is forever
Love is forever
I can fool myself all that I want
But I saw the room, I heard your voice, I saw your eyes
The truth will always get the best of you inside or out
It took me two years to find that I wasted five years of my life
Felt the truth within you and I saw red
I guess we are, we are the long goodbye
What wasted time
I always hoped somehow it never happened to us
But it is something that did
And something that I can't forget
And after all of our times
You fucked and did what you did
This was days and weeks, days and weeks of deceit
It was days and weeks of deceit
You turned and walked away
You said you'd be back tomorrow
Well tomorrow has come and gone, noo
You said you'd be back tomorrow
Well tomorrow has come and gone, noo
Looks like your choking on all those lies
They did catch up with you this time
I swear I heard you say blood is forever
But it seems forever meant nothing to you
It meant nothing forever, meant nothing to you
It meant nothing but I swear I heard you say
Blood is forever
The song "Five Years" by Misery Signals is a reflection of betrayal and deception, with the singer sharing the raw emotions that came with the truth finally catching up to the person they thought they knew. The beginning of the song alludes to the singer's realization of the other person's deceit, saying "I've seen it in your eyes/Looks like you're sneaking and all your lies/They did catch up to you this time." Even though the other person may have proclaimed their loyalty, saying "Blood is forever/Love is forever," the singer saw through their facade and recognized that the truth would always come to light.
The chorus focuses on the singer's struggle to come to terms with what happened, with the repeated line "It took me two years to find that I wasted five years of my life." They describe feeling the truth within the other person and seeing "red," showing the intensity of their emotions. The bridge of the song emphasizes the weight of the situation, with the singer acknowledging that they were caught up in a "long goodbye" and wasted time with someone who didn't truly care for them. The repeated line "You said you'd be back tomorrow/Well tomorrow has come and gone" emphasizes the finality of the situation, with the other person's promises proving to be empty.
Overall, "Five Years" is a powerful exploration of the hurt and frustration that comes with being lied to and betrayed. The lyrics capture the singer's struggle to reconcile the person they thought they knew with the reality of their deceit, making for a poignant and moving song.
Line by Line Meaning
I've seen it in your eyes
I can tell from your eyes that you've been lying
Looks like your sneaking and all your lies
Your behavior suggests that you're trying to hide something and you've been lying
They did catch up to you this time
Your lies have finally caught up with you
I swear I heard you say
I distinctly remember you saying
Blood is forever
You said that family is always important no matter what
Love is forever
You said that love lasts forever
I can fool myself all that I want
I can try to convince myself that everything is okay
But I saw the room, I heard your voice, I saw your eyes
I witnessed firsthand what happened and I know the truth
The truth will always get the best of you inside or out
No matter how hard you try to hide it, the truth will eventually come out
It took me two years to find that I wasted five years of my life
It wasn't until two years later that I realized I had wasted a significant amount of time in my life dealing with this situation
Felt the truth within you and I saw red
I could sense that you were lying and it made me very angry
I guess we are, we are the long goodbye
Our relationship has ended in a slow and painful way
What wasted time
All of the time spent on this relationship was a waste
I always hoped somehow it never happened to us
I never thought that our relationship would fall apart like this
But it is something that did
Unfortunately, it did happen to us
And something that I can't forget
I will never be able to forget what happened between us
And after all of our times
Despite everything we went through together
You fucked and did what you did
You made a terrible mistake and there's no excuse for it
This was days and weeks, days and weeks of deceit
You continued to deceive me for a significant amount of time
It was days and weeks of deceit
You lied to me for a long time
You turned and walked away
You chose to leave and not fix things
You said you'd be back tomorrow
You made promises to come back and work things out
Well tomorrow has come and gone, noo
You never came back and it's been a long time
Looks like your choking on all those lies
Your lies are catching up to you and it's causing you distress
They did catch up with you this time
You can no longer continue to hide your lies
But it seems forever meant nothing to you
Your promises of forever didn't mean anything in the end
It meant nothing forever, meant nothing to you
You didn't care about the concept of forever in the end
It meant nothing but I swear I heard you say
Despite what you're showing now, I remember you saying
Blood is forever
You said that family is always important no matter what
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Jesse Zaraska, Stuart Douglass Ross, Ryan David Morgan, Brandon Michael Morgan, Kyle Nathan Johnson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind