Where Are They Now? Ryan Parrish of Hopesfall

Hopesfall was one the most influential post-hardcore bands from the last decade. After releasing four studio albums and one EP, the North Carolina band broke up after a series of business setbacks. "I like to say that the band had multiple eras. I look at the first three records as one era and the last two as another. I was on the first three albums and from that point on there was a pretty large lineup change. From there they got a new guitar player, bassist and drummer and moved on," says Ryan Parrish, an original member and guitarist of Hopesfall.

"For me it was just time to move on and do something different musically. As far as the later lineups, they toured pretty extensively. But I think what lead to the final breakup was all of the financial issues that they were dealing with. It became tough to stay on the road. Not to mention all of the drama they had with Trustkill Records. I just think when Hopesfall signed with the label we didn't really have any experience dealing with the technical and financial issues that entails. The deal wasn't worked out properly. But the thing that really drove it over the edge was the 'Magnetic North' album," reveals Parrish. Luckily for everyone, Hopesfall will be playing two reunion shows this coming weekend. Ryan continues telling us about the band's now infamous battle with their former label.

"Trustkill Records actually cut one of the songs off of the album without the band's approval. That lead to a very weird situation between the band and the label. I hate to talk badly about people, but my experience with Trustkill I wouldn't say was a very positive one and I was on the frontend of the situation and deal. The guys that were in the band after I left had to deal with that drama way more than I had to. It ultimately pushed the band into breaking up," Parrish laments.

Since Celebrity split up, Parrish has kept busy working for Noisecreep's parent company, AOL. "By the time that band broke up, I was already in my late-20s and my priorities shifted. While I was in Celebrity I was just taking odd jobs to pay my bills, but when we split up, I decided to go back to school and get another degree. I had already received one in psychology while I was in Hopesfall, but I never used it.

"Since I was now living in Nashville, I decided to learn about audio production and technology. I eventually interned at a couple of places and got some experience. I worked at night at other jobs to survive. Earlier in 2011 I had an internship at a company here called Tail Light which does music video production and television commercial stuff. One of the main guys that worked there ended up leaving the company for a company called Studio Now which AOL had bought out about a year and a half ago. He approached me one day and asked if I would be interested in coming over for an interview. So I got hired earlier this year.

"What we do is bring video to scale for web and I help produce and coordinate shoots around the country for various partners. I love it. My experience here has been very positive from the people to the actual work. I feel fortunate to be able to do it for a living," says Parrish.

Listen to 'Open Hands to the Wind' from Hopesfall

That brought us to Hopesfall's upcoming reunion shows. "We'll be playing two gigs and the first one started out with an invite from the band Codeseven. They asked us if we would be interested in reuniting the first era of the band and we agreed to do it. I don't think a lot of fans of the band got to see the version I played in and it's also the 10 year anniversary of our album, 'No Wings to Speak Of.' It's just a great time for us to be playing together again. That one will be in Winston-Salem. The second show will be in our hometown of Charlotte with Rosetta and Harvard. That's all that we have on the horizon for now, but who knows what the future will bring."

Hopesfall w/ Codeseven – August 5th – Winston-Salem, NC @ Ziggy's

Hopesfall w/ Harvard – August 6th - Charlotte, NC @ Amo's Southend