Red Sun Rising

Red Sun Rising is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio that forms in 2006 and is currently on hiatus. The group starts when Mike Protich and Ryan Williams, who are high school classmates, begin talking about music at a gas station. By 2007, the first line-up is in place and the band is playing local shows. In 2011, Tyler Valendza joins and adds a new element to the group’s sound. The band builds a following by previewing self-released albums on social media and is touring nationally by 2013.

Recordings and label work

Red Sun Rising signs to Razor & Tie in 2014. Its first studio album, Polyester Zeal, appears in 2015 and reaches number 11 on the Billboard Hard Rock albums chart. The band’s second studio album, Thread, follows in 2018, and an EP titled Peel appears in 2019. The singles “The Otherside” and “Emotionless” both reach number 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart, making the band the first act since Trapt to reach the top of that chart twice from its first album. A third single, “Amnesia,” peaks at number 6.

Line-up changes and later activity

Tyler Valendza leaves in 2015 and is replaced by Dave McGarry, who is first announced as the new guitarist in a Facebook post. The band uses the hashtag #WeAreThread, which it describes as the name of the genre it wants to represent. It says its influences are like threads in fabric and that it does not fit neatly into a single genre. “Deathwish” is featured in the 2018 video game Forza Horizon 4 on the in-game rock station Horizon XS. Red Sun Rising announces an indefinite hiatus in 2020.

Related projects

After the hiatus, Ryan Williams forms New Monarch. Mike Protich, Dave McGarry and Pat Gerasia also form a new band called The Violent. The single “The Fray” is released in 2021.

Red Sun Rising (Szczecin project)

Red Sun Rising is also the name of a one-man downtempo and chillgressive project from Szczecin, Poland, which begins in 2012. It releases the EP The Bird with the wounded Wing on Mistique Emotion, a sublabel of Mistiquemusic, and makes its progressive house debut that same year with “Behind” on Mistiquemusic. In 2013, together with singer Camillaes, it creates the project Red Nails, combining female vocals, space electronics and guitar overdrive.