Aaron Gillespie

Aaron Roderick Gillespie (born July 18, 1983) is an American musician, best known for being the original and current drummer and clean vocalist for the rock band Underoath and the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the alternative rock band the Almost.

He has also worked with the band The Dangerous Summer.

Aaron Roderick Gillespie was born on July 18, 1983, in Clearwater, Florida.

Ever since he was born, he has been nearly blind in his left eye.

He grew up in a devout Christian family, attended private schools, and went to church regularly.

Gillespie's parents divorced when he was 18.

At age 14, Gillespie worked at the church and vacuumed for $60 a week.

He enjoyed playing the drums at church, but was told that he did not play well and that he played too loud.

However, one of the leaders in the church came up to him and said that he believed Gillespie would "travel the whole world playing drums".

At this time, he received a call from Underoath asking him to play drums for them.

Gillespie had performed on every Underoath release before Ø (Disambiguation) and first began to add clean vocals on Underoath's third album The Changing of Times, which shifted Underoath's original extreme metal music style into a more straightforward metalcore sound and was released in 2002.

After lead vocalist Dallas Taylor parted with the band, Spencer Chamberlain joined and the band began to change its style of music even more.

Most of the lyrics on the album They're Only Chasing Safety are written by Gillespie and are about him ending a four-year relationship.

He stated to Alternative Press "I think I would've died if we didn't write those songs. I thought I had ruined someone's life. It's hard to explain, but you can't just pretend that things are great and go on and get married."

The follow-up to They're Only Chasing Safety, Define the Great Line was released on June 20, 2006, it debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 selling over 98,000 copies in its first week, the record was certified Gold by the RIAA on November 11, 2006, representing 500,000 shipped units of the album.

The band's debut album Southern Weather was released on April 3, 2007, along with their first single, "Say This Sooner".

The single reached a peak of No. 7 on the Billboard's US Modern Rock Charts.

Gillespie recorded every instrument on the Southern Weather album except for bass on a couple of tracks, with which Kenny Vasoli from The Starting Line helped.

In 2008 he achieved the HM magazine's Readers Award for "favorite drummer", along with his bandmate Timothy McTague who received "favorite guitarist" of 2008.

He was one of the preaching pastors at Unveiled Church based in the Tampa Bay area of Florida.

Aaron and his former wife ran a clothing label, Pig Cloth.

On November 24, 2008, the Almost released an EP, No Gift to Bring.

On October 6, 2009, they released another EP, Monster EP.

On November 3, 2009, they released their second album, Monster Monster, in which the rest of the bandmates were more incorporated in the writing and recording processes.

Gillespie left Underoath after a European tour in 2010 but later rejoined the band.

Gillespie did guest vocals on the song "All About Us" by indie pop band He Is We, which was released on the album "My Forever" on November 23, 2010.

Gillespie has discussed his issues with hypochondria and generalized anxiety disorder, stating that they played into his departure from Underoath.

On April 5, 2010, Underoath announced that the band and Gillespie had agreed to mutually part ways pending the end of their European tour.

On the same day, Gillespie posted a message on his personal blog.

He went to The Compound recording studio in Seattle on June 28, 2010, to record the album that would eventually be released in March 2011.

On his Twitter account on July 24, he posted "Finished my record. So great to be a part of it. Goodnight."

Gillespie also maintains his own solo project and released his debut full-length album, Anthem Song, in 2011.

Gillespie's solo album Anthem Song was released on March 8, 2011.

From 2013 to 2016, he was the touring drummer for Paramore.

On June 11, 2013, the band released their third full-length album, Fear Inside Our Bones.

On August 17, 2015, in an interview article for Alternative Press, Chamberlain and Gillespie confirmed that the band was reuniting.

Gillespie performed lead vocals for the alternative rock band the Almost.

In an interview released on February 8, 2015, on Emery's BadChristian podcast, Gillespie stated that he had placed lower priority on the band, citing his "busy schedule" (as Paramore's touring drummer, a solo artist and producer) and the "busy schedules" of the other band members.

On September 24, 2019, they announced a fourth full-length album, Fear Caller, to be released on October 18, 2019, then released, "Chokehold", with an accompanying music video as part of the announcement.

Shortly after leaving Underoath, Gillespie announced that he was working on a worship-based solo project.